Introduction to Lens Design

A required course in the Certificate Program in Optical Engineering.

This hand-on course provides an understanding of the basic principles of optical design, starting from a graphical pre-design. The primary emphasis in this class will be to understand, recognize and correct optical aberrations. These principles will be applied to the design of lens systems ranging from the simple landscape lens and its derivatives through to the Cooke triplet, using the Zemax Optical Design software as necessary to fully understand the performance of these design forms. The knowledge and skills developed in this course will prepare you for further advanced study in the field of optical design and analysis.


Topics to be covered include: first and third order optics, image formation, paraxial ray tracing, aberration theory, optical design principles, pre-design of optical systems, use of optical design software, image quality, diffraction and the Modulation Transfer Function. Students will be provided access to the Zemax program for use during the course.