First Order Optical System Design

First Order Optical System Design

This course is part of Optical Engineering Specialization

Instructor: Robert McLeod

24,600 already enrolled

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5 modules

Gain insight into a topic and learn the fundamentals.

341 reviews

Advanced level

Designed for those already in the industry

Flexible schedule

2 weeks at 10 hours a week

Learn at your own pace

86%

Most learners liked this course

5 modules

Gain insight into a topic and learn the fundamentals.

341 reviews

Advanced level

Designed for those already in the industry

Flexible schedule

2 weeks at 10 hours a week

Learn at your own pace

86%

Most learners liked this course

What you'll learn

be able to design, to first order, such optical systems with simple mathematical and graphical techniques

Skills you'll gain

Details to know

Shareable certificate

Add to your LinkedIn profile

Assessments

13 assignments

Taught in English

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Build your subject-matter expertise

This course is part of the Optical Engineering Specialization

When you enroll in this course, you'll also be enrolled in this Specialization.

Learn new concepts from industry experts
Gain a foundational understanding of a subject or tool
Develop job-relevant skills with hands-on projects
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There are 5 modules in this course

This course can also be taken for academic credit as ECEA 5600, part of CU Boulder’s Master of Science in Electrical Engineering degree.

Optical instruments are how we see the world, from corrective eyewear to medical endoscopes to cell phone cameras to orbiting telescopes. When you finish this course, you will be able to design, to first order, such optical systems with simple mathematical and graphical techniques. This first order design will allow you to develop the foundation needed to begin all optical design as well as the intuition needed to quickly address the feasibility of complicated designs during brainstorming meetings. You will learn how to enter these designs into an industry-standard design tool, OpticStudio by Zemax, to analyze and improve performance with powerful automatic optimization methods.

This module introduces rays, which we use to describe the motion of light through air and materials. The course overview describes the goals of this course and gives tips on how to make the best use of the course materials to be successful. The lectures introduce the material. The in-video questions, lab demonstrations, PhET interactive demonstration, practice problems, and homework assignment allow you to get actively involved in learning the material.

What's included

9 videos5 readings3 assignments4 discussion prompts

9 videos Total 49 minutes

Introduction to the Course 4 minutes
Introduction to Geometrical Optics 4 minutes
What are rays? 12 minutes
Pinhole Camera 5 minutes
Rays in OpticStudio 3 minutes
Snells Laws 7 minutes
Fermat's Principle 4 minutes
Snell's Laws in the Laboratory 5 minutes
PhET Hands-On Practice 5 minutes

5 readings Total 41 minutes

Course Updates and Accessibility Support 1 minute
Non-Credit Students: Welcome and Where to Find Help 10 minutes
Course Overview 10 minutes
Tools and Resources 10 minutes
Getting Started with OpticStudio or OSLO 10 minutes

3 assignments Total 160 minutes

Snell's Law Practice Problem 20 minutes
Practice problems 20 minutes
Rays and Snell's Laws 120 minutes

4 discussion prompts Total 40 minutes

MATLAB Questions and Concerns 10 minutes
Goals for the course 10 minutes
Introduce Yourself 10 minutes
PhET Hands-On Virtual Laboratory Discussion Prompt 10 minutes

In this module, you will learn how to enter the description of an optical system into OpticStudio, analyze the performance of that system using various calculations and plots, and finally optimize that design by defining a merit function and search variables.

What's included

7 videos5 readings1 assignment1 discussion prompt

7 videos Total 70 minutes

Introduction to OpticStudio 5 minutes
System Explorer and the Lens Data Editor 6 minutes
Entering a Lens 9 minutes
Analyzing a Lens 5 minutes
The Lens Catalog 18 minutes
Configurations 6 minutes
Optimization 20 minutes

5 readings Total 45 minutes

Introduction 5 minutes
Getting started with designing a lens in OpticStudio 10 minutes
Setting up your lens in OpticStudio 10 minutes
Define multiple inputs to your lens using OpticStudio 10 minutes
Analyze the performance of your lens 10 minutes

1 assignment Total 30 minutes

Design of a lens with OpticStudio 30 minutes

1 discussion prompt Total 10 minutes

OpticStudio and OSLO Lens Design 10 minutes

This module applies Snell's Laws to the curved interfaces of lenses and mirrors. You will learn the graphical and mathematical tools you need to calculate image size and location for thin lens and mirror systems. This foundation is essential to build more complex optical systems.

What's included

12 videos1 reading3 assignments1 discussion prompt

12 videos Total 96 minutes

Jargon and Sign Convention 7 minutes
Example of Sign Convention 1 minute
Graphical Ray Tracing 14 minutes
Virtual Objects and Images 9 minutes
PhET Lens Practice 10 minutes
Positive and Negative Lens Laboratory Demonstration 7 minutes
Thin Lens Equations 16 minutes
Imaging with Mirrors 9 minutes
Single Lens Imaging Example 8 minutes
Mirror Laboratory Demonstration 5 minutes
Lenses vs. Mirrors 2 minutes
Paraxial Analysis in OpticStudio 7 minutes

1 reading Total 10 minutes

Practice ray tracing 10 minutes

3 assignments Total 150 minutes

Practice problem 10 minutes
Practice Questions 20 minutes
Ray Tracing and Lens Analysis 120 minutes

1 discussion prompt Total 30 minutes

Microscope Design in OpticStudio or OSLO 30 minutes

This module extends the analysis of the previous module to include the effects of real, thick lenses. You will learn how to input this factor into your optical system analysis and design.

What's included

8 videos2 readings3 assignments1 discussion prompt

8 videos Total 59 minutes

Optical Path Length of a Paraxial Lens 8 minutes
Power of a Single Curved Surface 5 minutes
Lens Maker's Equation 6 minutes
Power of Curved Mirrors 8 minutes
Two Lens System 4 minutes
Design with Thick Optics 7 minutes
Applying Thick Optics Concepts 12 minutes
Thick Lens Application 9 minutes

2 readings Total 20 minutes

Extension of thick lenses 10 minutes
Practice 10 minutes

3 assignments Total 170 minutes

OpticStudio/OSLO practice 20 minutes
Thick Optics Practice Problems 30 minutes
Thick Optics 120 minutes

1 discussion prompt Total 60 minutes

Thick Optics in OpticStudio 60 minutes

For multiple element optical systems, the mathematical tools introduced in this module will make analysis faster and more efficient. In this module, you will learn how to cascade multiple lens systems using matrix multiplication.

What's included

10 videos3 readings3 assignments

10 videos Total 65 minutes

Tabular first-order ray tracing 7 minutes
Example of Tabular First-Order Ray Tracing 8 minutes
Another Example of First-Order Tabular Ray Tracing 6 minutes
Symbolic Tabular First-Order Ray Tracing 7 minutes
First-order ray tracing with ABCD matrices 7 minutes
Example of ABCD matrices 4 minutes
Properties of the Conjugate Matrix 6 minutes
The Form of the Conjugate Matrix 7 minutes
Relating the Conjugate to the System Matrix 4 minutes
Properties of the 2 Lens System 10 minutes

3 readings Total 55 minutes

Introduction 5 minutes
Practice on your own 30 minutes
Background on matrices 20 minutes

3 assignments Total 170 minutes

OpticStudio/OSLO practice 30 minutes
yu Tracer & ABCD Matrix Practice 20 minutes
yu Tracer and ABCD Matrices 120 minutes

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Build toward a degree

This course is part of the following degree program(s) offered by University of Colorado Boulder. If you are admitted and enroll, your completed coursework may count toward your degree learning and your progress can transfer with you.¹

Instructor

Instructor ratings

(130 ratings)

Robert McLeod

University of Colorado Boulder

3 Courses 27,208 learners

Offered by

University of Colorado Boulder

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Reviewed on Dec 19, 2018

A few new insights even for a senior optical engineer. I will keep working through their lectures if each one offers at least a few nuggets of insight.

Reviewed on Apr 23, 2022

Excellent content and instructor, but, resources for this online course are a bit limited. Getting the OpticStudio software was a challenge.

Reviewed on Jan 10, 2020

Sometimes the lectures didn't contain enough info to do the homework. But the lectures and the homework were both h

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Frequently asked questions

To access the course materials, assignments and to earn a Certificate, you will need to purchase the Certificate experience when you enroll in a course. You can try a Free Trial instead, or apply for Financial Aid. The course may offer 'Full Course, No Certificate' instead. This option lets you see all course materials, submit required assessments, and get a final grade. This also means that you will not be able to purchase a Certificate experience.

When you enroll in the course, you get access to all of the courses in the Specialization, and you earn a certificate when you complete the work. Your electronic Certificate will be added to your Accomplishments page - from there, you can print your Certificate or add it to your LinkedIn profile.

Yes. In select learning programs, you can apply for financial aid or a scholarship if you can’t afford the enrollment fee. If fin aid or scholarship is available for your learning program selection, you’ll find a link to apply on the description page.