ZEMAX has many standard light source objects available in non-sequential operation that help us easily define and model many of the typical light source shapes and configurations.  However, many times clients will ask me to model their new, high-tech, high-output light source, or maybe just an old standard tungsten filament.  Let me share with you some methods and tricks on how to model just about anything your clients can think of with ZEMAX and some of the tools that you might not know about yet.

First let's review some of the standard light source objects available in ZEMAX, just in case you haven’t read the manual from cover to cover yet ;-) :

• Diode
• DLL
• Ellipse
• Filament
• File (allows import of Radiant Imaging and Opsira source models)
• IES File
• Point
• Radial
• Ray
• Profile
• Rectangle
• Tube
• Ray Angle
• Volume Cylinder
• Volume Ellipse
• Volume Rectangle

There are also some other excellent KB articles on how to use these sources or build your own, like the LED modeling article.

However, ZEMAX also allows you to take any geometrical object, and to use it like a source. This is ideal for self-luminous objects, like filaments, or for modeling the thermal emissions from objects. In this article I'll discuss some practical, real-world examples of this capability.