It is established that vectorial effects are non-negligible in high-NA imaging systems, like microscopes. The lens surface and material specifications must, technically, be known in order to take the exact vectorial effects into account. However, such detailed information of most commercial objective lenses is not freely available in general.  For such situations, you have the Debye-Wolf integral calculator as one possible way out – it is a well-known idealized model for lens systems which is not restricted to paraxial cases, as it includes the most relevant vectorial effects from high-NA objective lenses.

One of the most attractive capabilities of VirtualLab Fusion is the fully vectorial simulation of multidisciplinary optical systems.

One of the most attractive capabilities of VirtualLab Fusion is the fully vectorial simulation of multidisciplinary optical systems. As an example, we take a Mach-Zehnder interferometer, which consists of beam splitters, mirrors and lenses, as the basic setup; insert polarizers in both arms of the interferometer and, by rotating the polarizer(s), we generate spatially varying polarization states. And since we are talking about polarizers, we would also like to mention that VirtualLab Fusion provides a non-paraxial model thereof which goes beyond the Jones matrix approach.

Submit your paper now for the Topical Meeting on Diffractive Optics 2019 in Jena. Submission Deadline is 31 May 2019. Guest of Honor and Plenary Speaker will be Bernard Kress (Microsoft).

Jena, Germany | 16 – 19 September