In this webinar, Lumentum’s Paul Colbourne will describe how to use skew rays to model Gaussian beam propagation in OpticStudio. Skew rays are an efficient and accurate representation of Gaussian beams and can be used to quickly optimize for best focus or to minimize aberrations. Paul will demonstrate how to set up User-Defined Surfaces to generate skew rays, how to view circular Gaussian beams in 3D layout diagrams, and how to optimize systems with circular Gaussian beams. In addition, Paul will explain general astigmatism, and how to calculate the properties of a generally astigmatic Gaussian beam in OpticStudio using a ZPL macro. Paul will also show how to use a merit function macro to optimize systems with elliptical or generally astigmatic Gaussian beams.

About the presenter:
Paul is the Director of Optical Switching Technology Advanced Research at Lumentum. He has 28 years experience at Lumentum (and formerly JDSU) designing components for fiber optic communication systems and has been using Zemax and OpticStudio for almost as long. He holds more than 50 US patents and obtained his Ph.D. from McMaster University in the Department of Engineering Physics.

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Additional Resources:
Zemax Knowledgebase Article: OpticStudio Gaussian Beam FAQ
Zemax Free Tutorial: Modeling Laser Beam Propagation in OpticStudio