DETAILED SPECIFICATIONS

Program Description:

table-driven ray tracer with editor and graphics

Optical System Definition:

sequential list of optically active surfaces

Ray Definition:

Cartesian coordinates and direction cosines

Ray Variables:

lab frame; individual surface frame

Solution Method:

three-dimensional ray intercept solver

Output Functions:

text -- screen, printer, clipboard
graphics -- screen, printer, clipboard

Accuracy --

double precision, 14 digits, including grazing incidence

Surface Profiles --

• BEAM TWO: flat, spherical, conic sections of revolution
• BEAM THREE, FOUR: flat, spherical, conic sections of revolution polynomials of revolution to 14th degree cylinders: circular, conic, polynomial torics: circular, conic, polynomial

Surface Actions --

• BEAM TWO: refraction, reflection, iris, phantom
• BEAM THREE and FOUR: refraction, reflection, iris, phantom Fresnel lenses & mirrors diffraction gratings, transmission & reflection retroreflectors

Surface Positioning --

• BEAM TWO: location along fixed Z axis
• BEAM THREE, FOUR: X, Y, Z, tilt, pitch, roll

Optical Complexity --

• BEAM TWO and THREE: up to 20 consecutive surfaces
  
• BEAM FOUR: up to 99 consecutive surfaces

Media Selection --

• BEAM THREE: up to 20 refractive media
• BEAM FOUR: up to 99 refractive media

Table Editor --

includes all table editing functions file system support common ASCII data format, all products, all platforms

File Manager --

fetch, directory display, save, warn if unsaved

Monte Carlo Ray Generator --

provides an unlimited number of illuminating rays

Layout Graphics:

shows surfaces, media, rays, pan, zoom, annotation

• BEAM TWO: straight side view
• BEAM THREE, FOUR: any view, elevation & azimuth direction

Plots:

• all ray variables accessible
• spot diagrams, diagnostic plots

Distribution Functions

BEAM FOUR: line spread function, point spread function, wavefront display, modulation transfer function

Autoadjustment Capability:

• Optics parameters -- positions, curvatures, coefficients
• Ray start parameters (Windows only) -- positions, directions

CAD & Precision Graphics Output

BEAM FOUR: DXF, Postscript, Plotter files

Clipboard Interface

• text tables: cut, insert, paste, copy, delete
• graphics: copy to clipboard

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