Zemax

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Zemax is a widely-used optical design program sold by Zemax Development Corporation of Bellevue, Washington (formerly Focus Software).[1][2][3][4][5] It is used for the design and analysis of optical systems. Zemax can perform standard sequential ray tracing through optical elements, non-sequential ray tracing for analysis of stray light, and physical optics beam propagation.

Zemax is used for the design of optical systems such as camera lenses and analysis of illumination systems. It can model the propagation of rays through optical elements such as lenses (including aspheres and gradient index lenses), mirrors, and diffractive optical elements.[1][6] Zemax can model the effect of optical coatings on the surfaces of components, and can produce standard analysis diagrams such as spot diagrams and ray-fan plots.[1] It includes an extensive library of stock lenses from a variety of manufacturers.[7] The physical optics propagation feature can be used for problems where diffraction is important, including the propagation of laser beams, holography, and the coupling of light into single-mode optical fibers. Zemax has a powerful suite of optimization tools that can be used to optimize a lens design by automatically adjusting parameters to maximize performance and reduce aberrations. It also has an extensive tolerancing capability.

Zemax was originally written by Ken Moore, starting in 1988.[8] The first version was called Max, named after his dog. When he began selling the program commercially, he was forced to rename it due to a trademark conflict. He chose Zemax as an interim name until he could "come up with a 'good name'," and it stuck.

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  1. ^ a b c Tesar, John (March, 1997). "Latest Zemax creates and evaluates designs". Laser Focus World 33 (3). 
  2. ^ Geary, Joseph M. (2002). Introduction to Lens Design: With Practical Zemax Examples. Willmann-Bell. ISBN 0943396751. 
  3. ^ Smith, Warren J. (2007). Modern Optical Engineering, 4th Ed., McGraw-Hill, p. 436. ISBN 0071476873. 
  4. ^ Schroeder, Daniel J. (1999). Astronomical Optics, 2nd ed., Academic Press. ISBN 0126298106. 
  5. ^ Fischer, Robert F. (2008). Optical System Design, 2nd ed., McGraw-Hill, p. 603. ISBN 0071472487. “...the Zemax software package, one of the industry's standards.” 
  6. ^ Laikin, Milton (2006). Lens Design, 4th ed., CRC. ISBN 0849382785. 
  7. ^ Fischer (2008), p. 590.
  8. ^ Moore, Ken (2006-04-21). Why is it called ZEMAX?. ZEMAX Users' Knowledge Base. Retrieved on 2008-05-30.

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