Minimizing glare and ghost images in optical systems via stray light control constitutes a significant portion of design time and costs. Optical coatings are crucial for reducing stray light to improve the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). However, existing tools for identifying problematic surfaces are often manual, prompting extensive coating application to avoid extended development, which increases optics cost. To facilitate stray light analysis and reduce cost, a standalone tool has been developed that inquires about stray light optical path irradiance and assesses components' contribution to noise using realistic illumination scenarios. Coatings can be selectively applied to problematic surfaces until the desired SNR is attained. This approach significantly reduces analysis time and costs. GPU and Cloud computing expedite computations while maintaining precision and integrating seamlessly with Ansys' advanced ray-tracing tools, avoiding assumptions or approximations. It utilizes complete non-sequential ray data within a semi-sequential framework. Use cases and SNR analysis to validate the tool will be presented.
Endoscopes are medical inspection devices allowing doctors to examine internal organs without the need for large incisions. Made of optical fibers and an imaging lens at the tip, one of their most critical parameters is the size of the imaging optical system, limiting the agility and accessibility for clinical applications. Metalens-based fiber-optic endoscopes offer a promising alternative to conventional devices to reduce the size while maintaining the image quality. However, the accurate modelling and analysis required to design these devices can be challenging as they combine nanoscopic elements in a macroscopic optical system. In this work, we present a new multiscale metalens design solution for fiber-optic endoscopes, utilizing full-wave electromagnetic simulations and ray-tracing techniques. The metalens consists of subwavelength scatterers (meta-atoms) characterized individually using Rigorous Coupling Wave Analysis (RCWA). By controlling their distribution in size according to a target phase profile optimized in ray-tracing optics software, one can manipulate the phase, amplitude and polarization of the transmitted light. Smaller scale metalens (~100λ),can be directly simulated and their near-/far-field results can be obtained with the Finite Difference Time Domain (FDTD) method. For larger metalens (≫ 100 λ) stitching the near field or summing up the farfield from individual metaatoms to obtain the overall response of the metalens is more efficient than the direct simulationFinally, we can perform ray-tracing simulations to characterize the full system in a macro-scale environment, utilizing the response of the metalens.
KEYWORDS: Stray light, Design, Stray light analysis, Signal to noise ratio, Optical coatings, Cameras, Zemax, Process modeling, Monte Carlo methods, Mathematical optimization
Stray light analysis is essential for the design of high-quality optical systems, to ensure that unwanted light reaching the sensor is minimized, and artifacts that degrade optical performance - such as lens flare - are mitigated. This article introduces a system-level approach for stray light analysis using Ansys Optics simulation tools, considering stray light from both optical and non-optical components. The article illustrates how these tools can be integrated with Ansys optiSLang for automated exploration and design optimization. The practical camera use-case highlights a seamless data exchange between Ansys Optics simulation tools. It employs a range of intuitive features, from Ansys Zemax OpticStudio's sequential ray tracing, extending to Ansys Speos ray path analysis, while leveraging HPC and Cloud Computing. The combined capabilities offer an efficient solution, streamlining collaboration and enabling optimized optical system designs.
We propose a workflow to design a metalens for a double-path fiber-optic endoscope application. The metalens is made of optical subwavelength scatterers (~106-108 meta-atoms) characterized individually with the Rigorous Coupled Wave Analysis (RCWA) method. They can collectively manipulate the phase, amplitude, and polarization of incident light. The response of the full metalens is reconstructed from the response of each individual unit cell according to a target phase profile optimized in ray-tracing optics software. Image acquisition with the full system is simulated in physics-based ray-tracing software with an ideal metalens and simulation-based fiber illumination in a 3D blood vessel environment.
KEYWORDS: Stray light, Design, Stray light analysis, Signal to noise ratio, Optical coatings, Cameras, Zemax, Process modeling, Monte Carlo methods, Mathematical optimization
Stray light analysis is essential for the design of high-quality optical systems, to ensure that unwanted light reaching the sensor is minimized, and artifacts that degrade optical performance - such as lens flare – are mitigated. This article introduces a system-level approach for stray light analysis using Ansys Optics simulation tools, considering stray light from both optical and non-optical components. The article illustrates how these tools can be integrated with Ansys optiSLang for automated exploration and design optimization. The practical camera use-case highlights a seamless data exchange between Ansys Optics simulation tools. It employs a range of intuitive features, from Ansys Zemax OpticStudio's sequential ray tracing, extending to Ansys Speos ray path analysis, while leveraging HPC and Cloud Computing. The combined capabilities offer an efficient solution, streamlining collaboration and enabling optimized optical system designs.
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