Creating Custom & Uploaded Components

Open the form by dragging Create custom <Type> from a catalog results page, or the Custom Lens Quick Add chip, onto the canvas. One form serves every optics type; its sections change with the type:

Changing a material is Professional-tier.

A custom optic is built from faces. Select a face in the Surfaces list, then set its deformation, simulation settings, coating and scattering. Each face has its own settings.

The Coating section takes a .csv or .xlsx file with transmission and reflection per wavelength for P and S polarization, optionally with phase. Download Template gives you the column layout.

Which face carries the coating: on a cube beam splitter, including the polarizing cube, it is the diagonal face; on a thin beam splitter, the front face.

The values are power, not amplitude. Enter R_s, R_p, T_s and T_p as fractions of power. A reflectance of 0.8 means 80% of the incident S-polarized power is reflected.

Angle of incidence. The file's values are applied as they are, at every angle. The tool still works out the S and P directions for each ray from its own angle and the surface at the hit point.

3DOptix traces polarization in 3D for every ray at every surface. At each hit it finds the plane of incidence for that ray, splits the ray's polarization into local S and P components, and applies the Fresnel coefficients for the wavelength, the materials and the angle. This holds for folded paths such as a two-mirror periscope, for tilted surfaces and for strongly curved ones. The X, Y and Z components shown in analysis results are the resulting state expressed in the analysis coordinate system.

• Ideal polarizer and polarizing beam splitter apply a set Jones matrix.
• Ideal wave plate models birefringence: you enter the ordinary and extraordinary indices, and the tool traces separate ordinary and extraordinary rays, each refracted with its own index.
• Uncoated surfaces use Fresnel coefficients from the ray's angle and the two refractive indices, including total internal reflection.
• Not modeled: birefringence from a crystal material such as calcite or quartz assigned to an ordinary lens or window. Use the Ideal Wave Plate for that.

The Scattering section sets stray-light behavior for a face. For every model you set:

• Transmittance / Reflectance / Absorption, as percentages.
• Relative power threshold, below which scattered rays are dropped.
• Scattering percentage, the share of the light that is scattered rather than reflected or transmitted directly.
• Number of scattered rays per hit.

Each model gives the scattered intensity I as a function of the angle θ from the model's axis, and for the Gaussian model also of the azimuth φ. I₀ is the intensity on the axis. Gaussian, Super Gaussian and ABg are centered on the direction of specular reflection or refraction; Lambertian and Cos-Nth on the surface normal.

The Parametric Aperture section builds an aperture from an inner opening and an outer frame. Each is Elliptical (radius X, radius Y) or Rectangular (half width, half height), set with sliders in your working units.

The User Aperture (Mask) section takes a .png image and uses its transparency as the aperture shape.

Ideal Microscope Objective and Ideal Beam Expander are defined by their first-order behavior, such as magnification or expansion ratio, with no lens prescription behind them. Use them to lay out a system before choosing real parts.

Select a light source to see its settings in the Inspector, below Move & Rotate.

Source type

Point source, Plane wave, Omnidirectional point source (when enabled for your account) and Gaussian (Professional-tier). A user-defined light source can also be a Screen source, a Custom beam source or an LED, depending on your account.

Spatial and angular settings

For plane waves and point sources, Spatial information sets the shape (circular, elliptical, square or rectangular), the size and the ray pattern (random, periodic, circular or grid). Angular information sets the direction, as angles in degrees or mrad or as direction cosines, plus the azimuth for non-circular shapes. A point source also has a divergence: a half-cone angle, a half-width angle or a half width at a given distance.

Wavelengths

Spectrum type offers four models:

For the last three, Apply generates the wavelength list. One wavelength is marked primary; it is used for calculations and cannot be deleted. You can move the primary mark to another wavelength.

Polarization

Every source starts unpolarized. Type of polarization offers several equivalent ways to set a state:

• Orientation angle (−180° to +180°) and Eccentricity (0 for circular to 1 for linear).
• Ellipticity angle and Extinction ratio (0 to 100).
• Polarization angle: one angle, from which the Jones vector is computed.
• Jones vector: principal and orthogonal Jx and Jy, real and imaginary parts.
• Stokes parameters: S0, S1, S2, S3.
• Phase shift and auxiliary angle.
• Circular Left or Circular Right.

Editing any field marks the source User Defined. To return to unpolarized light, choose the unpolarized option in Type of polarization rather than clearing the fields.

Number of rays

A source has two ray counts. 3D Layout is the number of rays drawn in the viewport, 30 by default and up to 200 in Fast Rays mode; it affects only the display. The Analysis count, 1,000,000 by default, is traced by a Propagation Simulation, and each analysis can override it in the Analysis Portal. Raise the layout count when a tool measures the drawn rays, such as the Gaussian Beam tool.

Power

The source power, in watts.

The Ray File tile in the Light Sources category imports a source profile in the IES-TM25 format. It is not enabled on every account.