raytracing program

[Thomas Aabo]

I am trying to build a fluorescence part into my microscope. I will need two or three lenses before the objective. I was thinking of finding a (free) piece of software (optical design/raytracing) that could help me. Does anyone know any programs for this that are relatively easy to use? something like Zemax

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Thomas Aabo    
Phone: [phone]
M.Sc., Ph.D student, [hidden email]            
University of Copenhagen
Department of Food Science
Rolighedsvej 30
1958 Frederiksberg C
Denmark
www.ifv.life.ku.dk
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[John Oreopoulos]

The most useful aid I found on the web was Newport's online Optical Assitant:

http://www.newport.com/OpticalAssistant/

I used this to design a simple optical train of lenses that expanded a laser beam and focused it onto the back focal plane of my TIRF objective. This also helped me decide what lenses to purchase from Thorlabs for this purpose and estimate how much space I would need on my optical bench.

No commercial interest for Thorlabs or Newport.

John Oreopoulos, BSc,

PhD Candidate

University of Toronto

Institute For Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering

Centre For Studies in Molecular Imaging

Tel: W:416-946-5022

On 12-Nov-08, at 10:21 AM, Thomas Aabo wrote:

I am trying to build a fluorescence part into my microscope. I will need two or three lenses before the objective. I was thinking of finding a (free) piece of software (optical design/raytracing) that could help me. Does anyone know any programs for this that are relatively easy to use? something like Zemax 

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Thomas Aabo    

Phone: [phone] 

M.Sc., Ph.D student, [hidden email]            

University of Copenhagen

Department of Food Science

Rolighedsvej 30 

1958 Frederiksberg C

Denmark

www.ifv.life.ku.dk

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[Matthew Nicholas]

You might be interested in Raytrace
http://members.ozemail.com.au/~imesoft/raytrace.htm
Not free, but cheap (US$65), and pretty handy. You can download the
evaluation version (more or less thes same as full, except you cannot
save) and see if fits your needs.

Good luck!
Matthew Nicholas
Albert Einstein College of Medicine, MSTP III


Thomas Aabo wrote:

> I am trying to build a fluorescence part into my microscope. I will need two or three lenses before the objective. I was thinking of finding a (free) piece of software (optical design/raytracing) that could help me. Does anyone know any programs for this that are relatively easy to use? something like Zemax
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------
> Thomas Aabo    
> Phone: [phone]
> M.Sc., Ph.D student, [hidden email]            
> University of Copenhagen
> Department of Food Science
> Rolighedsvej 30
> 1958 Frederiksberg C
> Denmark
> www.ifv.life.ku.dk
> -------------------------------------------------------------
>  

[Shalin Mehta]

If you are working with upto 10 surfaces (which just might suffice for optimization of path involving 3 lenses) you can use freely available EDU version of OSLO software.

http://www.lambdares.com/education/oslo_edu/.

They also have a tutorial for getting started.

Good luck,
Shalin

On Wed, Nov 12, 2008 at 11:41 PM, Matthew Nicholas <[hidden email]> wrote:

You might be interested in Raytrace
http://members.ozemail.com.au/~imesoft/raytrace.htm
Not free, but cheap (US$65), and pretty handy. You can download the evaluation version (more or less thes same as full, except you cannot save) and see if fits your needs.

Good luck!
Matthew Nicholas
Albert Einstein College of Medicine, MSTP III

Thomas Aabo wrote:

I am trying to build a fluorescence part into my microscope. I will need two or three lenses before the objective. I was thinking of finding a (free) piece of software (optical design/raytracing) that could help me. Does anyone know any programs for this that are relatively easy to use? something like Zemax
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Thomas Aabo    Phone: [phone] M.Sc., Ph.D student, [hidden email]            University of Copenhagen
Department of Food Science
Rolighedsvej 30 1958 Frederiksberg C
Denmark
www.ifv.life.ku.dk
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