Is it possible to remotely inject an image into a conventional camera with lens by modulating the phase/amplitude of a laser beam? My feeling is no. Any examples of this? Thank you.

Built this as a side project: a Fusion 360 add-in that designs THz-band (0.1–4 THz) lenses end-to-end — geometric ray-trace, material dispersion/absorption, Fresnel and axicon modes, even a real-time wave-optics (angular spectrum) simulation to cross-check the focal point — then generates the 3D body and exports straight to STEP/STL/OBJ.

Everything in the video (focal length, transmission, diffraction efficiency) updates live as you drag the sliders — no re-running a separate solver. The auto-optimize buttons solve for curvature/conic/asphere terms from a target focal length, or back out axicon angle from a target non-diffracting range.

Still refining it, but it's at a point where it's actually useful for real THz optics work, so figured I'd share.

個人プロジェクトとして作ったアドインで、THz帯（0.1〜4 THz）のレンズを一気通貫で設計できます。幾何光学レイトレース、材料の分散・吸収、フレネル／アキシコンモード対応、さらには角スペクトル法による波動光学シミュレーションで焦点位置を相互検証可能。そのまま3D形状を生成してSTEP/STL/OBJへ出力できます。

動画内の焦点距離・透過率・回折効率などはスライダーを動かすたびにリアルタイムで更新されます（別途ソルバーを走らせる必要なし）。自動最適化ボタンで、目標焦点距離から曲率・コーニック係数・非球面係数を逆算したり、目標の非回折ゾーン長からアキシコン角度を算出したりもできます。

まだ調整中ですが、実際のTHz光学設計に使えるレベルになってきたので共有してみます。

I’m studying optoelectronic engineering as an undergraduate in China.

My current plan is to pursue a master’s degree in Europe and, if possible, stay there to work afterward.

I hope to work in semiconductor lithography or advanced semiconductor manufacturing equipment.

I’m particularly interested in the equipment and systems side.

From what I understand, Europe has a relatively strong ecosystem in optics, photonics, precision engineering, semiconductor equipment, and related supply chains.

The Netherlands and Germany seem especially attractive, although I’m also looking at countries such as Belgium and France. And if I’m qualified or lucky enough, Switzerland will also be an option.

The US is probably not a realistic option for me because of the high cost.

I’m hesitant about staying in China long term because the graduate job market is extremely competitive, while compensation and working conditions for many entry-level engineering roles are not particularly attractive.

I’m also wondering whether my current plan might be a bit overly optimistic.

I’d really appreciate any advice or personal experiences from people who are already working in the industry. Thanks a lot!

I’m a PhD spectroscopist turned optics and instrumentation scientist and I’ve spent a lot of my free time over the past while building AperiOptic (https://aperioptic.com). It’s a free optical design tool that runs entirely in the browser. No install, no license, no account.

I originally started it because I wanted something quick for lab work that didn’t mean fighting for a Zemax seat every time I needed to sanity check a layout. It’s grown a lot since then, and I want to share it.

What it does right now:

• 3D sequential-style ray tracing with lenses, mirrors, beamsplitters, and grouped elements
• Multiple fields and polychromatic sources
• Glass catalog with real materials (N-BK7, F2, N-SK2, etc.)
• Optimizer (DLS/Levenberg-Marquardt and Powell)
• Detector analysis: spot diagrams, PSF, OPD, MTF, Zernikes, Z-stack, and coherent interference (the Mach-Zehnder screenshot shows fringes from a test lens)
• Import of .zmx elements and full .zmx systems
• A big page of optics calculators (thin lens, NA, depth of field, Airy disk, Gaussian beams, etc.)
• An optics/photonics news feed pulling from arXiv, journals, and a few subreddits

What it isn’t: a full Zemax replacement. It’s meant to be solid for ray tracing, optimization, spot and wavefront analysis for everyday lab and prototyping work.

What I’m looking for:

• Bugs, obviously
• If you have Zemax (or Code V, OSLO, etc.) results that AperiOptic doesn’t reproduce, I really want to hear about it. Mismatches are the most useful feedback I can get for tightening up the physics
• Features you’d actually use that are missing
• Anything confusing about the interface

There’s a contact link at the bottom of the site, or just reply here. Totally free to use and no sign-up.

Thanks for taking a look.

Heterogeneous photonic integration for on-chip Nd: YAG lasers.

the differences are * it was not vibe coded (journey of development at the last) * you can GO INSIDE (typical results in attached images)

in the program you can use your mouse to control the positions, sizes and refractive indices of two balls. one of them is left-mouse-button controlled (the "lmb" ball) and another right-mouse-button controlled (the "rmb" ball)

details of the program

the most tricky part so far is how to determine the correct focus distance. when aperture=0 there's no problem as everything is in perfectly sharp focus. while aperture>0 and camera outside of the two balls usually the auto focus feature works fine. you hold the space bar and hover the mouse pointer around the scene the program detects the exact hit point and calculates the focus distance accordingly

details about focus distance

there're so many web-based raytracers online but to my surprise most of them don't allow objects intersecting and / or moving camera inside objects. i know doing this is unrealistic but it's FUN, just like enabling the no-clip mode in 3d games and walking through walls and getting to some places that you're not supposed to reach

details in development

it's quite difficult to find the correct focus setting when you're inside. i still don't have any solid solutions for that. i usually try by luck. sometimes the images are at infinitely faraway even if you're looking from within a ball

Hello, new to optics here. I bought two identical achromatic doublet lenses from AliExpress. Focal length of each is about 100mm. I want to make a photography lens, so I arranged the lenses symmetrically with an aperture stop between the two lenses. This combination reduces the focal length. Image quality seems good enough when aperture size is reduced. I have some questions though. Is there a name for this kind of simple lens design? And theoretically speaking, what are the optical aberrations that cannot be avoided with this design? Thanks.

Hello all, I hope this kind of question is allowed.

Background/Context:

I am in the process of constructing a Franken-lens consisting a standard photogroahy base lens, a cylindrical lens creating a 3x horizontal compression and then finally a positive and negative pair that will be used to focus the entire thing.

I am in the process of sourcing the front two elements found the following from a surplus seller on eBay

I understand that but cx means bi convex but I cannot figure out what the serial at the top could indicate.

The AI response that is forced upon me when reverse image searching suggests F2 could suggest Schott flint glass. Which appears upon further googling to be a real thing.

But as to the rest of it I have no idea. Could 218 be the focal length?

And what could the A mean?

Does it even matter or would I be okay simply looking for lenses in my desired diameter and focal length?

Thanks

Alex

Open Innovation Concept: Ultra-thin optical band that turns night into daylight (360° vision)

"Hello everyone. I am not a technician or an engineer, and I am not looking for patents or economic rights. I just want to share a conceptual idea and see if optical engineers find it interesting from a technological standpoint.

The Concept:

Imagine an ultra-thin metal band (about 2 cm wide) worn over the eyes, exactly as shown in the attached images. There are no screens, no image projection, and no user interface.

When you put it on at night, the real environment around you (in full 360 degrees, including peripheral vision) looks as bright as midday, with a warm, golden daylight glow (as seen in the bottom image). It is not AR or a display; it is the real world, passively amplified and transformed.

The Technical Challenges:

I know this doesn't exist today. Current night vision requires thick tubes, and smart glasses use cameras and displays. So, my questions for the experts are:

1. Is it possible to achieve this light amplification without screens, using metamaterials or nanolayers on such a thin band?

2. How could ambient light be captured and amplified in 360 degrees without blocking normal vision?

3. Is there any optical material or filter capable of converting faint night light into this warm daylight effect?

The images are AI-generated concept art to illustrate the idea. I would love to read the thoughts of people who understand optics and physics. Thanks!"

As the title says, I am finishing my PhD in reliability of cameras where the major investigation was studying optical degradation of automotive cameras with aging. I am not an optical engineer by degree but a mechanical engineer with research experience in optical degradation, camera characterization, reliability analyses and simulations. I am located in Germany and would like to explore my chances in the US. I see open positions on LinkedIn which match my skills but almost all of them ask a US Person (no sponsorship available). I know I am not an extraordinary candidate in anyway that organisations would line up to sponsor my visa, but would there be a way to simplify this process? Any help or suggestions is welcome.

Has anyone seen this? I just happened upon it today and it looks pretty cool.

All in browser optics toolbox with full 3D ray tracer. Looks vibe coded and in beta, but benchmarks seem legit.

Looks like only working on desktop right now.

aperioptic.com

I'm thinking of this project for my physics degree where I look into the basics of adaptive optics with a more amateur setup. The 'making a deformable mirror' part seems challenging but not out of reach, however the wavefront sensor (Shack Hartmann) seems to just be impossible for my budget.

Is it possible to make a rudimentary homemade S-H wavefront sensor (<300-400$ in budget) ?

Hello, I am looking for an optical design program from Dilworth OSD Synopsys. Is anyone familiar with this software, and is it possible to purchase it?

I'm working on a 940nm Diy Lasertag System. I've learned some things about optics already. But i have problems with divergence. So the question:

A smaller Emitter = smaller divergence, but is also the Acryl Lens on top of the LED important? So would be a 5mm LED type be better or something like a flatt 2mm Emitter with/without a 60° build in lens on top. The 5mm LED would have a smaller emitting diameter, but ofc a big non removable lens.

Bigger F = smaller divergence? How do i calculate the divergence based on the focal lenght?

Is a plano Convex lens the optimal or is there something better?

Convex side facing to or away from the LED?

Thanks for help in advance.

I’m taking a class learning lens design using Zemax, I’m looking to supplement my learning with some books and examples. Any advice? Here are 2 promising books I found, has anyone here used either of them?

Wanted to see if anyone has been / is on this course and could share:
- what’s the day to day looks like
- what does a good personal statement look like
- what questions/areas might they ask about in the interview
- how are the exams

Quantum physics has a screw with no moving parts. A particle sits in a chain of traps. Slowly change how deep the traps are and how strongly they are coupled, then bring every setting back: the Hamiltonian is exactly the same as before, yet the particle has moved on by one cell. As long as the cycle is slow and the energy gap stays open, the step does not depend on the exact shape of the cycle, only on how it winds around the one point where the gap closes. That whole number is a topological invariant, the Chern number: go around once and the particle moves one cell, go the other way and it moves back, miss the point and it goes nowhere. This is a Thouless pump, and physicists have built it from light, with ultracold atoms held in overlapping laser patterns.

Hi everyone,

I work in automotive software and want to build a solid understanding of Image Signal Processing (ISP) for ADAS cameras. I’m new to ISP and I find vendor documentation difficult to follow without understanding the basics first.
I’m looking for a structured learning path covering:
Camera fundamentals: How image sensors work, RAW images, Bayer patterns, exposure, gain, and noise.
ISP pipeline: Demosaicing, white balance, noise reduction, color correction, HDR, and tone mapping.
ISP tuning: How to evaluate image quality and understand the trade-offs between different settings.
ADAS applications: How ISP settings affect object detection and perception, especially in low light or high-contrast scenes.
Which courses, books, YouTube playlists, or practical tutorials would you recommend? Free and paid options are both welcome. Hands-on exercises using RAW images, Python or OpenCV would be especially helpful.
If you work in automotive imaging, where would you start, and in what order would you learn these topics? Please share links or resource names.

Thanks!

Follow-up to our single concave VLS grating post. Full write-up with all figures and equations: Hackaday log. That grating was an ideal — a custom groove pattern you can't buy (a two-beam hologram could write it, but a custom master isn't realistic for a small open project). So we redesigned around catalog parts: a Shimadzu P0400-01 flat-field grating (400 l/mm, 400–1100 nm), a 200 µm / NA 0.22 fiber, a two-achromat relay (×4.3, ~f/10) and a 25 µm slit.

The one unknown is the grooves — Shimadzu doesn't publish the chirp. We reconstructed

ν(y) = 400 + C₁y + C₂y² + C₃y³ , from the datasheet:

• 400 l/mm at the centre: the grating equation reproduces the datasheet angles (−10.49° / +5.62°) exactly; 400 at either edge misses the 1100 nm angle by 0.12° or 0.76°.
• The two published exit distances are the ends of one flat tilted detector plane, which the datasheet also prints directly (r′ᵢ = 96.9 mm, βᵢ = −7.51°).
• R = 99.61 mm from the blank's sag (9.5 mm centre, 13.6 mm corner).
• Then solve C₁–C₃ by ray tracing onto that fixed plane: C₁ = +0.253 l/mm², C₂ = −0.0172 l/mm³, C₃ ≈ 0. C₁ matches the analytic defocus condition to within 0.001.

The catch: the C₁ needed to cancel defocus varies 4.6× across the band, so one chirp nulls defocus at only two wavelengths (~510 and ~1010 nm). Predicted end to end: 0.63–0.68 nm at those two, 1.43 nm mean FWHM over 400–1100 nm, ~1 % of fiber light on the pixels. Resolution here is measured directly on the simulated line profile (its width at half height, plus the window holding 80 % of the light). The shortcut formula we used in the first post assumes bell-shaped lines; in this build defocus makes the lines flat-topped, so the formula would have said 1.20 nm instead of the real 1.43 nm. Measured the same way, the first post’s design comes out at ~0.75 nm, a bit better than the ~0.9 nm we quoted.

Questions:

• Has anyone measured a Shimadzu flat-field grating's groove chirp, or seen a recording geometry published?
• We plan to check the chirp two ways: a thin laser beam scanned across the blank (diffraction angle → local groove density), and a slotted mask stepped across the grating with a lamp line on the CCD (where each strip sends the line). Better methods?
• Practical tips on fitting the slit mount next to the CCD? In this flat-field mount the slit and the CCD's 400 nm end are only ~10° apart as seen from the grating, so a standard Ø25 mm slit mount ends ~11 mm from the active area — less once the sensor package and PCB are counted.

Details and figures: Hackaday log Code, derivation, parts list:

https://github.com/CheckAG/JASPER_VIS_NIR_Optics_Design/tree/main/JASPER_1nm_VLS_simulated

(Modelling and code heavily AI-assisted and human-reviewed.)

During optical design, how much of your optimization process can you actually recover afterward?

In one of my smartphone-lens design projects, I manually saved only about six initial/final lens files.

But between those saved files, I had performed hundreds of optimizations, rollbacks, failed attempts, constraint changes, and alternative branches. Normally, most of this information is effectively lost once the design is finished.

This raised two questions for me:

1. Can we reconstruct the complete historical process that produced a good optical design?
2. Can we quantitatively analyze that history and learn something that was not obvious from the saved lens files alone?

This is why I developed KABBALAH.

KABBALAH reconstructs CODE V optimization history (command logs) into a structured state-and-branch trajectory. It preserves intermediate optimized states, abandoned branches, rollbacks, save/restore relationships, and designer operations, and organizes the process into a navigable tree.

In one real smartphone telephoto project, for example:

- about 440,000 lines of CODE V log

- only 6 manually saved lens files

- about 500 reconstructed states

- 66 semantic side branches

- about 10 seconds to compile the complete history

These recovered files (4 JSON+1 HTML) only take 500KB if you compress them into a ZIP.

But what I think is more interesting than the reconstruction itself is that KABBALAH can serve as an interface between the real optical-design process and an LLM.

The idea is not that the designer should manually inspect hundreds of reconstructed states or branches.

How to use this tool:

You can download the full source code along with its README. Feed both the source code and README into a capable LLM, and it will understand how this tool works and how to run it. Then the LLM can reconstruct and compile your command logs into trees of operations and states.

In other words:

CODE V design history → KABBALAH → LLM

The AI no longer sees only the final lens prescription or a few manually selected snapshots. It can also see how the design actually evolved:

- what was tried,

- what failed,

- what was rolled back,

- where branches diverged,

- how constraints changed,

- and how the optical system evolved before and after particular operations.

My longer-term interest is whether this kind of historical trajectory can become a useful interface for AI to understand and participate in the optical-design process, rather than only generating or evaluating isolated lens designs.

I have put several materials in the GitHub repository:

- full source code and README describing the trajectory/state data structure and how it can be given directly to an LLM;

- a short presentation explaining what KABBALAH is and why I developed it;

- a detailed case study showing how a reconstructed optimization history can be used to discover a design question, analyze the process quantitatively, formulate a hypothesis, and test it against trajectory data.

GitHub: SHUN-970/KABBALAH: A tool based on CODE V for reconstructing design history

I’d be very interested to hear how other optical designers preserve failed branches, intermediate states, and optimization history — and whether you think giving this history directly to an LLM could be useful in practice.

The recoverd trajectories looks like:

And the local details:

Hi everyone!

I have a background in condensed matter physics and am transitioning into photonics for my future PhD. I’m a beginner seeking hands-on experience through computational projects, especially in laser physics, light–matter interaction, and photonic integrated circuits (PICs).

I’m interested in simulations, numerical modelling, and other computational methods. If you have beginner-friendly project ideas and would like to collaborate, please DM me. I’m also open to recommendations for useful tools, resources, or ongoing projects.

Thanks!

Hi, I'm in the last grade of my high school in austria. I'm very interested in optics and I want to pursue it professionally. The university I'm looking at is an engineering university. It doesn't specifically have any optical engineering degrees so I will do technical physics. Is there anything important I should know beforehand?

Hi everyone,

I’m interested in learning how you use IR detection cards in your work and what challenges you have when using them. Current IR detection cards from Thorlabs and Newport are not transparent, which can sometimes make laser alignment difficult. Would a transparent IR detection card make the alignment process easier or be useful for your applications?

I’d appreciate hearing about your experiences and thoughts. Thanks!