Types of optical systems in a lens designer's toolbox (2020)
10 comments
·May 23, 2025alexbock
If you want to play with any of these lens descriptions (or look at code for simulating them), I made a free and open source visual web UI for lens design. The default project when you visit it is a double gauss lens similar to the one shown in the article.
cwmoore
Is there a framework or template base for these kind of (usually scientific) demonstration apps? It’s a common design language of inputs and output that I’ve seen in many pages, often self-explanatory. I like it.
alexbock
Thanks. I did not use any frameworks/libraries/dependencies for this project. It's vanilla JavaScript/HTML/CSS from scratch. The general concept of a spreadsheet-like data editor next to a visual view is a standard paradigm in commercial lens design software like Quadoa/OSLO/CODE V.
Rotundo
Took a look and I'm impressed how easy it is to use. Thanks for sharing this.
librasteve
amazing tool - thanks for sharing
joshvm
I always wanted to play with Optica for Mathematica. It seems like a problem that would lend itself really well to the Wolfram way of visual + functional programming. However I've never met anyone who uses it and while academics usually get Mathematica for free, the plugin is pricey.
NKosmatos
I remember playing around with a lenses and light sources simulator, but can’t find the link :-( If I’m not mistaken it was posted here on HN but couldn’t find it by searching with various related keywords. If anyone has it please share :-)
alexbock
I'm guessing you're referring to https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39309409
elikoga
Potentially relevant:
Show HN: Torch Lens Maker – Differentiable Geometric Optics in PyTorch (63 days ago) 2025-03-21
>Who this guide is NOT for: [...] People that are okay with becoming a lens design zombie.
https://web.archive.org/web/20230914035459/https://caoyuan.s...
A $500 DIY near-IR spectrometer that would sell for $10,000, Yuan Cao
>The placement of the cylindrical lens (position & angle) affects the focal point for different wavelength. I did not do a rigorous calculation here —— I simply resorted to a trial-and-error method to figure out the optimal placement.
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37498142