MICRO-517

■ STI
MICRO-517 Optical Design
with ZEMAX
OpticStudio
Lecture 2
3.10.2022
Ye Pu
Sciences et techniques de l’ingénieur
École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne
CH-1015 Lausanne
 Outline

■ STI Theory
MICRO-517
▪ Brief history of photographic lens design
▪ Paraxial theory of lenses
ZEMAX Practice
▪ First lens design

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 History and Evolution of Lens Forms
Lens: from Latin lēns (“lentil”), a curved
transparent material that refracts light
■ STI
MICRO-517 ▪ First reference to a burning-glass: 424 BC ▪ Early photography: single convex lens
▪ First mentioning of magnifying effect: 1st century ▪ Severe chromatic aberration and field
▪ Spectacles: 13th century curvature among other aberrations
▪ Microscopes and telescopes: 16th century ▪ Achromatic doublet lens: Chester
Moore Hall 1754 (for telescope)

Chromatic Aberration Field Curvature Achromatic Doublet Lens

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 History and Evolution of Lens Forms
Early Work
First lens
design by ray
tracing
■ STI
MICRO-517 Wollaston Meniscus, 1804 Chevalier Achromat Landscape, 1839 Petzval Portrait, 1840

Corrects chromatic and

Cooke Triplet

spherical aberration,
coma, and astigmatism.
Standard in low-end
cameras today
Taylor, Taylor & Hobson Zeiss Tessar 1902 Ernemann Ernostar f/1.8 1924 Zeiss Sonnar 50 mm f/1.5 1932
Cooke Triplet 1839
Double Gauss

Most intensively studied

lens formula. Near perfect
performance. Dominating
lens design used today

Gauss Objective 1817 Clark Double Gauss f/8 1817 Taylor, Taylor & Hobson Zeiss Plannar f/4.5 1896
Series 0 (Opic) f/2 1920
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 Design: Art of Balance and Compromise

■ STI
MICRO-517

FUJIFILM QuickSnap Disposable Camera

▪ Single piece reversed landscape lens
▪ Curved image plane for field curvature

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 Paraxial Optics
Reflection and Refraction at an Interface Spherical Reflective Surface (Concave Mirror)
VQ = s Object distance VF = f Focal length
■ STI VQ = s Image distance VC = r Curvature radius
MICRO-517

Image Equation:
1 1 1 r
+ = =K f =
where
s s f 2
PQ s 1
Magnification: M  =− K
Paraxial Approximation: ni = ni PQ s
Power:
f
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 Paraxial Optics
Spherical Reflective Surface

■ STI
MICRO-517

VP = s VQ = s
VP’= s’ VQ’= s’

Image Equation: Magnification:

r y ns
1 1 1
− = =K where f = M = since nw = nw
s s f n − n y ns
1 n − n  1 1 1 1
Power: K  = Abbe’s Invariant: n  −  = n  − 
f r  s r  s r
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 Optical Systems
Cardinal Points and Principal Planes
▪ Planes that have a magnification M = +1
■ STI
MICRO-517
P P’ are called the principal plane (H and H’)
V V’
▪ Intersection points between the principal
planes and the optical axis are principal
points
▪ F, F’, V, V’, P, P’ are called cardinal points
▪ Focal length is measured from the
principal planes, i.e. HF = f, H'F' = f '
▪ Imaging process can be considered based
on the principal planes and the cardinal
points without surface detail

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 Paraxial Ray Tracing

■ STI
MICRO-517

Image Equation: Transfer Equation:

i = u + h r i = u  + h r ni = ni h = h − u d
n − n hi +1 = hi − ui +1di
K=
r
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 Single Lens
K1 = ( n − 1) r1 K 2 = (1 − n ) r2
K = K1 + K 2 − dK1 K 2 n
■ STI
MICRO-517 S p = − dK 2 nK S p = − dK1 nK

Lens Maker’s Formula:

1  1 1 ( n − 1) d 
K = = ( n − 1)  − + 
f 1 2
r r nr r
1 2 
Thin Lens:
d →0
1 1 1
K = = ( n − 1)  − 
f  r1 r2 
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 Paraxial Ray Tracing in Thin Lenses

Location of Principal Plane:

■ STI
MICRO-517 K = K1 + K 2 − dK1 K 2 n
V1 H = K 2 d K
V2 H  = − K1d K

Power of a System of Thin Lenses:

k
h1 K =  hi K i
i =1

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 Apertures, Stops, and Pupils
Aperture Stop of a Lens System
▪ A lens system may consist of many lenses
■ STI ▪ Each lens may have different diameter
MICRO-517 ▪ May also possess an iris inside the system
▪ The component that limit the light rays is an
aperture stop
▪ A ray from an on-axis point passing the edge of the
aperture stop is the marginal ray
EP ▪ Can be located anywhere in the system
▪ Determining aperture stop
• Find images of all lens edges and diaphragms in
EP: Entrance pupil
the object space
XP: Exit pupil • The ray-limiting one is called the entrance pupil
Image a: field stop (object-side image of the aperture stop)
• The image-side image of the aperture stop is the
exit pupil
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 Apertures, Stops, and Pupils

Aperture Stop Entrance and Exit Pupil

■ STI
MICRO-517

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 Apertures, Stops, and Pupils
Field Stop
▪ The edge that limits the angle of the
■ STI chief ray passing the center of the
MICRO-517
aperture stop is the field stop
▪ More light energy is blocked by field
stop as the angle of the chief ray
increases, causing vignetting
▪ The angle of the chief ray with the axis
is called the field angle
▪ Placing entrance pupil on the object
plane removes vignetting (as in a
telescope or a microscope)

Vignetting Example
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■ STI
MICRO-517

ZEMAX
OpticStudio

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 The First Lens Design Project
Lens Design Specifications
■ STI
MICRO-517 Specification Constraint
Focal Length 100 mm
Semi-Field of View (SFOV) 5 degrees
Wavelength 632.8 nm (HeNe)

Center Thickness of singlet Between 2 mm and 12 mm

Edge Thickness of singlet Larger than 2 mm

Optimization criteria RMS Spot Size averaged over FOV
Object location At infinity

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 Initiating a Design

■ STI
MICRO-517 3
4
2

1
Lens Data Table
Default lens data of
three surfaces

System
Explorer
Default design
parameters

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 Defining the Aperture
Aperture type Description
Entrance Pupil Diameter Diameter of the pupil as seen from object space
■ STI Image Space F/# Infinite conjugate paraxial F/# in image space
MICRO-517
Object Space Numerical Numerical aperture (NA = n sin θm) of the marginal
Aperture ray in object space.
Defined by the clear semi-diameter or semi-diameter
Float By Stop Size
of the stop surface.
Paraxial Working F/# Paraxial F/# in image space for the defined conjugates.
Half angle in degrees of the marginal ray in object
space, which may exceed 90 degrees. May not be
used if the entrance pupil is virtual and the distance
Object Cone Angle from the object to the entrance pupil is negative. The
default “Uniform” apodization of rays in the pupil is
uniform in angle space, while “Cosine Cubed”
apodization of rays is uniform in solid angle.

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 Defining the Field

■ STI
MICRO-517

Field Type Description

Angle that the chief ray (the ray passing the center of the entrance pupil) makes with respect
Angle to the object space Z axis. Positive field angles → positive ray slope → negative object
coordinates. Most useful when at an infinite conjugates.
Object Height The X and Y heights on the object (OBJ) surface. Cannot be used when at infinite conjugates.
Paraxial height on the image (IMA) surface. Useful for fixed frame-size designs (e.g., a camera
Paraxial Image Height
system). Only works well with systems that are well described by paraxial optics.
Real image height on the image surface. Also useful for fixed-frame designs but use actual ray
Real Image Height tracing rather than paraxial calculation. Slightly slower due to an iterative approach used to
determine the coordinates of the chief ray on the IMA plane.
Azimuth θ and elevation φ polar angles in degrees. These angles are commonly used in
Theodolite Angle
surveying and astronomy.
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 Inserting Surfaces with Lens Parameters

■ STI
MICRO-517

Column Description
Surface Type Type of surface (Standard, Even Asphere, Diffraction Grating, ...)
Comment Optional field for surface-specific comments
Radius Surface radius of curvature in lens units
Thickness Distance separating the current surface and the next
Material Type of material (glass, air, …) separating the current surface and the next
Semi-Diameter Half-size of the surface

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 Analysing
Analyze Menu

■ STI
MICRO-517

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 Optimizing
Optimize Menu

■ STI
MICRO-517

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■ STI
MICRO-517

ZEMAX
OpticStudio
Hands-on Time

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 Homework
1. Analyze the compound lens consisting a pair of identical planoconvex lenses of material N-BK7, a surface
curvature radius of 55 mm and a center thickness 3 mm, with their spherical side facing each other and 1 mm
between the two surfaces. The object is located 100 mm in front of the first surface of the compound lens with
heights 0, 5, 7 mm. The working wavelength is 532 nm. You can use Quick Focus tool to locate the image
■ STI plane. Report the 2D cross-section of the ray tracing result, the spot diagram, and the cardinal points of the
MICRO-517 compound lens.
2. Flip the two lenses (now with the flat surface facing each other with 1 mm distance in between) and perform
the above analysis. Compare the results in terms of the spot diagram.
3. Analyze a single biconvex lens with identical 55 mm curvature radii of the two spherical surfaces, a center
thickness of 6 mm, and the same field settings. Compare the results in terms of the spot diagram.
You should submit the ZEMAX design files (.zos) and a PDF (preferred) or Word report containing the requested
figures and cardinal point data.

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