This article describes how to allow programs that support Visual Basic for Applications to communicate with ZEMAX.

There have been literally dozens of eye models published over more than 150 years, from very simple “reduced” eyes consisting of a single refracting surface to very complex models with more than 4,000 refracting surfaces. This article presents several sequential and non-sequential models of the human eye in ZEMAX format, with glass catalog data.

Veiling glare is a term that is often used in the field of imaging system design. Technically, veiling glare is stray light that reaches the sensor plane of an imaging system, and it can cause a decrease in the imaging system’s performance.

Often,  a full non-sequential treatment is needed for accurate results. However, for many optical imaging systems, a first-cut look at forward scattering effects is all that is really required. This article will show how to make just such a preliminary veiling glare measurement using tools that are already built into ZEMAX. This analysis will require just a few minutes to perform, and will give very useful results.

In this article, we will create model of a human eye in ZEMAX using the Liou & Brennan 1997 eye model. After successfully generating this eye model in ZEMAX, we will use it to design a free-form progressive eyeglass lens.

A few years ago the manufacturers of optical glasses started the process of reformulating their glasses to remove arsenic and lead. At first glance, most of these glasses appear to be the exact equivalents of the original glasses. However, examining the indices in the near UV and the NIR shows that the indices can differ in the 3rd decimal place.

Further more, many other properties of the glasses differ significantly: the new formula glasses absorb earlier at each end of the spectrum, and there can be massive differences in the thermal properties between the old and new formulations.

This article discusses these topics, and shows some traps it is easy to fall into with 'Exact Equivalent' glasses.

This article is also available in Japanese.

Centered optical systems are relatively easy to design and align, but when decentered and tilted surfaces are used , alignment becomes difficult unless you have a plan. This article describes how to use the Center of Curvature report to give the necessary datums for system alignment.

An off-axis parabolic (OAP) mirror consists of a small section cut out  from a larger, so-called “parent” parabolic mirror. Working with these mirrors, especially for the first time, can seem like a daunting task.  However, with a little instruction and a bit of practice, OAPs can be fairly straightforward to manipulate and very handy to use.

This article describes a real-life assignment that required an OAP to be used with an existing optical system

This article is an excerpt from Gregory Hallock Smith's book, Camera Lenses:  From Box Camera to Digital.  The excerpt is Chapter 31 in its entirity.  Chapter 31 of Smith's book discusses the cameras aboard the Mars Exploration Rovers, the lenses of which were designed using ZEMAX by the author.  This article also includes links to several fascinating pictures taken aboard these "robotic geologists."

Attached to the last page of the article are the original ZEMAX files of the four types of Mars Rover lenses:  the PanCams, NavCams, HazCams, and the Microscopic Imager.

LCD and LCoS spatial light modulators must have linearly polarized light to work properly. However most light sources for digital projectors produce unpolarized light, rather than losing 50% of the optical power of the lamp, a polarization conversion system (PCS) can be used to produce nearly perflectly polarized light. This article describes how PCS systems work, how they are modeled in ZEMAX, and how they are integrated into digital projectors.

This article discusses the design issues involved in designing fly's eye spatial light integrators, with specific application to the design of digital projectors.