CODE V Optical Design
Synopsys' CODE V is a powerful optical design software that enables engineers to model, analyze, optimize, and support the fabrication of imaging optical systems. It offers advanced capabilities for designing complex optical components, including freeform surfaces, and provides tools such as global synthesis for global optimization, glass expert for intelligent glass selection, and beam synthesis propagation for accurate diffraction analysis. CODE V's robust tolerancing features help reduce manufacturing costs by predicting and compensating for potential fabrication and assembly errors. The software also facilitates interoperability with other Synopsys tools, such as LightTools, for comprehensive optical and illumination system design. Comprehensive graphics capabilities (pictures, data plots, shaded displays), including 3D visualizations and diffraction-based image simulations.
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LensHH-LT
LensHH-LT is sequential optical design software for refractive and reflective imaging systems - real capability
without an enterprise seat price. Analyses cover ray tracing, Seidel and higher-order aberration coefficients, ray and
OPD fans, FFT and geometric MTF, PSF, wavefront maps, spot diagrams, field curvature, distortion and relative
illumination. Optimization runs local or global: multi-start and basin-hopping search, glass substitution across full
catalogs, stock-lens matching and saddle-point construction. It reads and writes Zemax, Code V, OSLO, Optalix and
Optiland, so existing designs open intact. Alongside the GUI it exposes an API, a CLI and an open MCP server, letting
AI agents such as Claude build systems, run optimizations and read analyses back. Windows, Linux and Apple Silicon
macOS. $385 perpetual license, not a subscription. 45-day trial. Free for students and academics: the full program,
two years, renewable once. Offline activation for air-gapped machines.
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OpTaliX
OpTaliX is a comprehensive program for computer-aided design of optical systems, thin film multilayer coatings, and illumination systems. It provides powerful features to conceptualize, design, optimize, analyze, tolerate, and document virtually any optical system. OpTaliX includes geometrical and diffraction analysis, optimization, thin film multilayer analysis and refinement, non-sequential ray tracing, physical optics propagation, polarization analysis, ghost imaging, tolerance analysis, extensive manufacturing support, user-defined graphics, illumination, macros, and many more. It is successfully used for the design of photographic and video lenses, industrial optics (beam expanders, laser scanners, reproduction, machine vision), space optics, zoom optics, medical optics, illumination devices, fiber optical telecom systems, infrared optics, X-ray optics, telescopes, eyepieces, and many more.
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Polaris-M
Polaris-M is an optical design and polarization analysis software developed by Airy Optics, Inc., integrating ray tracing-based optical design methods with polarization calculus, 3D simulation, anisotropic materials, diffractive optic simulation, stress birefringence, and diffraction theory. Developed over a decade at the University of Arizona's Polarization Laboratory and licensed to Airy Optics in 2016, it includes over 500 functions for ray tracing, aberration calculation, polarization elements, stress birefringence, diffractive optical elements, polarization ray tracing calculus, and liquid crystal cells and optical elements. Polaris-M requires Mathematica, providing a powerful macro language for optical design and a deep set of algorithms for graphics, computer algebra, interpolation, neural networks, and numerical analysis. The software features comprehensive documentation with active help pages accessible via the F1 key, offering explanations, inputs, outputs, and live examples.
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