In this webinar, Lumentum’s Paul Colbourne will describe how to use skew rays to model Gaussian beam propagation in OpticStudio. Skew rays are an efficient and accurate representation of Gaussian beams, and can be used to quickly optimize for best focus or to minimize aberrations. Paul will demonstrate how to set up User-Defined Surfaces to generate skew rays, how to view circular Gaussian beams in 3D layout diagrams, and how to optimize systems with circular Gaussian beams. In addition, Paul will explain general astigmatism, and how to calculate the properties of a generally astigmatic Gaussian beam in OpticStudio using a ZPL macro. Paul will also show how to use a merit function macro to optimize systems with elliptical or generally astigmatic Gaussian beams.
Authored By Paul Colbourne
An updated version of this webinar was provided in April 2022. You can find the most recent information and files here: [Webinar] Using Skew Rays to Model Laser Beams [Q&A].
Video
Using Skew Rays to Model Gaussian Beams - YouTube
About the presenter
Paul is the Director of Optical Switching Technology Advanced Research at Lumentum. He has 23 years’ experience at Lumentum (and formerly JDSU) designing components for fiber optic communication systems and has been using Zemax and OpticStudio for almost as long. He holds more than 40 US patents and obtained his Ph.D. from McMaster University in the Department of Engineering Physics.
The paper that Paul references in the webinar is available for download at this location:
https://resource.lumentum.com/s3fs-public/technical-library-items/skew-ray-gaussian-beam-optimization.pdf
We partnered with Lumentum to create this webinar: https://www.lumentum.com/en
KA-01772