This article explains how to use filter strings to identify and isolate specific rays in a non-sequential system. Examples are given which show how to isolate rays that have undergone surface scattering and bulk scattering, as well as rays that undergo diffraction and fluorescence.

This article describes how to model a rainbow including water droplets and the sun's blackbody spectrum.

This article is also available in Japanese.

This article describes how to use the polar detector and import/export source IESNA and EULUMDAT data. It also contains a description of the NSDP optimization operand and ZPL numeric function. An encapusulated LED is used to illustrate these features.

The Detector Color object provides a tool to visualize the True Color image of an optical system. This object stores both Tristimulus data and power data, and allows both the irradiance (Position Space) and radiant intensity (Angle Space) distributions to be shown. Quantitative results from the detector may be extracted into the merit function using the NSDE operand. These results can be used both for system evaluation and optimization. A simple color optimization example is given.

This article is also available in Japanese.

This article gives a recommended approach to the optimization of non-sequential optical systems. The recommended methods are to use Pixel Interpolation, aggregate detector data (moment of illumination data) and the orthogonal descent optimizer. As an example, a free-form mirror is optimized to maximize the brightness of an LED from 23 Cd to >250 Cd in just a few minutes of optimization.

This article introduces prospective and new ZEMAX users to the Non-Sequential ray tracing capabilities of ZEMAX including:

• Faceted reflectors
• Lamp distributions
• Prisms
• Ray splitting
• Scattering
• Diffractive optics
• Coherence modeling
• Complex geometry creation
• Absorption analysis

This article is also available in Japanese.

This article explains:

• How to enter and edit non-sequential objects in the non-sequential editor
• How to draw rays on the layout plots to get a qualitative feel for the optical system performance
• How to trace large numbers of rays to get quantitative data on system performance

The lens file representing the final system is included as zipped file, which can be downloaded from the last page of this article.

This article outlines the procedure for modeling a mixed mode system in ZEMAX, which utilizes both sequential surfaces and non-sequential objects in the same lens file.  The following topics are discussed in detail.

• Inserting/Creating a non-sequential group within an otherwise sequential design.
• Defining entry and exit port locations, shapes, and sizes.
• Common mistakes and considerations.

This article explains:

• How to convert sequential surfaces to  non-sequential objects
• How to insert non-sequential sources and detectors
• How to perform analysis ray-traces

This article explains how to correctly retrieve data from the NSDD operand for use in the Universal Plot 1D and 2D analysis features.