Semiautomatic generation of optical prototypes

This paper presents the theory and application of a computer approach to the problem of finding lens prototypes from given sets of design goals. The procedure is based on the yy method of Delano and has two independent segments: a strictly first-order phase and a combined first- and third-order phase. The former optimizes the first-order layout with respect to geometrical and optical constraints. In this phase the independent variables are the paraxial marginal and principal ray heights. The starting point is a set of yy coordinates which may be either generated by the computer program or supplied by the designer. The second phase combines third-order information with the constraints of the first phase. Here it is more convenient to use ray angles as independent variables. The optimization scheme for both phases is an orthogonal method which has been used successfully on a variety of optical problems.