Zemax Sequential Basics: How to Build Lens Systems

Learn to navigate the Zemax sequential interface, use system explorer and length data editor, and apply lens data editing and optimization tools to design and analyze optical systems.

Distinguish system data from lens prescriptions to guide optical design, noting object distance, image plane, field of view, aperture, wavelength, surface radius, thickness, material, conic constant, and clear aperture.

Configure Zemax sequential system data by setting aperture types, intrinsic pupil diameter, and float by step size; use system explorer to choose wavelength, field, and BK7 materials.

Learn Zemax sign conventions for radii of curvature, surface parameters, and thickness in a three-element lens, including glass and air and how S1 to S6 are defined.

Select an uncoated spherical singlet from Thorlabs and import it into Zmax to build lens systems in Zemax sequential basics, using a 1-inch BK7 lens with 50 mm focal length.

Import a singlet from Thorlabs into Zemax using System Explorer, set the 25.4 mm entrance pupil, and specify bk7 from the shot catalog with a first-surface stop.

Import and align a lens in Zemax, locate the distance from the second surface to the focus using thickness solve and marginal ray height zero, revealing the effective focal length.

Discover how marginal ray height sets the paraxial focus in Zemax, differentiating paraxial rays near the optical axis from real rays.

Explore the cross section view in Zemax for a rotationally symmetric optical system, and learn to update images, save and print, draw annotations, and analyze rays, scale, and surface settings.

Add a dummy surface to visualize rays from infinity in Zemax sequential lens systems, plot from the dummy surface, undraw it, and increase ray count to see infinity to focus.

Explore how a droplet, a two-lens system with two refractive indices, minimizes chromatic and spherical aberrations. See how achromatic doublets reduce chromatic aberrations in cameras, telescopes, and microscopes.

Apply first-order equations to a doublet with the thin-lens approximation, using the lensmaker equation and sign convention to compute f1, f2, and the compound focal length, then verify in Zemax.

Import a cemented doublet into Zemax, set the entrance pupil to 25.4, add a dummy surface, define three lens surfaces with specified radii and materials, and simulate with ten rays.

Explore the first order properties of a real lens with the analyze tool, noting effective focal length, back focal length, entrance pupil diameter, total track, magnification near 2f ≈ -1.

Learn how virtual images arise in Zemax sequential basics by adjusting object distance and lens thickness, observing image location, magnification, and the shift to infinity when at focus.

Set aperture to 25 and build a bk7 lens in Zemax, using surface as stop with radii 100 and -100 and thickness 10, then compare fixed versus variable for optimization.

Learn how to determine the effective focal length (EFL) of a lens system, using entrance pupil, marginal rays, and the angle-height relationship, with sign conventions for anti-clockwise and clockwise rotations.

Use marginal ray angle in Zemax sequential basics to adjust the effective focal length. Radii of curvature change to -0.125 for 100 and -0.25 for 50 via Lens Data editor.

Explore the pickup feature in the lens data editor, which links surface selection, scale factors, and radius of curvature to align chief rays across surfaces.

Learn how element power controls each lens's focal length and power, compute the overall effective focal length, and modify lens assemblies by selecting and deleting surfaces.

Understand F-number concepts with entrance pupil diameter and effective focal length, and how radii of curvature affect lens design. Learn about marginal and chief rays and Xpl macro in Zmacs.

Use marginal ray height as the main thickness solve to constrain the image to paraxial focus, noting zero pupil and the -1 to 1 pupil zone including 0.7.

Explore edge thickness in Zemax sequential design by adjusting the distance between adjacent surfaces at the edge, allowing lenses to touch or maintain a defined separation to ensure physical feasibility.

Use the position solve to adjust lens thickness so the distance from the first to the sixth surface remains constant, using zmax as a constraint.

Apply the center of curvature thickness solve to adjust a surface so the next surface lies at the center of the reference surface curvature, using its radius of curvature.

Explore how Zemax models material properties by adjusting the refractive index, Abbe number, and partial dispersion term, and why varying z max can produce unrealistic material choices.

In Zemax sequential basics, substitution uses catalog or custom glasses, often better than models. It requires a global optimizer, such as hammer optimizer, to find glasses and optimize the system.

Learn why Zemax uses clear semi-diameter, not radii of curvature, and how automatic and maximum settings determine the clear aperture across multiple configurations.

Master how toolbars manage parameter updates in Zemax, including kerning, constant mechanical semidiameter, the variable pickup xpl macro, and choose update none, update all windows, or update layout windows.

learn how to tilt and decenter lens elements in Zemax sequential basics, using 3d view, pivot points, and coordinate breaks to adjust surface positions while preserving coordinate integrity.

Learn to add a folding mirror in Zemax sequential lens design by creating a dummy surface, applying a 90-degree fold, and adjusting x and z rotations.

Reverse optical elements and entire lens systems with surface flips and 180-degree rotations. It works in simple configurations but may require manual adjustments across multiple surfaces.

Use Z Max to scale a lens and set a target focal length; adjusting the focal length automatically recalculates radii of curvature and distances to optimize optical systems.

Create a double pass in Zemax sequential mode by turning a surface into a mirror, manage sign conventions, and understand that reflected rays may not indicate passage through lenses.

Learn how Zemax sequential optics assign per-surface apertures, including floating and circular options, governed by semi diameter, and how to remove or convert apertures.

Modify surface properties by selecting a surface to adjust its type, color, opacity, and row color. Learn how surfaces with radii of curvature and conic constants appear in shaded model.

Identify the stop aperture that limits the light bundle and use System Explorer to assign a surface as the stop by adjusting semi diameter and thickness.

Ignore a surface in Zemax sequential basics to test effects without deleting the lens structure, using surface settings; observe the surface turning gray and re-enable when needed.

Explore draw options for lens surface properties in Zemax sequential basics, learn to hide or raise to a surface, and disable drawing the surface edge to reveal each surface’s effect.

Explore surface aperture options in the lens data editor, from rectangular and circular to elliptical and user apertures, and observe how aperture shapes impact beam propagation and diffraction.

Edit apertures in Zemax by choosing circular, rectangular, or user aperture, editing files, and forming polygons from points, coordinates, or UDA code, with guidance to read the PDF for methods.

Explore tilt and decenter techniques to create a wedge surface, adjust degrees and decenter by millimeters, and fix coordinate rotation with reverse surfaces for precise lens design.

Import a triplet lens into Zemax, a cemented three-element system, with entrance pupil diameter 10 and total diameter 20, radii of curvature, thicknesses, materials, 479 nm wavelength, and no field.

Build a Zemax lens system using 20 mm entrance pupil and a single on-axis field at 0.79 µm, yielding a focal length around 200 and back focal length near 195.76.

Calculate the radii of curvature for the last surface of a Cooke Triplet in Zemax to achieve a 100 mm effective focal length with a 20 mm entrance pupil.

Build a Cook triplet lens in Zemax sequential basics by setting a 20 mm entrance pupil, defining surface radii and thicknesses, making a stop, and achieving 100 mm focal length.

Explore the Maksutov telescope design with a front meniscus, back-surface mirror with coatings, and a field flattener. Model mirror spacing and compute the effective focal length using Zemax sequential.

Model a maksutov telescope in Zemax with a two-field system, primary and secondary mirrors, and 10 mm aperture; analyze focal length and back focal length.