Optical Design Examples – Proof of Concept Optical Engineering

These are examples of the kinds of optical designs I typically create in Zemax:

Macro Attachment Lenses

This video was filmed using a set of cinematic macro lenses I designed for Lindsey Optics in 2017.

Double Telecentric Zoom

I designed this 2-4x aspheric zoom to have a fixed total track. It’s telecentric in both object and image space.

Pancake Lens for VR

I was inspired to create this polarization-based “pancake lens” design by a 2018 Oculus VR patent. Light from a display is converted from p to circular polarization by a quarter waveplate oriented 45 deg relative to the polarization axis. The light is then transmitted through a partially reflective, curved mirror. A second quarter waveplate converts it from circular to s polarization, which is reflected by a curved polarizer. The light then passes through the waveplate two more times, rotating the polarization to p, which is then transmitted to the eye. The folded design allows for a longer focal length in a smaller package.

Semi-transparent Mangin Mirror Lens

I designed this F/7 compact lens with external pupil to be diffraction-limited over a 20-deg FOV in the visible. It has two “Mangin” type lenses with an air space in between. Straylight could potentially be reduced with polarizers, as in the pancake lens.

Off-axis Reflective Imager

This F/5 off-axis reflective imager is nearly diffraction-limited over a 10-deg FOV. I used two conic sections and one biconic section for the mirrors.

Acrylic Freeform Version of Off-axis Reflective Imager

Same design as above, reoptimized as a solid acrylic optic. It’s still nearly diffraction-limited for a single wavelength, but as expected, this version has chromatic aberrations.

Navarro Eye Accommodation Model

I created this model using formulas from Navarro’s 1985 paper, “Accommodation-dependent model of the human eye with aspherics”. The crystalline lens radii, conic constants, thickness, and index, as well as the aqueous chamber thickness adjust as the object moves closer to keep the image in focus at the retina.

LED Array Collimator

I designed this LED collimator for an Osram SoleriQ P9 LED array. It’s solid plastic with a cylindrical recess where the LED is inserted. The rays are either focused by a small lens at the end of the recess or totally internally reflected by the outer boundary.

Lenslet Array Beam Combiner

I designed this hexagonal lenslet array and lens to combine an array of sources.