2010 IODC Lens Design Problem
The Green Lens
NOTE: Focal length has been updated to allow negative image. 2/1/2010.
Introduction
The "green" movement is all about conserving resources. When designing and manufacturing a lens, one way to minimize needed fabrication resources is to need only one testplate pair (positive and negative) plus an optical flat, and need only one type of optical glass.
The Problem
Design a lens whose non-flat surfaces all share the same radius value, positive or negative, concave or convex.
Specifications
| Wavelength: | Monochromatic, l = 0.532 micron (doubled YAG – green light). |
| Glass: | Schott N-BK7 (index = 1.519473). |
| Number of elements: | No limit. |
| Overall length: | No requirement. |
| Maximum diameter: | No requirement. |
| Lens form: | All refractive (no reflectors or diffractives). |
| Surface form: | Spherical or plano. All surfaces are centered and rotationally symmetric. All spherical surfaces must have the same radius magnitude, but can be positive or negative. |
| Glass constraint: | All lens elements must have positive axial and edge thicknesses, and all air spaces must have positive axial and edge spaces. |
| Vignetting: | No vignetting is allowed (stop surface is fully filled for all points in the field of view). |
| Image quality: | RMS wavefront error ≤ 0.070 wave over the whole field of view (chief ray reference; tilt and focus not removed). |
| Object: | At infinity. |
| Image: | Flat image plane in air; must be real (not virtual). |
| Stop location: | No restrictions. |
| Distortion: | |distortion| ≤ 5.0% everywhere in the field of view. |
| Focal length: | Magnitude = 100.00 ± 0.01 mm (paraxial calculation). |
| Field of view: | Maximize. The FOV is rotationally symmetric. |
| f/number: | Minimize. Equivalent to maximizing the entrance pupil diameter. |
Merit Function
The goal of the problem is to maximize both the entrance pupil diameter and the field of view of the lens while satisfying the RMS wavefront error and distortion requirements. The merit function is the product of the entrance pupil diameter D in mm and the semi-field angle θ in degrees.
MF = D * θ
The semi-field angle is determined by where the RMS wavefront error exceeds 0.070 wave at 532 nm or by where the distortion magnitude exceeds 5%, whichever comes first.
Submissions
Send your solution to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . A team can enter, but only individual entries are eligible to win the contest. An individual entrant cannot also be on a team. Include the following information with your submission:
- Name,
- Affiliation, including country,
- Approximate number of years of experience you have in designing lenses,
- Lens design program(s) used,
- Value of D and q used to compute the Merit Function,
- Lens layout,
- Lens file (text format) or lens prescription,
- Approximate number of hours you spent on the problem, and
- Indicate whether you used a global optimizer on the problem or not.
- (Optional) Describe your design methodology, for example, how you controlled the radii, how you decided which surfaces are positive, negative, or plano, etc.
Lens files for CODE V®, ZEMAX®, and OSLO® can be read directly by the evaluator. Lens files from other programs will be converted to CODE V format; be sure to include a lens prescription with sufficient number of significant digits in a readily understandable text format (no binary files). All entries will be converted to CODE V format for common evaluation and verification of the merit function.
All entries must be submitted by April 1, 2010. If you have any questions about the problem, contact Richard Juergens at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , or refer to the FAQ (frequently asked questions) section for the lens design problem on the OSA/IODC web site.
CODE V® is a registered trademark of Optical Research Associates, Inc., Pasadena, CA.
OSLO® is a registered trademark of Lambda Research Corporation, Littleton, MA.
ZEMAX® is a registered trademark of ZEMAX Development Corporation, Bellevue, WA.
