BeamWise

With origins from Stanford U., Paraxia-Plus-10 is a Windows based optical design program specifically optimized for laser resonator and laser beam propagation applications. Its drag and drop layout mode enables real time visualization of beam properties using the “Digital Laser Workbench”. Laser engineers/designers can access laser beam data not generally available from geometric ray tracing optical design codes. Tools include optimization, tolerance analysis, stability plots, and FFT based rigorous beam propagation of arbitrary input beams. This enables simulation of diffraction effects and beam deviations from decentered and/or laser damaged components. Waist size and location is listed relative to each component, and beam diameter and beam radius of curvature is available anywhere along the beam path. Users can supply code to extend capabilities, and to enable scripting. The program is used worldwide by, consultants, laser companies, & govt. labs, often with multiple copies.

RayViz is a SOLIDWORKS add-in developed by Lambda Research Corporation that enables users to apply and save optical properties directly within the SOLIDWORKS CAD environment. This integration allows for the assignment of optical characteristics from the TracePro property database, which are then stored as part of the SOLIDWORKS model. Users can define light sources and perform ray tracing within SOLIDWORKS to visualize light rays and paths, facilitating tasks such as beam path verification, detection of vignetting by mechanical structures, and identification of light leakage in light guides. RayViz includes catalogs of LED sources, as well as sources with Gaussian and Lambertian beam profiles. A significant advantage of RayViz is its ability to save SOLIDWORKS models in TracePro file format, enabling comprehensive optical analysis in TracePro. If modifications are made to the SOLIDWORKS model, the "update from RayViz" option in TracePro allows for synchronization of the changes.