Videos
These short screencasts show optical-calculation.com in use. They cover the whole platform, from a first tour of the interface to the optimization of a complete optical system, and are grouped by tool so you can go straight to the part you need.
Each video opens on YouTube. Together they form a practical complement to the written guide: the guide describes what each feature does, the videos show it being used on a real case.
Overviews
General presentations of the platform and of its two main calculation environments. Start here if you are discovering optical-calculation.com.
- "Optical-Calculation" overviewA guided tour of the platform: what each tool does and how the different environments fit together.
- "Optical-Calculation" live overviewA recorded live session going through the platform in real working conditions, with commentary.
- "Handy Calculations" overviewHow the ready-to-use calculation pages are organised, from finding the right topic to reading the result.
- "Advanced Calculations" overviewAn introduction to the optical design and optimization environment for complete systems.
Handy calculations
Working with the single-topic calculation pages: locating the calculation you need, entering values, and using the contextual help available on every page.
- Find a calculation with the "Handy Calculations" buttonNavigating the menu tree by topic to reach the calculation page you are looking for.
- Find a calculation with keywordsUsing the search field at the top of any page to reach a calculation directly from a few keywords.
- Support featuresThe "about", "caution", "parameters", "glossary" and "tutorial" links available above each calculation table.
- Processing calculationsEntering input values, running a computation, and using the variable input mode to sweep a parameter.
- Using glass catalogsEntering a glass reference instead of a numerical refractive index, and setting the working wavelength.
Advanced calculations
Designing and optimizing a complete optical system: building the system, loading catalog components, and running the optimization features on a real design problem.
- Quick startSetting up a first optical system from scratch and obtaining a result in a few steps.
- "Mandatory parameters" input tableFilling in the parameters that every system requires before any computation can be run.
- Using lenses from catalogs for simulationLoading commercial lenses from the catalogs into a system instead of defining each surface by hand.
- Quick entry interfaceBuilding a system quickly through the simplified entry form rather than the full parameter tables.
- Illustration of Optimization features for designing a Schmidt plateApplying the optimization features to a concrete case: defining variables and targets to design a Schmidt corrector plate.
Use cases
Ready-made solvers that automate a complete design problem end to end, from the preliminary calculations to the proposed solutions.
- Spectrometer resolutionThe solver that determines the achievable resolution of a spectrometer configuration and proposes matching designs.
- Coupling a collimated laser beam into a single mode fiber opticThe solver that computes the coupling efficiency and the optics required to inject a collimated beam into a single-mode fiber.