VirtualLab Fusion Applications

Hybrid lenses combine the advantages of classic refractive components and diffractive structures, and hence have become a promising approach in different optical applications. In particular, the opposite signs of the dispersion for refractive and diffractive surfaces enable the correction of chromatic aberrations.

In order to model and design such a hybrid element accurately, the in-depth analysis of diffraction effects through the system is a necessity. VirtualLab Fusion’s fast physical optics propagation techniques allow for the accurate modeling of classic lenses and calculation of the diffraction efficiencies of the different orders of a diffractive lens.

To illustrate the capabilities of the software in this regard, we compare the models of a refractive and hybrid eyepiece. In this example, the propagation of light and the corresponding chromatic effects are investigated for on-axis as well as off-axis beams at different wavelengths.

Optical etalons are utilized in various applications, for example in the field of spectroscopy and laser resonators. The basic configuration of an etalon just comprises a plan-parallel transparent plate and can form a well-known Fabry-Pérot resonator, which is usually used for spectral and/or angular selection.

VirtualLab Fusion’s non-sequential field tracing technique enables the accurate modeling of very different types of etalons, with either planar or curved surfaces in combination with high-reflective coatings. Further, the physical-optics modelling approach automatically includes vectorial effects and hence allows for the investigation of polarization effects on the interference pattern.

As a typical application, we demonstrate the optical setup for the examination of sodium D lines with an etalon as the key component.

To conclude our series on fiber modeling, this week we introduce another set of tools that VirtualLab Fusion makes available to its users in this field. With the help of the linearly polarized (LP) Fiber Mode Calculator it is possible to generate and investigate the Bessel and Laguerre polynomials that describe the fiber modes propagating in multimode step- or graded-index fibers respectively.

The associated LP Mode source can be employed in combination with the Multiple Light Source to configure a finite set of these modes as the light source in an optical system, which would emulate the field exiting a given fiber. This enables the simulation of how the field exiting the fiber will propagate through the rest of a complex system and be transformed by it.

To showcase the capabilities of these features, we have selected, alongside a use case that covers the LP Fiber Mode Calculator in more detail, another example that demonstrates how a certain combination of aberrations deforms the shape of the modes emanating from our fiber source.