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Stray light analysis with FRED showing actual and simulated images of the Apache Point 3.5m telescope (Top), ghost reflections in the MOBIE instrument of the Thirty Meter Telescope (Bottom Left), and a polychromatic ghost image in an imaging camera (Bottom Right).

Stray Light Analysis

FRED’s combination of usability and accuracy make it the industry standard for stray light analysis. 

Full system specification can be accomplished by using the 13+ surface and volume scatter models, 18 material definition types (including real and imaginary refractive index values) and 7 coating types. These physical properties can be applied to any geometrical object in the model to produce realistic simulations of light interaction.

After a raytrace FRED can compile a list of scatter and ghost paths from source to a specified detector, and these paths can be re-drawn to the 3D view for visualization. Additionally, these raytrace paths can be interrogated using any of FRED’s built in or user-customized analysis routines by simple application of ray path filters.

For more information regarding stray light analysis, please visit our Knowledge Base. 

    Coherent analyses in FRED showing fringe modulation (Top), white light interference (Bottom Left), laser alignment using a birefringent crystal (Center), and a telescope’s focal plane irradiance with strut diffraction (Bottom Right).

    Physical Optics Modeling

    FRED uses the tested and proven method of Gaussian beam decomposition for propagating coherent fields through optomechanical systems by complex raytracing. This flexible, non-sequential technique allows for general modeling of coherent fields and makes it possible to simulate laser systems, diffraction effects, interferometers, holographic systems, and specific applications of partial coherence. FRED’s easy to use GUI allows optimization of the decomposition characteristics for a system through a few simple settings. At the end of the raytrace, vector and scalar field calculations can be performed at any plane in the system to establish validation and understanding of the simulation model.  

    For more information regarding physical optics - please visit our Knowledge Base 

      STEP, IGES, and OBJ files can be easily imported and exported for integration of mechanical and optical designs.

      Optomechanical Design and Analysis

      FRED has the ability to import and export models as IGES or STEP files for full integration of mechanics and optics. Once imported, the NURB representations are treated as any other node in the FRED document and can be assigned optical properties for accurate raytracing. 

      Assigning properties to a collection of NURB surfaces, whether it is a material, coating, scatter or raytrace control, is easily accomplished by drag and drop from FRED’s object tree. This type of interactive graphical interface means that integrating components and constructing system models is fast, efficient and easy to learn! Having a virtual prototyping tool such as FRED that can be used to identify potential design issues can save on both development costs and time to market. 

        FRED is fully capable of modeling LEDs, bulbs, and arc sources for integration with optical components and light distribution analyses for illumination and non-imaging systems.

        Illumination and Non-Imaging Systems

        Accurate illumination system design begins at the source, and no other optical systems design and analysis package offers more flexibility than FRED for prescribing a starting ray distribution. In addition to its default source types, users have the ability to precisely control ray positions, directions, power, wavelength, and polarization.

        Source power can be defined radiometric or photometric with spectra in order to perform accurate irradiance, intensity, illuminance, luminous intensity, and color image calculations, among others.

        The built in multi-variable optimization capability allows rapid design convergence for a variety of merit functions with access to every geometrical parameter in the model.

        For more information regarding illumination applications, please visit our Knowledge Base.

          Modeling of biomedical systems in FRED showing volume scatter in human tissue layers (Bottom), fluorescence from R6G film (Top), and a human eye models using custom GRIN materials (Right).

          Biomedical Systems

          From non-invasive procedures to ultra-sensitive diagnostic instrumentation, photonic devices play an indispensable role in today’s biomedical industry and timely design and delivery to market of these new technologies has been possible only with the aid of sophisticated software tools and experienced optical engineers.

          Human skin models are valuable aids in the design of non-invasive diagnostic devices such as the oximeter, as well as in the development of modern dermatological instruments. FRED provides a catalog of over 50 different human tissue definitions using the Henyey-Greenstein volume scatter model, which is recognized by the biomedical community as being representative of scattering in human tissue.

          The physical process of fluorescence involves conversion of light at one wavelength to that of a longer wavelength. Given a particular emission spectra, a volume scatter model can be constructed that models the wavelength conversion by interpreting the emission curve as a probability distribution.

          For more information on modeling biomedical systems, please visit our Knowledge Base.

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