Learning Forum

[BeamBender]

When performing polarization ray tracing and generating polarization maps, does Zemax OpticStudio employ the Richards–Wolf vectorial formalism for calculating the electric field and its polarization? Furthermore, does it also incorporate Török’s extension to account for stratified media (e.g., immersion oil, coverslip, sample) when modeling a microscope objective or a complete microscope system?

References:

• https://doi.org/10.1098/rspa.1959.0200

• https://doi.org/10.1364/JOSAA.12.000325

Any clarification on the underlying formalism would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

[michael.humphreys]

Hi BeamBender,

The polarization analysis in sequential mode is a little more generalized than the two examples you provided.  In sequential mode when performing a polarization ray trace, there are essentially 2 different traces that happen:

• a non-polarized ray trace where the beam refraction/reflection is determined (Snell's Law ray trace)
• a polarized ray trace along the exact same path to determine the electric field

So, in sequential mode, a polarization ray trace does not effect the direction of an individual ray (the Richard-Wolf abstract implies diffraction effects which OpticStudio does not consider).  Polarization is also considered in a homogeneous medium (not stratified like in Torok), so only defined surfaces will cause a change of direction of the ray; all common aberrations (including spherical) will only appear from a Snell's Law ray trace in OpticStudio while the polarization part of a ray trace will only effect the electric field and thus the phase/intensity of a ray.

There is a lot of material on the Ansys Optics help as well as in the Help File documentation that talks about polarization in OpticStudio.  The following article is great breakdown on the basics of polarization ray tracing in OpticStudio including how the software decomposes an individual ray into the S, P and K vectors and how these map to the X, Y, and Z Cartesian axes, as well as Jones Matrices, Birefrigent Surfaces, and Coatings: 

Investigating OpticStudio’s polarization features – Ansys Optics

[BeamBender]

Hi Michael,

Thank you for the explanation! Since OpticStudio’s polarization ray tracing does not directly implement the Richards-Wolf formalism or Török’s stratified-media extension, if someone studying polarization effects in a complex optical microscopy system, maybe a high NA system, are the polarization outputs that Zemax provides -- such as the polarization ray trace or polarization pupil map -- generally congruent with what one would expect to measure in a real experiment, or are there known limitations to keep in mind? 

Also, thank you for sharing the documentation links. I have gone through a couple of them and will review them further in detail.

[BeamBender]

Hi again, I just wanted to follow up on my last question-- to check if there are any additional insights or clarifications regarding polarization ray tracing in high-NA systems. Are there known limitations or best practices when comparing Zemax’s polarization outputs with experimental results? Thanks!