Computer Technology
Stray Light Analysis
Shedding light on a subject may be wanted by some. But in the optics
industry, rays of stray light are a troublesome factor.
Based on a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract from the
Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), TracePro™ is state-of-the-art interactive
software created by Lambda Research Corporation of Littleton, Massachusetts
to detect stray light in optical systems. An image can be ruined by incidental
light in an optical system, like static spoils quality sound. To maintain
image excellence from an optical system, stray light must be detected and
eliminated.
Founded in 1992, Lambda Research Corporation offers stray light analysis,
optical system design and analysis, optical testing, process control software
and custom software development.
The company's mission is direct: establish a technology bridge between
optical and mechanical engineers. That corporate credo is embraced in TracePro,
the first optical analysis software program to have as its core, ACIS®,
a solid modeling tool that is an industry standard. The ACIS kernel in
TracePro provides a vast array of capabilities to create, manipulate, and
visualize designs.
Introduced in 1996, TracePro is a Windows® 95/Windows NT™ application,
with roots in the Monte Carlo simulation aspect of ray tracing. This permits
the user to compute optical flux as it propagates through a model. Users
of the optics software can perform stray light analysis, illumination analysis,
and optical systems analysis. The software has an intuitive graphical user
interface, familiar Windows pull-down menus, dialog boxes and context-sensitive
help.
Lambda Research Corporation president, Edward Freniere, says that TracePro
is targeted to optical analysts and mechanical, optical and design engineers
across a broad range of industries. "TracePro is the product I have
wanted to develop for the past ten years. TracePro is based on the philosophy
that there's no reason for an engineer to do the drudgery that a computer
can do," Freniere says.
| Lambda Research's TracePro software depicts
rays of light moving through an optical system. In this instance, the blue
light rays indicate the paths of unwanted stray light that can ruin an
image. JPL-funded work helped put a new light on this unique software for
a range of commercial applications. |
TracePro accounts for absorption, specular reflection and refraction,
scattering and aperture diffraction of light. Output from the software
consists of spatial irradiance plots and angular radiance plots. Results
can also be viewed as contour maps or as ray histories in tabular form.
TracePro is adept at modeling solids such as lenses, baffles, light
pipes, integrating spheres, non-imaging concentrators, and complete illumination
systems. Optical system designs are capable of being visualized from multiple
angles and in rendered views. Objects can be moved and rotated, and modified
with optical properties assigned to them.
With Lambda Research's product, the process of going from optical system
layout to the completed opto-mechanical product is streamlined. Tasks that
demanded a good part of an hour can be completed in a few computer mouse
clicks, saving company time and money.
Marketing of TracePro and other optical analysis software from Lambda
Research is now underway throughout the United States, Europe, and the
Pacific Rim. The firm's customer base includes corporations such as Lockheed
Martin, Samsung Electronics and other manufacturing, optical, aerospace,
and educational companies worldwide.
™ TracePro is a trademark of Lambda Research Corporation.
® ACIS is a registered trademark of Spatial Technology Inc..
® Windows is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation.
™ Windows NT is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation.
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