Optical designs with materials

[Steve ReddicliffeParticipant]

Can the design system take into account the mechanical aspects of an optical design?

E.g. for infra red when using reflective objects and passing through lenses.

Thanks.

[Damian MarekParticipant]

You can simulate the effect of lenses and reflective objects, but laying out free space mechanical devices in a CAD environment (if this is what you mean) is out of the scope of Optiwave software.

Let me know if this answered your question. I’m not exactly sure what you mean by mechanical aspects.

Thanks

[Steve ReddicliffeParticipant]

Thanks for the answer Damian.

It sounds like we could use the software as we use an aluminium surface for reflection, then the IR passes through a lens.

So can the properties of the materials be allowed for?

Steve.

[Damian MarekParticipant]

Hi,

Yes! For example the Aluminum layer (thin film) would be modeled as a very large and lossy refractive index similar to the example in the link below:

http://refractiveindex.info/legacy/?wavelength=2.0000E%2B02

You will just have to be careful to choose the appropriate mesh size, since the large index of refraction will shorten the effective wavelength considerably.

Cheers

[Steve ReddicliffeParticipant]

Hi Damian,

That’s great info.

Thank you.