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Simulation of relief-type diffractive lenses in ZEMAX using parametric modelling and scalar diffraction
Applied Optics
|December 25, 2019
Summary
An efficient method simulates diffractive surfaces using zone decomposition and ray tracing. This approach enables direct analysis and optimization of diffractive lenses within optical design software, with minimal computational overhead.
Area of Science:
- Optical Engineering
- Computational Optics
Background:
- Simulating relief-type diffractive surfaces is crucial for optical design.
- Existing methods may lack efficiency or direct integration with design software.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop an efficient method for simulating relief-type diffractive surfaces.
- To enable direct analysis and optimization of diffractive lenses within optical design software.
Main Methods:
- Zone decomposition and ray tracing to map transmitted wavefronts.
- Scalar diffraction for calculating point spread function/modulation transfer function (PSF/MTF) plots, inherently including multiple diffraction orders.
- Implementation as a ZEMAX Dynamic Link Library extension using an approximative, non-iterative algorithm.
Main Results:
- Average computation time increases of 38% for PSF and 21% for MTF calculations.
- Ray-tracing error below 7e-6 wavelengths.
- Difference from theoretical MTF calculations within 1%-2%.
- RMS difference of simulated-measured through-focus MTF values at 50 lp/mm is 0.031 (2 sigma accuracy).
Conclusions:
- The developed method provides an efficient and accurate solution for simulating diffractive surfaces.
- The approach facilitates direct analysis and optimization of diffractive lenses, demonstrated with intraocular lenses.
- Validation confirms the method's reliability against analytical formulae and measurements.
