OPTI 517

 7/06

OPTI 517. Lens Design (4). Fundamentals of optical system design and optimization; exact and paraxial ray tracing; aberration theory; chromatic and monochromatic aberrations. P, OPTI 502 and OPTI 509.

Course Outline (75-minute lectures):

This course will cover the majority of basic techniques needed to carry out the layout, design, image evaluation, and tolerancing of lens systems. The stress will be upon working with practical and logical examples of problems using several available computer design programs. Experience with more than one program during the semester will be required.

This is a four-credit course, requiring significant computational laboratory work on the part of the student. Meeting times for the class as listed in the schedule are for three times a week for 75 minutes. The actual number of class meeting times per week will vary, depending upon the material being covered, and will often be much less than the listed hours. Significant additional laboratory time, requiring approximately five to ten hours per week of the student's time, will be needed to satisfactorily complete the course. Students will be expected to work on these problems and report results in a timely manner and in a format similar to that normally encountered in industrial projects. Students will be expected to report to the class from time to time on their work. Commercial lens design programs on PCs may include CODE V, OSLO and ZEMAX .

Topics to be covered:

• Introduction to the design process.
• Use of computers in design.
• Definition of design parameters.
• Ray tracing methods.
• Review of Gaussian Optics.
• Layout of lens systems.
• Optical materials.
• Chromatic aberrations.
• Aberration theory.
• Evaluation of aberrations.
• Presentation of design information.
• Geometrical image formation.
• Diffraction image computation.
• Optical Transfer Function.
• Image evaluation techniques.
• Tolerancing techniques.
• Use of aspheric surfaces.
• Reflective system design.
• The problems to be worked will include
• Ray tracing methods.
• Layout of a simple system.
• Design of a contact doublet.
• Design of an airspaced doublet.
• Analysis of a singlet wide field element.
• Design of a triplet lens.
• Design of a Gauss type objective.
• Tolerancing of lens designs.
• Design of a Cassegrain.
• Design of a Schmidt system (depending upon class progress).

Grades (based on):

• Homework

• Final Course Summary

• Class Attendance

References:

• R.R. Shannon: The Art and Science of Optical Design (Cambridge).
• R. Kingslake: Lens Design Fundamentals (Academic Press).