UI-Plus Edition (Version 2.103):

New Features and Enhancement:

1. Available ACONs (multi-configurations) is increased from 6 to 12.
2. Wavelength dialog is updated for easier setting of primary, long, and short wavelengths.
3. New Charts for the ‘Over Spectrum’ and ‘Over Zoom’ PSF analysis in the PSF menu of Image Analysis.

Bugs Fixed:

1. Change directory command, CHD, was not working correctly.
2. The ninth coefficient entry for the Zernike surface, COE(9), was not processed correctly.

Classic Edition (Version 16.103): 

1. The ninth coefficient entry for the Zernike surface, COE(9), was not processed correctly.

UI-Plus Edition (Version 2.102):

New Features and Enhancement:

1. New option is added to the Unusual Surface type 2 (USS 2) to select using the normal, absolute, or the negative absolute values of the sag in defining surface shapes. This feature will make it easier in creating certain surfaces, such as the stitched-optical-windows described in the Application Note, ‘Modeling 2-glass Stitched-Optical-Windows in SYNOPSYS’.
2. New Charts for the ‘Through-focus’ and ‘Over Field’ PSF analysis in the PSF menu of Image Analysis.
3. The algorithm for temperature dependent index calculations is updated, based on the Schott technical publication, TIE 19 Temperature Coefficient of Refractive Index, to improve accuracy when delta T is large. For more details, see the section, ‘Glass Catalog Indices and Temperatures’, in the Help Manual (User Manual for User Interface Plus > Surface Data Editors > Index Editor > Glass Table > Glass Catalog Indices and Temperatures).
4. Multi-configuration set up file (SSU1.dat) created by SSU or SPL is now stored in the working directory selected by the users (it was in the application folder). This allows the users to track the configurations easier if they are working with multiple working directories for different projects.
5. Updated the Zemax Zernike surface import so that the Zemax FZERNSAG surface type is converted correctly. See notes in the User Manual: User Manual for User Interface Plus > Inter-Operability > Import from Zemax.
6. The Help Manual Chapter on optimization variable operands are re-organized (see User Manual 10.2) and a summary list of operands is added so that users can easily find the meanings of the operands (see User Manual 10.2.1).

Bugs Fixed:

1. Restore multi-plot option using the CPLOT and QPLOT in the new GUI version. At most two curves can be superimposed into one graphics window.
2. Fix the problem that radius of curvature in Astoric surface was ignored when conic constant = -1.
3. Fix the problem that multi-color DIS curves were not display correctly.
4. Fix the problem that sagittal and tangential FCV curve labels were swapped.
5. Fix the following problems in the Spreadsheet:

• Biradial conic surface data was not displayed correctly.
• TDC data disappeared occasionally when the software focus was switched to a different window.
• Thickness Solve Editor was not showing the selected option correctly.
• Surface aperture changes entered in the Spreadsheet were not updated in the SketchPAD.

6. Corrected the reference temperatures for the following glasses in the Unusual.lib: SP3810 (20ᵒC), OKP1 (20ᵒC), EP5000 (20ᵒC), P5514ML (20ᵒC), K26R (25ᵒC), F52R (25ᵒC), E48R (25ᵒC)

Classic Edition (Version 16.102): 

1. Fix the problem that radius of curvature in Astoric surface was ignored when conic constant = -1.
2. The Help Manual Chapter on optimization variable operands are re-organized (see User Manual 10.2) and a summary list of operands is added so that users can easily find the meanings of the operands (see User Manual 10.2.1).
3. Corrected the reference temperatures for the following glasses in the Unusual.lib: SP3810 (20ᵒC), OKP1 (20ᵒC), EP5000 (20ᵒC), P5514ML (20ᵒC), K26R (25ᵒC), F52R (25ᵒC), E48R (25ᵒC)

UI-Plus Edition (Version 2.101) and Classic edition (Version 16.101)

UI-Plus Edition (Version 2.101):

New Features:

1. New Charts for the Basic PSF analysis in the PSF menu of Image Analysis.

Bugs Fixed:

1. ISO drawings: incorrect unit label for tilt in 4/ Centering; blank tolerance specification will be shown as blank in drawings instead of “-0.000/+0.000”
2. CODE V import: We made several improvements to the CODE V import including the followings:
   1. CODE V glass model was not imported correctly.
   2. CODE V glass name with GCH directive was not parsed correctly.

Classic Edition (Version 16.101): 

There is no new feature or bug fix to the Classic Edition.

UI-Plus Edition (Version 2.100):

New Features:

1. Running 2 instances concurrently: starting with this release, you can run 2 instances of SYNOPSYS™ concurrently.  For more details, see the Application Note, ‘Notes on Running 2 Instances of SYNOPSYS™’.

Bugs Fixed:

1. CODE V import: We made several improvements to the CODE V import including the followings:
   1. Incorrect parsing of lower case ‘e’ that causes abortion of translation.
   2. Incorrect processing of the CUF command.
   3. Incorrect conversion of indices larger than 2 using the N15 command in SYNOPSYS™.
   4. Incorrect conversion of diffraction order in HOR command.
   5. Incorrect conversion of C1 parameter in HCO command.
   6. Blazed angle input in the BLD command was ignored.
   7. Added comments/remarks in the translated document to alert users features that SYNOPSYS™ cannot translate successfully.
   8. The translated CODE V file is first created as a SYSNOPSYS™ macro (.mac) instead of a lens data file (.rle). See Note 1 in the User Manual, 48 Code-V Input File Converter, for more details.
2. Syncing Spreadsheet content to lens data edited in the Macro Editor: the data in the spreadsheet will be updated automatically with changes made to the lens data in the macro editor when the Run button is clicked. No need to press the ‘update’ button in the Spreadsheet toolbar to update the data anymore.
3. DAT file not found when ‘use Tolerance data option (Use BTOL)’ is selected in ISO drawings.

Classic Edition (Version 16.100): 

There are no new features or bug fixes to the Classic Edition.

Classic edition (Version 16.022) and UI-Plus Edition (Version 2.022)

UI-Plus Edition (Version 2.022):

New Features:

1. New Charts for the Wavefront analysis in the Image Analysis Menu.
2. New display option to Wavefront at Surfaces (FIS) analysis: now you can also display 2D color map of the wavefront overlaid with contour lines at different lens surfaces in the system.
3. Added aliasing warning for large number of FRINGES in Wavefront plots.  In those cases, it’s better to use the 2D color plot option (CONTOUR/CLEVEL/ZLEVEL).
4. PCV command for multi-configuration DOE optimization enhancement: when applied to a DOE (USS type 16 or 25), will pick up all data except for the diffraction order.  Thus the different configurations can each specify a different order, if desired.
5. Enhancement to the window parameter in the one-side merit function: the window parameter WIN in the LUL and LLL command is decoupled from the (merit function) weight calculation.  For more details on this change, see the explanation in Note 1 of the User Manual 3.5.1 Limit Input.

Bugs Fixed:

1. Surface tilt in AFOCAL system was not processed correctly in Wavefront at Surfaces analysis (FIS).
2. AFOCAL directive in the GOALS section of DSEARCH was not parsed correctly.
3. If FORBES surface is requested in DSEARCH for AFOCAL system, and multicore is requested, the warning, “Last two surfaces not suitable for AFOCAL mode,’’ was displayed. This is fixed.
4. Fixed factor of 2 error when adding WX and WY to FRINGES plots.
5. Fixed factor of 2 error when adding WX and WY to FPU FRINGES plots.
6. Fixed AFOCAL with PARAX reference so that AFOCAL takes precedence to get correct reference for AFOCAL system.

Classic Edition (Version 16.022): 

New Feature

1. PCV command for multi-configuration DOE optimization enhancement: when applied to a DOE (USS type 16 or 25), will pick up all data except for the diffraction order.  Thus the different configurations can each specify a different order, if desired.

Bug Fixed

1. Surface tilt in AFOCAL system was not processed correctly in Wavefront at Surfaces analysis (FIS).

New Features for UI-Plus Edition only:

• New Charts for the Aberrations analysis in the Image Analysis Menu.
• Enhanced Tilt and Decenter Editor in the SYNOPSYS™ Spreadsheet. Now you can easily define GLOBAL, LOCAL, and MIRROR tilt with this Editor for your off-axis system design.  See the section ‘Tilt/Decenter Editor’ in the ‘Manual for User Interface Plus’ (Manual for User Interface Plus > Surface Data Editors > Tilt/Decenter Editor).  You can also find an example in the Application note: ‘Locating virtual image plane’ at our website.
• Enhanced Zemax Export and Import features. For example, we added a feature to export SYNOPSYS™ tilt and decenters to Zemax format.  See the sections ‘Export to Zemax and CODE V; and ‘Import from Zemax’ in the Inter-Operability Chapter of the User ‘Manual for User Interface Plus’.  (Manual for User Interface Plus > Inter-Operability >  Zemax Export, Zemax Import )

Bugs Fixed for both Classic and UI-Plus Editions:

• Incorrect YMT solve with USS 13
• Incorrect rendering of TRANS plot
• Incorrect rendering of Distortion curve in GSS
• Incorrect rendering of SOLID HRAYS plot when switch 88 is ON

New Application Notes:

We have posted new note in the Application Notes section of the Knowledge Base at our website on the different topics such as

• Using GSA and GSC to control gullwing surfaces
• AFOCAL DSEARCH Introduction

Version 16.020

The update to version 16.020 incorporates the following changes:

Features:

There were no new features this update.

Bugs Fixed:

1. The ILLUM aberration type caused the program to calculate a subsequent YC aberration incorrectly.

Version 16.019

The update to version 16.019 incorporates the following changes:

Features:

There were no new features this update.

Bugs Fixed:

1. Running DWG on a lens with hyperhemispherical surfaces would crash the program if there was no PAD window open.(which has some features that are then needed). Now it will display a warning message instead.

2. The ELD drawing program did not show edges properly for some shapes.

3. SPROFILE had a problem if you ran SPB

4. A problem showed up with object type OBD.

Version 16.018

The update to version 16.018 incorporates the following changes:

Features:

A new directive is available for ZSEARCH. The EFW directive will apply equal weights to all field points. (If they have different GIHT targets, those weights are by default adjusted so smaller fields will get higher weights.)

Bugs Fixed:

The ZSEARCH features USE CURRENT and AFOCAL did not work properly.

Version 16.017

The update to version 16.017 incorporates the following changes:

Features:

There were no new features in this update.

Bugs Fixed:

1. The plot created by the glass table showing P* vs. P** was positioned wrong.
2. The link to the Sumita glass table from the SPS display did not work.
3. DMASK did not work if the DOE was made from an IR material.

Version 16.016

The update to version 16.016 incorporates the following changes:

Features:

There were no new features in this update.

Bugs Fixed:

1.  GSEARCH did not run all options correctly.
2.  MC did not always save the worst case as directed.

Version 16.014

The update to version 16.014 incorporates the following changes:

Features:

There were no new features in this update.

Bugs Fixed:

1. Some problems with ZMTF and the MFB menu have been corrected.
2. The Help file did not explain the meaning of the “F” option on raygrid requests.

Version 16.011

The update to version 16.011 incorporates the following changes:

Features:

There were no new features in this update.

Bugs Fixed:

1. The Schott catalog had a typo in the data for glass type F2, which caused a crash on some PCs.

Version 16.010

The update to version 16.010 incorporates the following changes:

Features:

1. A new options is available in ZSEARCH. The entry PRISM PTH will add a block of glass at the end of the zoom lens, assigned a glass model equal to type N-BK7 with thickness PTH.  This is intended for when the lens will be followed by some kind of prism whose thickness will contribute aberrations that should be accounted for during the search.  When the search is complete, you can then redefine that block of glass as whatever prism you want.  (Note that a similar capability is also available in DSEARCH, where it is called COVER.)

Bugs Fixed:

1. LCPLOT did not work on lenses with a real stop.
2. FNAR did not work correctly.

Version 16.009

The update to version 16.009 incorporates the following changes:

Features:

1. A new operand is available. IPVAR will target the wavefront variance, taking the image centroid as the OPD reference point.  It thus differs from GNV, which takes the chief-ray point as the reference.  It also differs in format:  This form requires the M tar wt … format as do ray aberrations.
2. The CFIX command has been enhanced. CFIX {C/E/R} will redefine all current hard apertures, making them either circular, elliptical, or rectangular.  It is intended for when FFBUILD requires noncircular apertures via the XCAP directive, and you want to change the definitions afterward.
3. A new option is available for ZFILE zoom lenses. If ZCSTOP is included in the ZFILE definitions, and CSTOP has been declared in the lens file, then the hard CAO on the stop will be recalculated at every zoom position according to the ray path in that zoom.  (Without this declaration, a CSTOP aperture is calculated only at zoom 1 and applies to all zooms.)

Bugs Fixed:

1. The MSS dialog and the User’s Manual had different listings for some switches.

Version 16.008

The update to version 16.008 incorporates the following changes:

Features:

1.  Nine flags can now be assigned to a surface, designated FL1, FL2, …FL9.  These can be referred to elsewhere, as in the AANT file.
2. The AANT file can now contain up to 25,000 aberrations, up from the previous 15,000.
3.  ZMTF now always uses a piecewise-linear interpolation over the pupil.  Previously, there was a choice between that or a Zernike fit.  But the latter proved inadequate and has been deactivated.

Bugs Fixed:

1.  The lens ID was not displayed on some FFA plots.
2.  The link to chapter 2.11 in the manual was incorrect.
3.  The GCLEAR operand often did not work correctly.

Version 16.007

The update to version 16.007 incorporates the following changes:

Features:

1.  A new command, SWAP, will swap two lens elements, replacing each with the other.

Bugs Fixed:

1.  The FFA command finds a centered Zernike shape that duplicates an off-axis portion of an aspheric mirror; then it replaces that mirror.  The first part worked properly; but the system was corrupted when it made the replacement.
2.  The count of rays found by GHPLOT was incorrect.

Version 16.006

The update to version 16.006 incorporates the following changes:

Features:

1.  None.

Bugs Fixed:

1.  The real-glass program ARG would sometimes hang.
2.  The GRAY command did not list the correct values at the image surface.
3.  The lens layout tool LLT did not work if the lens was in polarization mode.

Version 16.005

The update to version 16.005 incorporates the following changes:

Features:

1. A new monitor is available. ALA will control the CAO of all lenses, ignoring mirrors.  (The AAC monitor applies to the CAO of both lenses and mirrors.)
2. A new mode switch has been activated. Switch 55 will let you control the limits on lens thicknesses via the monitors ACC and ACM, instead of with hard limits on the TH variables themselves.  This switch sets the default limits very wide, so they are not often reached, and activates the monitors with default targets.  You can override those targets with your own entries if you need to.  The two methods often return very different results, with different quality, and you may want to experiment with this switch to see which is better in any given case.

Bugs Fixed:

1. SOLID did not draw the expected stippled shading when switch 60 is turned off, if switch 98 was turned on.
2. DWG drawings did not display properly if the object type was OBD and the object was not in AIR.

Version 16.004

The update to version 16.004 incorporates the following changes:

Features:

1. DSEARCH now adds rays at HBAR 0.75 if you request the Q6 option. This is intended to make wide-angle systems come out better.

Bugs Fixed:

1. DSEARCH could encounter ray errors if you asked for OPD correction.
2. PERSPECTIVE did not draw the shape of biradial conics correctly.
3. DWG did not draw edges on the first element.

Version 16.003

The update to version 16.003 incorporates the following changes:

Features:

1. The PAD scan feature has a new flavor. If you hold the right <Ctrl> key when you click the button, it will stop at each field point and wait for another click. So now you can examine them all at your leisure.  You can exit from this mode by holding the left <Ctrl) key when you click it.
2. The variables for Zernike polynomials declared with RSYMM include all axially-symmetric terms. But this sometimes creates a problem when the highest-order term G 36 is varied, since the numbers involved are comparable to the round-off error in some cases.  So a new declaration RRSYMM yields a reduced set of variables that does not include this term.

Bugs Fixed:

1. The CCLEAR operand did not work on surfaces declared with a USS shape.
2. The wide-angle object type OBD did not display properly if the object was not in AIR.
3. The command SPL, which saves the PAD layout so you can restore later it with RPL, did not work, since it looked like the obsolete command to save a plot, which was replaced with the save button on the graphics window.
4. The derivative increments for Zernike aspheric terms did not honor the RDR directive, which was supposed to reduce their values.
5. If rays failed when DSEARCH was in the real-ray phase of operation, the final results would show the quick-mode results for that case. This was not intended, and now such cases will not be shown.

Version 16.002

The update to version 16.002 incorporates the following changes:

Features:

1. None.

Bugs Fixed:

1. Several problems were discovered with optimization of systems with Forbes surfaces. These include fifth-order aberrations and some monitors.

Version 16.001

The update to version 16.001 incorporates the following changes:

Features:

1. For this update we have switched to an updated compiler and started a new version sequence.
2. The RHAND option has been significantly improved. Some issues with plot orientation and pupil searching have been resolved.
3. DSEARCH can now model Forbes polynomials of types A, B, and C.

Bugs Fixed:

1. The ZSEARCH / SAMPLE option did not display the zoom bar.
2. The ZSEARCH / LINEAR option honored the Lagrange Invariant, even though it was not supposed to.
3. SOLID would draw a black surface if a dummy was on surface 1.
4. The PUPIL / CPLOT was displayed rotated by 180 degrees.
5. Using the File Open button would result in an error message for some lenses, even though they opened correctly.

Version 15.101 

The update to version 15.101 incorporates the following changes:

Features:

1.  Two new operands are available.  TSAG will calculate the local  thickness at a given element at a specified fraction of the CAO, which is useful for molded plastic elements, which must not be too thin or too thick anywhere to avoid dimension changes.  The form TYSAG is the same, but specified at a desired Y-height instead of fractional aperture.

Bugs Fixed:

1.  The combination of WAP 2 and CSTOP did not work correctly in DSEARCH.
2.  The CDn definitions created in a COMPOSITE aberration were not retained afterward.

Version 15.100 

The update to version 15.100 incorporates the following changes:

Features:

1.  The new command MASK… will create an array of tiles containing areas to be masked.  This can evaluate the effect on the image when looking through a screen as is sometimes done with cell phone camera lenses.
2.  The free-form analysis tool FFA has been enhanced.  Now it not only calculates the Zernike shape that applies to a reduced area of a parent asphere. but it will actually recast that area into the new shape at the new location at the center of the decentered CAO.  This feature then shows the mirror as you would actually manufacture it, with a centered clear aperture.
3.  FFBUILD now lets you specify a weighting for the clearance aberrations, which can affect the search direction.

Bugs Fixed:

1.  The search button on the graphics toolbar did not work.
2.  The drawing programs could fail when the object space was not in AIR.

Version 15.99

The update to version 15.99 incorporates the following changes:

Features:

1.  The WAP 2 pupil calculation is now more accurate in cases where the pupil aberrations are large.
2.  SPS can now edit the object thickness.  (But the SYS dialog is still recommended for editing object declarations.)
3.  A new feature (TEC) will calculate the approximate effect on the wavefront of thermal gradients across lens surfaces in microlithography lenses with a high input illumination power.

Bugs Fixed:

1.  If you ran a multiconfiguration optimization and varied the GLM in a higher configuration, while configuration 1 had a real glass assigned to the same surface, that assignment was lost.
2.  IPAT did not correctly count the rays traced if you requested more than a single case.  Also, the RANDOM option did not work on successive cases.

Version 15.98

The update to version 15.98 incorporates the following changes:

Features:

1.  ARGLASS now accepts an argument NRM, which will defeat the error message that is shown when the index range of a material does not cover that in the lens.  Normally this is a good check, but when matching plastics with the U catalog, if the range is only slightly out, the error is of no concern — and is displayed by every core in multicore mode, which is not friendly.
2.  The MRG dialog now has a button to include the NRM argument in the MACro that gets run.

Bugs Fixed:

1.  ZSEARCH did not get the final lens back if running in only CORE 0.
2.  The worst case from MC was only saved by CORE 0.
3.  BTOL did not calculate the tolerance on VNUM in some cases
4.  The WAP 2 option did not calculate the entrance pupil correctly if there was a large amount of coma of the pupil and the search found ray failures.
5.  The PAD SCAN button, if clicked while a previous scan was running, would alter the value of YP0 in the lens.

Version 15.97

The update to version 15.97 incorporates the following changes:

Features:

1.  SSU and RSU will now accept a number and only operate on that configuration it is entered.
2.  A new tolerance desensitization operand is available.  SDU will evaluate the sum of the squares of the change in paraxial angle UA at each surface.  If this is large, then even if it is compensated elsewhere, the surfaces will have tight tolerances.
3.  Operands have also been defined for RUD (the difference between the incidence angle of the full-field upper and lower rim rays), which is squared and may help reduce contributions to off-axis aberrations, and DAA, the difference in SA3 contributions at adjacent surfaces.  If this is large, then tolerances may also be tight on those surfaces,
4.  A new command, RUDIFF, calculates the difference in angle between the upper and lower rim rays, compared to the surface normal, in radians, and prints the sum-squared value.
5.  The optimization selection QPLUS now adds an additional ray at XC 1 1 0.  This will avoid failures when the meridional rays will trace but a sagittal ray will not.

Bugs Fixed:

1.  The command LLB, which loads the last 20 commands into an editor, did not work properly.
2.  The ZSPACE option in ZSEARCH did not work as it should.  It now works better after applying a much higher damping.
3.  If you changed ACONs and varied the GLM in the new one, the program tested for a glass model in ACON 1.

Bugs to be Fixed:

1.  The PAD scan feature does not work with a zoom lens that has been refocused via the ZFOCUS command.

Version 15.96

The update to version 15.96 incorporates the following changes:

Features:

1.  If you by accident enter an APS number that exceeds the number of surfaces in the lens, the program will now inform you and put it on surface 1.
2.  We have deactivated mode switch 55, which controlled whether the diffraction image analysis used a coarse or fine sample pattern.  PCs are so fast these days that it makes no sense to use the coarse sample anymore.
3.  SFIT now lets you specify the coordinate system in which surface sag data are presented.  So if the measuring technician does not have the X and Y axes oriented the same as in SYNOPSYS, it will convert.
4.  The FN command can now make a plot showing how the F/number varies over the field.

Bugs Fixed:

1.  CPLOT did not work properly.
2.  The help file section on GRIN lenses was incomplete.
3.  If a ZFILE lens has fewer then four zooms assigned, the program will now default to the power-series expansion.  (The cubic form requires four or more zooms.)
4.  The CCF (channel capacity fraction) analysis spaced the image samples at twice the correct distance.
5.  If the ILLUM command encountered field points at which no rays get through, it would plot those points off-screen.  Now it zeros them out.
6.  The new DSENS option in DSEARCH only worked in Q mode.

Version 15.95

The update to version 15.95 incorporates the following changes:

Features:

1.  DSEARCH can now add an operand for the tolerance desensitization parameters SAT and ESA, which can in some cases return designs with looser tolerances.  The new option DSENS controls this feature.
2.  Five new plastic types have been added to the U catalog: EP4500, EP6000, EP6500, EP7000, and EP8000.
3.  A new lens evaluation feature has been added.  CCF will analyze the channel capacity fraction, which is a measure of the total amount of information a lens can transmit, relative to a perfect lens.

Bugs Fixed:

1.  The pupil selection WAP 0, when applied to a lens with the wide-angle object OBD would behave as though it were WAP 1.
2.  The PAD scan feature would sometimes fail if the object was type OBD.
3.  The drawing programs rendered systems with hyperhemispherical surfaces on both sides incorrectly.

Version 15.94

The update to version 15.94 incorporates the following changes:

Features:

1.  A new feature, QUANTIZE, will round off thickness or airspaces to a given decimal precision, for users who want round numbers on their drawings.

Bugs Fixed:

1.  The blaze height of a DOE was not listed correctly if the DOE was on side 2 of the element.
2.  The listing of switches on the MOM dialog was incorrect for switch 12.
3.  The algorithm for finding the intersection of a ray with an aspheric surface did not work if the lens was much smaller than one mm in diameter.

Version 15.93

The update to version 15.93 incorporates the following changes:

Features:

1.  Surface type USS 24, an extended NURBS shape, allows up to 400 control points, and it makes no sense to list all of them in a dialog for editing.  So that shape can no longer be edited in the Surface Shape dialog.  (Before, that dialog could edit up to 81 coefficients, but that was not adequate either.)  You can of course still edit the values with the WorkSheet or the LE editor if you wish.

Bugs Fixed:

1.  The “F” option on the SPROFILE command was not tested or honored correctly.
2.  BTOL did not tolerance the index and dispersion of a material correctly if the wavelength range was far outside the normal visible range of the C d F lines.

Version 15.92

The update to version 15.92 incorporates the following changes:

Features:

1.  The WorkSheet toolbar is now attached to the PAD toolbar.  Before, it belonged to the Command Window, but this makes more sense.
2.  The Monte-Carlo program MC now has a NOKILL option, for use with very complicated jobs where some cores could take much longer to complete than core 0.  If selected, this option will disable the message asking if you want to kill the other cores.
3.  BTOL now has separate mnemonics for air thicknesses (ATH) and glass thicknesses (GTH), for when you want to assign a fixed tolerance or non-default range to those variables.
4.  BTOL will now tolerance the glass model parameters Nd and Vd, for cases where you want tolerances for a lens that has not yet been assigned real glasses.

Bugs Fixed:

1.  Closing PAD when the WorkSheet was open could crash.
2.  The Fab-adjust MC program FAMC did not treat conic constants correctly.

Version 15.91

The update to version 15.91 incorporates the following changes:

Features:

1. The Nikon glass table has been updated, reflecting the measuring temperature of 22.5 degrees.
2. ZFILE zoom lenses now default to the CUBIC cam interpolation, which has been working better than the older power series expansion.

Bugs Fixed:

1. Sometimes the WorkSheet toolbar would remain open even if WS was closed.
2. DOE surfaces via USS 16, if tilted, gave tilted OPD results. The MTF was not affected, but the plots were.

Version 15.90

The update to version 15.90 incorporates the following changes:

Features:

1. The narcissus program NAR has been improved. Now it can evaluate the ratio of the narcissus at the marginal and chief rays, which is a useful target for minimizing the effect where there is a large cold stop. And the new command FNAR can create a bitmap picture showing what you would see on a display in the presence of the narcissus.
2. A new operand, RNAR can control the above ratio, thereby improving the narcissus.
3. .If MTF or ZMTF encounter a problem with the lowest spatial frequencies, where there are insufficient pupil samples, it prints a warning message.
4. The environment package ENM now warns you if you try to implement an index perturbation where an index pickup is involved.

Bugs Fixed:

1. A very long radius of curvature turns on the hyperhemisphere flag.
2. The CAP calculation did not work properly for object type OBD.
3. If switch 84 is on and the pupil is noncircular, the MTF calculation was incorrect.
4. There was a problem with the BGI plot.
5. The dialog for editing GRIN data required changing.
6. The tabulated data for OFPSPRD did not match what was plotted.

Version 15.89

The update to version 15.89 incorporates the following changes:

Features:

1. Many new features have been added to deal with hyperhemispherical surfaces. The program senses if a ray intercept occurs past the hemisphere point of a spherical surface, and all the drawing programs (except SOLID) render the shape correctly.  And RSOLID can fill in for SOLID.  The edge control monitor AEC now finds the separation based on real ray intercepts, rather than sag differences, for this shape.  Edges are drawn according to the SEDGE protocol, since none of the other edge-definition options make sense with this kind of surface.  And a new ray aberration, RSLOPE, can be used to steer a design away from a hyper surface, in cases when they are better avoided.
2. The CFREE directive, which frees all hard clear aperture data, now leaves alone any CAO assigned to the stop surface if the lens has been assigned the wide-angle pupils WAP 2 or 3. Those options require a real stop.

Bugs Fixed:

1. The color weights were not written to the ZMTF plot correctly.
2. If you ran DSEARCH while the WorkSheet was open, the program failed to load the MACro DSEARCH_OPT.MAC when it was finished.
3. The utilities menu MUT showed incorrect input parameters for the WGT command.

Version 15.88

The update to version 15.88 incorporates the following changes:

Features:

1. The Image Tools feature to plot the image profile as either raw or smoothed data now displays a list in the requested format. Before, it only showed the raw data.
2. ZSEARCH now has a USE CURRENT option, which adds the requested zoom lens behind an existing front end. This makes it possible to zoom over a wider field than is otherwise available.
3. The TRAY command (targetted raytrace) now puts the values of Xen and Yen into the AI buffer along with the other ray data.

Bugs Fixed:

1. The thermal shadow program ATS left any existing ACON … PICKUP in effect, which overrode the thermal changes.
2. The CAO values derived from VFIELD data were not correct if the lens had a real pupil.
3. The Shape Options dialog did not show the correct value of the lines/mm parameter for surfaces using the native GRATING feature.
4. The combination of BACK … SET and COVER … did not work in DSEARCH. The back focus was set to zero in that case.

Version 15.87

The update to version 15.87 incorporates the following changes:

Features:

1. Glass boundaries for GLM variables are now restored to the default when you change directories.
2. A new system parameter is available. ILINE in the RLE or CHG file causes glass model variables to utilize a new set of index interpolation coefficients that are more accurate in the ultraviolet than are the standard GLM models.  To use this feature, at least three wavelengths must be declared in the lens and all must be less than or equal to 0.45 um.  Some of the glass-table analysis features are then disabled, since they need the index at the C line (0.6563), which is outside the accurate range of the new coefficients.
3. The ARGLASS command (to replace glass models with real materials) now accepts an optional ANNEAL directive.
4. The MRG dialog now has an option to create a MACro of the input instead of just running it. This lets you examine the tasks to be performed and to add the new ANNEAL if you wish to.

Bugs Fixed:

1. The glass-table display MGT could fail if thermal shadowing was in effect and two surfaces had the same glass type.
2. The default weighting on GSHEAR aberrations returned by the ready-made dialog box were not appropriate for AFOCAL systems.
3. If you saved a BTOL budget for a lens with zooming elements, and then read that budget back in, the tolerances on the zooms were not returned.
4. The default clear apertures returned on a lens with VFIELD data could be incorrect.

Version 15.86

The update to version 15.86 incorporates the following changes:

Features:

1. The RAS command (to recast an aspheric into a power-series) now accepts a fourth argument nterms, which limits the number of terms to be used.

2. The DSEARCH command now accepts the input PSD { 2 / 3 }, which can help find different solutions.

3. BTOL is not intended for systems with USS surfaces, and now prints a message saying you should recast those to Zernike surfaces first.

Bugs Fixed:

1. PCAT did not work properly.

2. BTOL did not work properly for BICONIC surfaces.

3. A PYA target in ZSEARCH ignored the weight assigned in word four.

4. Editing annotation in the graphics editor could crash if no size was selected.

5. If you ran DSEARCH while thermal shadowing was in effect, the program would hang.

6. Specifying the stop on the last surface in DSEARCH with AFOCAL turned on did not work.

7. Varying a glass model with GLM on a surface that has a glass-table glass can fail.

8. GSEARCH can hang if rays fail.

Version 15.85

The update to version 15.85 incorporates the following changes:

Features:

1. The C99 optimization feature now limits the number of cores you can authorize to 16, to improve program stability.
2. The default number of passes specified on the MMT menu (for matching testplates) has been increased to 30. It was easy to miss a good match if you used the previous default of 10.

Bugs Fixed:

1. AEI ignored clicks on the stopsign button.
2. The VMR program, which plots the MTF as a function of the wavefront variance, did not restore the starting lens after cycling through its programmed defocus settings.
3. The BTOL option PREPARE MC did not create variables for zoom lenses except for the last zoom.

Version 15.84

The update to version 15.84 incorporates the following changes:

Features:

1.  The GSHEAR option has been added to the MOM dialog, so you can easily add those operands to your AANT file.

2.  New operands IHH and IZZ will target the tangent of the incident angle of the requested ray.  This is for when you want the object rays telecentric.

Bugs Fixed:

1.  SPB crashed if you entered the SPECIAL input.  Also, the stopsign button did not work.

2.  The ZSEARCH program left out one “END” line in the optimization MACro if you requested AGROUP.  Also, if less than 10 solutions were found, there were duplicates shown on the plot.

3.  The ATC monitor did not work on cemented elements.

4.  AEI did not work correctly if switch 99 was on.

5.  GSEARCH did not work correctly in multicore mode.

Issues:

1.  We have observed that if you turn on switch 99 (enabling multicore optimization, which is recommend for slow jobs but not for fast ones), and if the number of cores authorized (via C99) exceeds 16, the Windows operating system can become unstable.  We are investigating the cause of this behavior, and until it is resolved, you are advised to stay within the 16-core limit for that feature.

Version 15.83

The update to version 15.83 incorporates the following changes:

Features:

1. The default weight on a TOTAL request remains at 0.1 if no value is entered. Before, the weight became zero.
2. A new option is turned on for multicore optimization via switch 99. Now the higher cores will not be terminated when the optimization finishes. This is so you can run the annealing program, reusing those cores, without the overhead of starting and stopping each one at each temperature. The process therefore runs much faster. This option is now the default, and can be turned on and off with the third argument on the C99 command.

Bugs Fixed:

1. The “mean” value printed by MC is now labeled the “median”, which is more appropriate.
2. The search option on the MWL dialog did not always work properly.
3. The ZLEVEL version of the PUPIL command did not work properly.
4. The ZSEARCH … SINGLE option did not display the zoombar.

Version 15.82

The update to version 16.008 incorporates the following changes:

Features:

1. MACro names may now contain an embedded period.
2. The programs AAA and ADA now list the surface number and merit function of all results, so you can utilize a solution other than the top one if necessary.
3. DSEARCH now deletes any previous lens files before executing. So you will not get old files (if fewer than 10 new ones are found) and wonder where they came from.
4. The Monte-Carlo program MC now prints the average, mean value, and peak of each histogram.
5. Switch 84 ON is now a default setting. MTF calculations usually work better that way.
6. GSEARCH now has a SUBSET option, where you can specify which elements are to be matched to which glass catalogs, should the default not produce what you want.

Bugs Fixed:

1. The MFK (Foucault test) dialog did not update the display when you clicked Update, but only if you selected the X or Y direction.
2. MC would in some situations incorrectly account for one or more cases in the final statistics.
3. The tilt and decenter dialog found in the SPS spreadsheet did not work properly.

Version 15.81

The update to version 16.008 incorporates the following changes:

Features:

1. The DSEARCH option to USE CURRENT now leaves any WAP setting in the current lens intact, even if the pupil is not in that section, which is a useful way to control the pupil in the final lens.
2. A new RLE option SFOV sets the field of view to a square, keeping the X-dimension equal to the Y.
3. A new option is available in DSEARCH and ZSEARCH; WAC activates wide-angle correction for the starting systems, which can help with very wide-angle designs where few of the candidates will trace otherwise.
4. An RLE file name can now contain embedded periods. Before, the MWL dialog did not show those file names properly.
5. The optimization program by default tests the derivative increments and reduces any that cause ray failures. You can now defeat this step if you need to with NDTEST after the PANT file.
6. Glass names can now be entered with or without quote marks. Before the usage was inconsistent.

Bugs Fixed:

1. The real pupil search could fail if the skew field was nonzero.
2. Some problems were related to the change in input line length from 90 to 100. Affected features were the DIR command and the black-box feature. among others.

Version 15.80

The update to version 16.008 incorporates the following changes:

Features:

1. The keystroke to undo a recent lens change now reverts to the last WorkSheet Update version of the lens. Before, it updated only when you exited WS.
2. The Image Tools Menu (MIT) now has the option to show an image trace either normalized or raw. The latter shows the fraction of energy captured for some targets.
3. The maximum length of input lines has been increased from 90 to 100 characters. This allows more precision in the output of aspheric coefficients.

Bugs Fixed:

1. The wrong pickup surface was shown on the TH options dialog.
2. A problem was discovered when creating a custom coating stack.
3. The MDI menu name was incorrectly listed as MFO in some dialogs.
4. The Extended Image Analysis (EAI) feature did not work properly.
5. The tray displayed a notice if ACON pickups were assigned, even after that option was turned off.

Version 15.79

The update to version 16.008 incorporates the following changes:

Features:

1. The plastic material model varied by PGM has been improved and is now used more effectively.

2. A problem has emerged related to switch 99, which makes single-configuration optimization utilize multiple cores. While this works as intended and greatly speeds things up, we have found that the Windows operating system often fails to work properly afterward. We are researching this problem and have provided a new command, C99, that controls how many cores are used for this purpose. Fewer used seems to reduce the incidence of this effect. Users are advised to experiment, and let us know if you gain any insight into what may be causing this strange effect.

Bugs Fixed:

1. The number of cases listed as skipped by AEI was sometimes incorrect.
2. GSEARCH did not work properly if switch 99 was turned on. Now it turns that switch off before it runs.
3. The Free-form system build, FFB, when a circular field was specified by CFOV, created the correct set of rays for the merit function, but did not assign the CFOV flag to the system itself.
4. The convolution MTF became inaccurate if the lens pupil was strongly noncircular.
5. If you ran DSEARCH with multiple trial radii values, and the number of authorized cores exceeded the number of cases given by the binary search algorithm, some cases were examined more than once, which could potentially eliminate other good solutions.

Version 15.78

The update to version 16.008 incorporates the following changes:

Features:

1. The step file program STFILE now can model all axially-symmetric aspheric surfaces with the native NURBS specification in that protocol, so those won’t be rendered as panels anymore. (The panels were accurate enough but created very large files.) Non-symmetric shapes or those without circular and centered apertures are still rendered as panels.
2. A new feature is available in FILM: Now you can declare a custom library of film materials by entering the six interpolation coefficients in either the old Schott or Sellmeier formulas. Then you can define a custom coating stack that incorporates those materials and apply it to your lenses. Section 16.5 in the UM describes this new feature.
3. AED will now check whether an element it wants to remove from the lens is at the aperture stop. If so, it will replace it with a dummy surface and keep the stop there. Before, it simply deleted the element, which forced the stop to move to the previous one, which was sometimes not a good idea.
4. The structure of the header file fortranstructures.h has been altered. Users who have created a custom DLL file should contact OSD to get the latest version.

Bugs Fixed:

1. The option in ZSEARCH to space the zoom positions with forms LINEAR and NONLINEAR did not preserve the Lagrange invariant.
2. The GDF option to input glass interpolation coefficients did not work properly.
3. The DMASK listing of the blaze height was not correct on the plot.
4. The option in FILM to fix the layer material to THF4 did not work properly if the wavelength exceeded the visible-spectrum range of that material. It then defaulted to the IR range, which was not accurate near the visible.
5. Also in FILM, the analysis of coatings accounted for the wavelength and angle of incidence, but ignored the dispersion of the layer material, which has a small effect.
6. DSEARCH did not report the number of cases it evaluated correctly if the number of authorized cores exceed.

Version 15.77

The update to version 16.008 incorporates the following changes:

Features:

1. LNC will now list both the NURBS control points and the surface sag at each point, for reference.
2. AAA (Automatic Asphere Assignment) now has an optional EXCEPT… entry. This will exclude surfaces that you don’t want to become aspheric. ADA (Automatic DOE assignment) is similarly enhanced.
3. If you ask for the monitor AGE or AAE after you have already declared AEC, instead of dropping the latter, the program now converts it to the other unused type. So you won’t wonder why your lenses are feathered anymore.
4. Several new glass types have been added to the Schott, Ohara, Hoya, and LZOS catalogs.

Bugs Fixed:

1. The ZMC (Zemax conversion) rendered YFLN data as OBA, It should have been OBC.
2. ADA in multicore mode would crash if switch 99 was turned on. Since ADA already runs multiple processes, it was not able to run each one in another set of multiple processes. Now it will turn off switch 99 first. The same was true for the Monte-Carlo program MC.
3. The REVERSE command did not reverse the aspheric coefficients on a USS 16 DOE.
4. The lens layout tool LLT, when run on a lens with object type OBD, did not work correctly unless the system was in GLOBAL mode. Now object OBD turns on that mode automatically.

Version 15.76

The update to version 16.008 incorporates the following changes:

Features:

1. The logic of the PAD scan (which shows the ray curves as the field is scanned from the axis to the edge) has been modified. Previously, the program worked but suffered from the tendency of Windows to deactivate the view after a pause since there is then no user input. Then the screen would freeze until the scan was finished. The new logic seems not to suffer for that reason. The Zoom Slider has similarly been enhanced.
2. SFIT has been enhanced. Now it can be used to augment an existing aspheric surface with measured figure errors, as well as fitting the whole surface to new input data.
3. A new feature, LNC will list the NURBES control points in X, Y, and Z. The ASY listing gives the Z, but only implies X and Y.

Bugs Fixed:

1. A problem was reported with user-written DLL files. This has been resolved, and all users who need this feature are advised to contact OSD for an updated header file that is needed by the program.
2. The DSEARCH and ZSEARCH programs did not work properly in multicore mode after a recent update.
3. The option in DSEARCH to allow up to four trial radii only worked with three or fewer.

Version 15.75

The update to version 16.008 incorporates the following changes:

Features:

1. The STP file converter has been enhanced.Now it displays correctly on all the rendering products we have tested (eDarwings, ABViewer, and SolidWorks).
2. The Chinese Guanming glass catalog has been enhanced with the addition of 33 new glass types.
3. ELD now has an option that lets you enter certain annotations in the input file. So you don’t have to type them individually on each element.
4. A new feature, RFS will recast a surface as a Forbes type A surface with type USS 9.
5. The LEO listing formatted some aspheric terms without leaving a space before a minus sign. Although the program had no problem reading the file, it was confusing for humans to read.

Bugs Fixed:

1. The MIT option to smooth a trace crashes if the lens is AFOCAL..
2. The features to recast a surface as a NURBS or extended NURBES surface have an option to only vary half of the control points if the surface is bilaterally symmetric. But the other half was not picked up correctly.
3. ELD did not position the notes for aspheric terms correctly if side 1 had one of the more advanced types.

Version 15.74

The update to version 16.008 incorporates the following changes:

Features:

1. A new material has been added to the U catalog. SAPBIREF is a birefringent version of sapphire.
2. The MMO dialog now has a button for the WMODEL version of DMODEL.

Bugs Fixed:

1. Multicore footprints turned on quiet mode, but failed to turn it off afterward.
2. THERM did not honor an immersed object. Also, thermal shadowing did not work correctly with DOE surfaces such as type USS 16.
3. PSPRD M … did not work correctly if the lens had only a single wavelength defined.
4. USE CURRENT + DWG, which annotates an assembly drawing with tolerances, listed the airspace following a cemented element twice.
5. USE CURRENT + DSEARCH no longer leaves a CSTOP in effect if the stop is not in the retained portion. it also deletes any WAP 2 or 3 that is in effect.

Version 15.73

The update to version 16.008 incorporates the following changes:

Features:

1. THERM now accepts surface 0 for the TH coefficients.

Bugs Fixed:

1. The UNSTATIC declaration did not work.
2. In AEI, the program always tried to vary YP1, even if the current APS surface was not in the active region.
3. The PGA and THERM listings for materials GE-NIR and SILICON-NIR said there were no dn/dt data. Those data are implied for those materials, and the listing now says so.

Version 15.72

The update to version 16.008 incorporates the following changes:

Features:

1. There were no new features in this update.

Bugs Fixed:

1. The scan function for Image Tools plots (MIT) did not work properly if the lens was AFOCAL. Also, the c/mm scale was incorrect.
2. The third-order pupil aberration DIP was not correct for AFOCAL systems.

Version 15.71

The update to version 15.71 incorporates the following changes:

Features:

1. The Zemax conversion program ZMC has been modified. Some zmx files come in with a conic constant of zero, but SYNOPSYS treats any surface with a declared CC to be aspheric, which affects many other features, such as graphics rendering. Now it checks, and if the CC is zero, it does not add a CC directive to the RLE file. So the surface remains purely spherical.

2. DSEARCH now allows an AFOCAL directive in the GOALS section. Before, it only assigned that property if you used the current front end and it was declared there. This is more friendly.

3. The program now reorders your wavelengths if you do not observe the protocol: long first, short last. Converting from a different program can come in reversed. The only major difference is the sign of the chromatic aberrations — but it is s good idea to be consistent everywhere.

4. PAD and DWG now illustrate an immersed object type OBA by drawing the object surface and connecting it to surface 1. That area is presumed filled with the immersion medium.

5. The program that prepares a step file of the lens, STFILE, has been enhanced. Now the native spherical shape and rotationally symmetric edges are all used where appropriate, and we have tested the results on eDrawings and ABViewer. You should not have to use the panel option anymore, which will reduce the size of the step file by almost a factor of 50. The PANELS mode is still available, in case your CAD program stumbles on the new files.

Bugs Fixed:

1. There were no bugs reported this update.

Version 15.70

The update to version 15.70 incorporates the following changes:

Features:

1.  The PANT file now accepts input of the form VLIST parameter jsss THRU jsps, which lets you specify a range of surfaces over which the parameter will be varied.  This only applies to certain variable types, as you can read in the UM.

2.  The input parser now ignores characters not in the expected character set.  Some customers have sent us files with strange characters that produce an error message.  Now those are changed to blanks, and if the rest of the file is okay, it will work.

3.  Switch 91 is now on by default.  That switch designates the current glass properties by coloring the elements in the PAD drawing.  This is so useful it makes sense for it to be on.

Bugs Fixed:

1.  FVF did not work properly for object type OBD.

2.  The search routines have an option to run in QUIET mode to avoid endless text scrolling in the Command Window.  But certain error conditions changed the mode, to make it possible to read the message — and the mode was not reset on the next case.  Now it is.

Version 15.69

The update to version 15.69 incorporates the following changes:

Features:

1. The Zoom Slider now has a Stop button. Click it and the zoom scan freezes at the current position so you can examine it if you wish.

2. The logic related to the stopsign button has been revised. Before, the program would wait for certain routines to finish before halting — and some of those reset the condition. Now optimization halts almost immediately if you want to stop it.

3. The default switch setting now places switch 1 OFF. That switch drops bounded variables, which makes optimization run faster since they almost always want to continue violating, which takes time to sort out all over again each pass. But if a TH variable is dropped, then when you run the annealing program, it will ignore edge violations via the AEC monitor, since that only applies to current TH variables, and once dropped they no longer apply.

4. ZSEARCH now has a new ZSPACE ITEMIZE feature that lets you specify the exact object parameters and target GIHT at every zoom position. The other spacing options do this automatically, which is better for most users, but if you really want explicit control, now you have it. You are reminded that if your input violates Lagrange’s law, the results might make little sense.

5. The default thickness limit parameters (TLIM) are no longer also set by changing space limits (SLIM). It seems to make sense to keep them separate.

6. Drawings in PAD and DWG now show if the object is immersed. If so, they draw a diamond shape touching the object surface, the color (in PAD) derived from the index and dispersion of that medium.

Bugs Fixed:

1. OPD calculations were incorrect if the lens was in AFOCAL mode and had an odd number of reflections.

2. The ZMC command (to convert a Zemax file) did not work properly on zoom lenses.

3. The SCAO aberration did not work properly

4. If you ran a multiconfiguration Monte-Carlo tolerance analysis more than once, it could crash the program.

Version 15.68

The update to version 15.68 incorporates the following changes:

Features:

1.You can now direct MC to save all of the sample Monte-Carlo cases (up to 100) in case you want to examine them yourself afterward.

2.The THERM program now accounts for the change in surface radius as well as the aperture of retaining rings when adjusting a thickness.

Bugs Fixed:

1.The new ATS analysis that works for almost all surface shapes did not do standard aspherics correctly.

2.THERM analysis did not work properly if the lens had hard CAOs.

3.The program did not clean up the many files called CORESUBnnn.RLE, which are created by some multicore features and are supposed to be temporary files.

4.BTOL could crash if a lens had a real pupil.

Version 15.67

The update to version 15.67 incorporates the following changes:

Features:

1.  ATS (Activate Thermal Shadowing) has been improved.  Now it works with almost all surface shapes and with zoom lenses.  It also removes any FILLSTOP or CSTOP attributes, following the pupil in ACON 1, scaling the aperture if WAP 2 or 3 is in effect.

2.  The precision of RLE files has been increased.  This reduces the difference in results from optimizing with switch 99 on and off in multicore mode.

Bugs Fixed:

1.  AEI could in some cases change a paraxial pupil into an implied pupil, which is not exactly the same thing.

2.  The sequence PAD / ZERO would loop.

3.  The HELP buttons in some dialogs did not link to the current help file topic.

Version 15.66

The update to version 15.66 incorporates the following changes:

Features:

1. The new version of object OBD has been revised. The pupil from a real stop is rotated with skew field, and the new OBD will now follow that same rule, to make things simpler to understand.

2. ACON PICKUPS … now transfers all ZFILE object data if you specify 1 POB 1. Before, it only transferred data from zoom 1 .

3. SYNOPSYS can now run on a remote desktop. The dongle must be plugged in to that PC for it to work.

Bugs Fixed:

1. AED worked on all lenses, including aspherics. But that makes no sense, since the target to make the paraxial power go to zero ignored the higher orders. Now, AED ignores aspheric elements and the problem goes away.

2. ZDWG did not properly draw rays if the lens used the new OBD object.

3. Multicore optimization with the new switch 99 did not work properly if the optimization failed on the first pass.

4. Hyperhemispheric surfaces were not drawn correctly by CDWG.

5. If you gave a FIXed tolerance to an RFR in BTOL, the summary at the end did not repeat the same value if the element had EFILE data where point “A” was not at the CAO of the lens

Version 15.65

The update to version 15.65 incorporates the following changes:

Features:

1.  ZSEARCH now lets you specify PLASTIC materials.
2.  AED now honors switch 99.
3.  The behavior of object type OBD has been revised.  Before, the size of the entering beam would change if the first radius of curvature changed — which made no sense.  Now the default pupil with this object type traces a beam with constant size measured perpendicular to the chief ray.  This is similar to the effect of the WAP 1 pupil, although the position of the rim rays still varies somewhat if the first radius is steep.  Once you change to a real pupil and implement WAP 2 or 3, this size is adjusted, as before.

Bugs Fixed:

1.  The TN function crashed in the previous version.
2.  The lens layout tool (LLT) crashed if a previous optimization used the SNAP option.
3.  Problems were discovered that involved certain combinations of ZSEARCH, OBD, VFIELD, ACONS, PAD SCAN, and optimization with switch 99 turned on.
4.  The quick mode in ZSEARCH did not honor all of the SPECIAL AANT entries correctly.
5.  The automatic aspheric assignment AAA did not return the best case if any of them encountered ray failures.
6.  REVERSE did not work properly on zoom lenses.

Version 15.64

The update to version 15.64 incorporates the following changes:

Features:

1. DSEARCH now puts color “M” in the optimization file if you requested GSHEAR and multicolors.
2.  A new system flag REPUPIL B is now implemented.  This is intended for the rare case when the paraxial chief-ray path yields a real ray that traces but comes out on the wrong side of a caustic.
3.  You can now MAP the hologram surface frequency on a requested surface.  Before, it analyzed the last HOE in the system.
4.  DSEARCH now can model aspheres as Forbes type A surfaces.
5. A new monitor ADM will control the minimum diameter/thickness ratio.  (Monitor ADT controls the maximum value.)
6.  We have reinstated switch 65, which some found useful.  It adjusts the entrance pupil for PAD and some other drawing

Version 15.63

The update to version 15.63 incorporates the following changes:

Features:

1. A new surface shape is available.  Type USS 29 is an 8th-power fully-populated polynomial.
2. ZSEARCH now supports object type OBD, as well as ZFOCUS with that object type.

Bugs Fixed:

1.  An input error in the DSEARCH file could make multicore operations hang.
2.  Entering WAP 2 and then STOP FREE in DSEARCH (which is not allowed) now aborts nicely.
3.  The AGROUP option in ZSEARCH was not properly initialized if you had run a previous case.
4.  The monitor AZA (automatic zoom airspaces) did not work on group 1 if that group started at surface 1.

Version 15.61

The update to version 15.61 incorporates the following changes:

Features:

1.Switch 65 has been deactivated.The effect was similar to the WAP 3 option on lens drawings, and we see no reason to maintain both features.

2.The drawing produced by DSEARCH now automatically ignores feathering, so you can see where the rays go even if they would be stopped.  Lenses at this stage often are imperfect, so it makes no sense to delete those rays from the picture.

3.The GIHT parameter in ZSEARCH, used when the several zooms have different values, in AFOCAL mode, now controls the paraxial angle UB, not the height YA.A separate directive controls YA. Also, if the GIHT differs between zooms,the weighting of ray aberrations goes inversely with GIHT, reflecting the fact that smaller field angles require smaller images.

4.A new option is available in ZSEARCH.TSONLY will cause ray grids to correct only the TFAN and SFAN rays instead of a full grid of rays.This runs faster on systems where you don’t need the full grid.

5.The program no longer scissors plots before they are displayed.This was a leftover from the batch-mode days, when the Calcomp plotter drivers did not deal gracefully with data that extended off the page. Since modern graphics drivers are much better, we now allow the picture to extend beyond the page boundaries, so you can see what is out there.(If you print the plot, you still only get the data that fit on the page.)

6.The real-pupil search algorithm has been improved.The search used to fail with some of our examples; those now work properly.

Bugs Fixed:

1.The image tools feature (MIT) now takes into account the incident angle of the chief ray and stretches the image as needed.

2.An input error in the SPECIAL PANT section of DSEARCH input would crash the program.

3.The CSLOPE aberration was listed in the help file in two places.  It is a construction parameter aberration, not a ray aberration.

4.The ATC monitor weight would override weighting on subsequent rays.

5.An implied real pupil,designated with APS -1 and a nonzero YPP1,did not work if the implied location was somewhere in image space.

6.The OPD calculation for afocal systems,if not in the major color, had a constant bias if the chief ray was not centered at the final surface.The image analysis was correct, since the shape was correct, but the PAD display showed the bias and was confusing.

Version 15.60

The update to version 15.60incorporates the following changes:

Features:

1.A new aberration is available.CSLOPE will return the slope of the requested surface at the current CAO rather than along a given ray.This is useful for zoom lenses, where the CAO is taken at the largest aperture required for all zooms.

2.Some new monitors are now available.  ACS will monitor the steepness of all surfaces whose curvature is varying, at the current CAO of that surface.  This is similar to ASC, which only checks along the current upper and lower rim rays.This is intended for zoom lenses, where the CAO is set to the maximum aperture needed for all zooms.

3.Another new monitor is ATC, which checks the incidence angle of all rays in all colors at all zooms. This is to prevent critical-angle ray failures in zoom lenses.It is similar to ACA, which only checks a few rays at the current zoom.

4.The Automatic Asphere Assignment feature (AAA) now varies only aspheric term G 3 on a target surface.Before, it varied the conic constant — but that did not work very well if the surface was nearly flat.This version should work with those surfaces too.

5.The program no longer scissors plots before they are displayed.This was a leftover from the batch-mode days, when the Calcomp plotter drivers did not deal gracefully with data that extended off the page.Since modern graphics drivers are much better, we now allow the picture to extend beyond the page boundaries, so you can see what is out there.(If you print the plot, you still only get the data that fit on the page.)

6.The GDIS command now lets you specify a size factor that can reduce the plot scale in the event that eliminating the scissoring makes the paraxial grid overfill the page.

Bugs Fixed:

1.The optimization program could go into a loop if rays failed on the initial pass and you did not request the FIX option.

Version 15.59

The update to version 15.59 incorporates the following changes:

Features:

1. Two new materials are added to the U glass table: KIRO types CG1 and CG2. At the moment, those materials have no transmission data. When the vendor supplies them, we will add them.

2.. ARGLASS has been enhanced. Now it will vary the glass models to duplicate a potential real glass, even if that glass is outside of the current boundaries. Before, it honored those boundaries and sometimes could not match a glass that was outside. When it adjusts the model now, the real glass should work better when reoptimized.

3. If you assign a CORE number, the program now shows the result in the tray. That way you always know how many cores are authorized.

4. The logic of the PAD scan has been changed. For some reason, if a process sleeps for more than an instant, the Windows OS decides not to show the changing display until it is finished. We believe this behavior has been evaded.

5. The PAD drawings will now show the path of vignetted rays up to the point of failure, if you select the custom rayset for that display.

Bugs Fixed:

1. MTF calculations did not always work on a system that contained a real DOE surface. (The USS types of simple DOE were not affected.)

2. The Image Tools MIT did not display the correct image structure in COHERENT mode if the exit pupil was not circular.

3. The abscissa of CAM plots did not show the axis or tic marks.

Version 15.58

The update to version 15.58 incorporates the following changes:

Features:

1. DSEARCH and ZSEARCH in multicore mode now run faster than before. Some jobs run twice as fast.

Bugs Fixed:

1. If you used the FLAG designation in a lens and then optimized it in multiconfiguration mode, the program only picked up the flagged surface if it was in configuration 1. Now it applies to the current ACON and works for any of them.

Version 15.57

The update to version 15.57 incorporates the following changes:

Features:

1. The automatic symbols LB0, LB1 … have been enhanced. Now you can reference a surface that is up to nine surfaces before the last, up to LB9. You can also reference a surface relative to a FLAG surface, up to nine surfaces removed, with FM9,FM8, … FP8, FP9.

2. AEI can now add elements adjacent to most aspherics. Before, only spherical surfaces were treated and the shell initially got the same radius as that surface. Now shells will be added adjacent to an asphere but will start out flat.

3. The Excellent Editor EE will now display command words with a contrasting font and background. This will help you keep track of what is going on in your MACros. Comments are displayed in green type, as before.

4. The command to make an environment model (EMODEL) has been renamed to ENM, to avoid a collision with the command EM filename. The GRIN calculated to model a thermal nonuniformity has also been renamed to GRIN ENM.

Bugs Fixed

1. The MTF portion of the GSS plot was not displayed if no MTF analysis had been done previously.

Issues:

1. The option to load a bitmap picture from the clipboard in the MIT dialog does not work as it should. On Windows 7 it was perfect, but in Windows 10 it usually aborts partway through. Then, if you run the same procedure a second time, it usually works. We attribute this to a bug in Windows, over which we have no control. The same issue affects the MFB dialog.

Version 15.56

The update to version 15.56 incorporates the following changes:

Features:

1. MIT and MFB have been enhanced. Now they show a progress bar when scanning a picture, so you know you have to wait a minute before clicking the Process button. Also, the MFB display was centered at the axis of the image surface, but if the axis ray did not go to the center (because of a prism, for example) the whole picture would show up decentered. Now it is centered at the axis ray.

Bugs Fixed:

1. The thermal shadowing feature ATS displayed the zoom bar if the temperature change was negative.

2. Input errors in the DSEARCH file could make the program go into a loop.

3. The automatic aspheric assignment (AAA) did not work properly in multicore mode.

Version 15.55

The update to version 15.55 incorporates the following changes:

Features:

1. Switch 55 is now ON by default. (This samples diffraction patterns at 1/4 of the Airy disk radius instead of 1/2.) PCs are so fast these days that it makes no sense to revert to the less-accurate form.

2. DWG output with OBG systems now default to a single object height.

Bugs Fixed:

1. A SPT command did not work properly on a system with object OBG if you did not enter a scale factor.

2. The coherent analysis option in the Image Tools Menu (MIT) did not work correctly if the lens had the RPUPIL option in effect.

3. A problem was discovered with AFOCAL systems with a non-circular pupil, and with AFOCAL OPD calculations.

4. The value of an OPL aberration in the FINAL listing was incorrect.

5. ELD drawings of elements with rectangular apertures no longer display a “diameter” dimension.

Version 15.54

The update to version 15.54 incorporates the following changes:

Features:

1. The automatic symbols LB0, LB1, etc. as well as APS, are now honored globally. The only exceptions are in routines where the symbol is a valid mnemonic, such as in an RLE file. Before, they only worked in AANT and PANT files.

2. The PAD display does a better job of remembering the zoom and pan settings of the several views as they are adjusted by clicking and dragging.

3. A new noun, NZOOMS has been added to the AI vocabulary.

4. There are now several new flavors of the PUPIL command. These allow you to view the wavefront at the exit pupil, at the last surface, and to superimpose the wavefront view from several different systems.

Bugs Fixed:

1. If rays failed after a successful quick search, ZSEARCH reported that case when it was finished. It should only have reported cases that optimized successfully.

2. GSEARCH could hang if you clicked the stopsign button to abort the process.

3. The AANT operands STX and STY returned the slope divided by 5, not the raw slope.

4. Object OBD would return erroneous OPD results if the object distance was less than 1.0E9.

5. FAMC could loop if you clicked the stopsign button when it was doing certain operations.

6. The MUT dialog would do an unwanted operation if you clicked the SCALE button.

7. Lens arrays did not display properly with RSOLID.

8. Surface type USS 19 (Y-cylinder) was not properly honored by XBEAM.

Version 15.53

The update to version 15.53 incorporates the following changes:

Features:

1. MPE now has an option to create RSOLID drawings that can rotate much faster as you drag with the mouse. This is done by a coarser sample of the surfaces. (You can specify the sampling yourself with the SPART option in the RSOLID file.)

2. We have updated most of the lessons in the Online Tutorials, to reflect the current behavior of the program. Users who want to study those examples and run the MACros are advised to download the new versions.

3. The program no longer tests and adjusts the derivative increments if the starting merit function cannot be calculated or if FIXRAY has been requested. In the latter case, it is assumed that rays are going to fail and the problem will be corrected by that feature.

Bugs Fixed:

1. The new object grid option in MFB took the entered side length of a square pattern as the half-size, as with a circular pattern.

2. We found that if you copy a line from a PDF file that contains the apostrophy character “‘”, and paste it into the EE editor (from an online tutorial file, for example) the program would crash. Now it accepts that character.

Version 15.51

The update to version 15.51 incorporates the following changes:

Features:

1. DSEARCH now has a FILTER directive, which lets you specify that certain elements should be either positive or negative, while the others can be either. If you know what a portion of your lens should look like, you can specify it this way — and shorten the search time by a factor of two for each element so declared.

2. SYNOPSYS now has a STEP file converter. There are limitations, however, which you can read about in the UM.

Bugs Fixed:

1. The sequence IFR … / IFP … did not work if COMMON was requested.

2. ARG did not work properly with plastic elements.

3. Index values varied with GLM did not let the value of Nd rise above 1.9, even if you specified a higher limit with the CUL and FUL directives.

Version 15.50

The update to version 15.50 incorporates the following changes:

Features:

1. SOLID and DSOLID now accept the mnemonic SPART, which sets the partition number for rendering surfaces. The default partition is very fine — making a beautiful smooth curve — but the DXF file from DSOLID was huge. Now you can request a coarser partition, and the file will be smaller.

2. We have enhanced the algorithm that finds the real pupil. It can still fail, in cases where the chief ray is close to a caustic, but it is more robust now.

3. The SINGLE input for ZSEARCH now accepts an integer number, as does DSEARCH.

4. We have updated the Ohara glass catalog, adding some new glass types.

5. Also, we have implemented a new feature: sn MOLD rate will alter the index of most of the low Tg glasses according to the rate at which pressed lenses are cooled. The index depends on this rate, and is somewhat lower than the catalog value. The data from Ohara are fully implemented, while Schott provides only a single molded value, from which one cannot extract the effect of the cooling rate. In any case, the change in index is modeled as MELT data, which apply to a specified surface and become part of the RLE file.

Bugs Fixed:

1. The previous version did not provide a way to turn off a selection in the WorkSheet.

Version 15.49

The update to version 15.49 incorporates the following changes:

Features:

1. It is now possible for your annotated text to be displayed in Courier font in the graphics windows. This is intended for when you want to copy some printed text, such as Zernike terms, to paste on the drawing. The default text does not line up columns the same way, since it is proportional spaced..

2. DSEARCH now accepts an optional DAMP input and will add it to the optimization MACro. Sometimes a high damping makes it work better.

3. A new variable is available. The mnemonic PGM declares a surface PLASTIC and varies the index and Abbe number so that they both move along a curved line that passes through the area where plastics are to be found. If a surface is already declared PLASTIC, the usual GLM variable does the same thing. This should avoid problems with the very small area previously modeled with boundary conditions.

4. If your lens has aspherics defined as spherical or conic with G-term coefficients, a new variable DCA will vary the coefficients, so you don’t have to list them individually, as before. You can select to vary only the axially-symmetric or rotationally-symmetric terms if you wish.

5. DSEARCH … SINGLE now accepts the case you want to process as a decimal number. It still accepts a series of 1’s and 0’s, or P’s and N’s, as before.

6. PAD now lets you define a command link string for each of the five views in each of the six configurations. Before, a single string applied to all.

7. The Shape Option dialog for converting to or editing a Zernike surface now has a check box where you can select to make the surface go through the vertex. (Zernikes can have a nonzero sag at the origin, if this is not selected.)

8. We have modified one of the common blocks of the source code, and users who have implemented the USERDLL.sln to customize the program for their needs will need a new fortranstructures.h file. Please contact OSD and request this file before you use this new update.

Bugs Fixed:

1. ELD element drawings did not display mirrors whose thickness was declared CMIRROR correctly.

2. If switch 1 is off, the optimization could fail.

3. The SPS spreadsheet display did not show up properly on small notebook computers. Now it shows the lens data in groups of 25 instead of 50, so it works on small screens too.

4. If you ran AAA (Automatic Aspheric Assignment) and killed the process before it was finished, it loaded the current contents of the requested library location, which would have been overridden had the job finished.

5. The new protocol for selecting text in the Command Window would turn off the selection as soon as you pressed any key. But that disabled the <ctrl>C copy and <shift>extend-selection functions. Now those are allowed.

Version 15.48

The update to version 15.48 incorporates the following changes:

Features:

1. The Automatic Aspheric Assignment feature (AAA) now supports multicores and will run much faster if that is implemented.

2. The PAD Scan button now shows the current HBAR in the PAD data box. So you can see exactly which field has a problem.

3. The FEATHER calculation now has an optional PLOT argument.

Bugs Fixed:

1. The SEL slider in the WorkSheet added one additional mouse move when you stopped moving your mouse. Now it doesn’t.

2. The new Comment button in EE could miss the last line in the selection.

3. The fans plot in PAD would fail if the chief ray at the first HBAR analyzed did not trace.

4. The SEDGE edge declaration did not work properly if the second side of the element was tilted, and it did not display correctly in RSOLID if one side had a hard CAO but the other was soft.

5. The annotation editor deleted current annotation if you clicked the Copy button. It was supposed to add to, not replace it.

6. The DWG option to use BTOL data did not position the letter designation correctly if the element was declared SEDGE.

Version 15.47

The update to version 15.47 incorporates the following changes:

Features:

1. We have added Lesson 48 to the Online Tutorials. This shows how to design a 22-element microlithography lens, from scratch, in about 45 minutes. Need we say no other code in the world can do this?

2. FFBUILD now honors a CFOV directive, if entered, and corrects only over a circular field. Otherwise it corrects over a rectangular field.

3. The EE editor toolbar has two new buttons. These will comment out or uncomment any block of text that is selected when the buttons are clicked. Now it is much easier to skip sections of the MACro, without making a SKIP block or editing each line in the selection separately.

4. The new commands SPL and RPL will save the definitions of the current PAD layout for all ACONS, and recall them later — but will not save or restore the lenses therein. This is different from SSU and RSU, which save and recall both the layout and the lenses.

5. The EE editor option to color comments has been improved. Now it does not update the display after every keystroke, which could be slow if the file was large. Now it only updates after selected changes, and runs faster.

Bugs Fixed:

1. FFBUILD did not honor the LRAYS directive, if entered.

2. DSEARCH defaulted to a single field of view if the system was declared AFOCAL.

3. Some of the PAD labels could overlap others.

4. The default CAO on the image surface was incorrect if the aperture was not centered at the vertex.

Version 15.46

The update to version 15.46 incorporates the following changes:

Features:

1. We have been tasked with analyzing a system with an isolated defect, such as a small bump or hollow on a surface. To do so, we implemented a new USS shape, number 28, which can model the bump.
2, A new GRIN form is also available, type GRIN LOCAL, which can model a local departure from a uniform index value. These two features can then be used to analyze the effect of these errors on the wavefront or image quality.

Bugs Fixed:

1. ZSEARCH did not always load the optimization MACro into an editor if the run specified explicit glasses for the elements.

Version 15.45

The update to version 15.45 incorporates the following changes:

Features:

1. The top menu bar has been extended. For new users, this makes it a little easier to find the dialog you want. For experienced users, of course, it is entirely unnecessary, because the mnemonics are so easy to remember.
2. The DMASK … ZONE analysis has been improved. Before, it sampled the aperture at 10 000 points and located the nearest zone with that precision. For fine fringes, this was not always accurate enough. Now it interpolates between those locations and is more precise.
3. A new command, CDIST, will analyze the distortion pattern over the field and return a set of interpolation coefficients that model that pattern. This is intended for use with digital displays, where one can compensate for lens distortion with an opposite distortion there. The coefficients tell you how to adjust things. The analysis can be done in each color, for cases where you also want to compensate for lateral color.
4. The Text Select button is gone. Now you can always select text lines from the Command Window. Typing anything in that window will automatically scroll to the bottom, where input has to go.
5. We have added another lesson to the Online Tutorials. Number 47 shows how to design a 30X zoom lens with three moving groups and 15 corrected zooms. We provide this lesson in response to a new user’s request to support up to 45 zoom positions, which may indeed be necessary when using a competitor’s primitive product. Unaware of the power and sophistication of SYNOPSYS, he assumed the same would be true here. But such a large number of zooms is not required when one has the sophisticated tools for the job provided by SYNOPSYS.

Bugs Fixed:

1. BTOL did not work properly if PFTEST was active and the lenses were extremely small.

Version 15.44

The update to version 15.44 incorporates the following changes:

Features:

1. If you run ELD with a negative surface number, which disables the drawing but fills in the data boxes, the program will also disable listing aspheric coefficients. The latter are shown by default and make sense if the surface is rotationally symmetric — but only symmetric terms are then shown. Now you can simply copy the terms from the ASY listing and paste them into the ELD drawing, along with PER drawings, as instructed in Section 7.7. Then all terms will appear on the picture, along with the drawings, which you can further annotate as needed. This is useful with free-form decentered elements, which the default ELD drawing does not render properly.
2. BTOL has been much improved. Now, if you declare a surface or collection of surfaces a GROUP, it will defeat the default tilt and decenter tolerance on those surfaces and instead calculate tolerances of all six degrees of freedom (X, Y, X, and alpha, beta, and gamma). This is intended for off-axis and free-form surfaces and mirrors, where one needs all six tolerances. It will also defeat the TH tolerance before the group, since the ZDC tolerance does much the same thing, but not after, since there are two airspaces involved.
3. The file saved by the BTOL SAVE command has been restructured. It now includes the new group tolerances, and it has also been reduced in size. Before, a .BTO file was over 30 MB in size; now for a typical system it is around 500 KB. This means that all previously saved BTOL files are now obsolete, and if you need them, you should run BTOL again and save a fresh copy. The previous file form will no longer open in BTOL.
4. The MOF command (MTF over field) now accepts the color number “S”, which causes the MTF to be calculated in each color separately. This is intended for systems using a digital display of some kind, where one can compensate for substantial lateral color with software, thus eliminating the requirement to correct that error in the lens itself. This can sometimes result in a better image in each color, since one can then use the GPR raygrid request in the merit function (correct relative to the principal ray) instead of GNR, which corrects relative to the major-color chief ray.
5. The Worksheet dialog is now somewhat larger, so you don’t have to scroll up and down as often as before.
6. The FPU command (PUPIL plot over field) now has a form FFPU, which covers the full field, from -1 to 1, instead of 0 to 1.
7. MC now treats decenters differently: it only perturbs the lens in Y, according to the budget, unless an explicit XDC range has been declared. This makes more sense, since one often only monitors the image in the Y-Z plane, and a decenter in X would appear less sensitive than it really is. If a system is not rotationally symmetric, the new GROUP tolerances, if applicable, get tolerances in X, Y, and Z, and that option is recommended in that case.

Bugs Fixed:

1. The BTOL summary listed the tolerance on XDC the same as on YDC, even though they were actually different in the budget listing.
2. The TFG plot drew the horizontal scale too wide.

Version 15.43

The update to version 15.43 incorporates the following changes:

Features:

1. The routine that calculates the intercept of a grazing-incidence ray with an aspheric surface has been improved. Before, it often found the wrong intercept when there was more than one.
2. FIS (fringes at an intermediate surface) has been improved and works better at a decentered surface. It also now lists the Zernike coefficients that model the displayed wavefront.
3. A new surface shape is now available. Surface type USS 27 models a plane grating with a single surface. This is easier to use than the older GRATING specification.
4. The ORDER parameter on a GRATING surface has been reversed, bringing it into agreement with the new USS 27.

Bugs Fixed:

1. If you requested CSTOP and had a decentered CAO on the stop surface, the WAP 2 calculation did not work. Now it deletes any decenter when you use CSTOP.
2. The BTOL entry RANGE XDC range did not work.
3. The default RANGE for PFTEST surfaces in BTOL was sometimes too large, causing ray failures in the tolerance calculation.
4. Some kinds of ray failures during a BTOL run would loop indefinitely. Now it aborts and tells you which parameter was at fault.

Version 15.42

The update to version 15.42 incorporates the following changes:

Features:

1. MTF over field (MOF) now has two new flavors: FMOF analyzes the full field, from HBAR = -1 to +1. And FZMOF does the same but with a Zernike fit to the wavefront. (MOF goes from 0 to +1.)
2. The ASY command now lists the group size along with the tilts and decenters on each surface.
3. The GOUT option has been improved. Now it sets the index at all wavelengths equal, so when the value reaches 1.0 you can just remove the element. Before, it only changed the index at the major color, and the others were sometimes not reasonable.
4. The FNUM entry in DSEARCH is now optional with AFOCAL lenses. You can also control the magnification with targets on selected rays.
5. The RZS command, which recasts a surface to a Zernike, has been improved. Now it has two new flavors: RZP tries to duplicate the slope of the result to match the target, while RZB targets both the sag and the slope. It also now runs more passes and then anneals, which usually gets a better fit.

Bugs Fixed:

1. MAP TRANS did not work properly in multicolor mode.
2. The shape options dialog would crash with USS 16 if you clicked the USS 15 selection.
3. OPD calculation was incorrect if the system had a DOE element that was also the UNDO surface for a previous tilt or decenter.
4. The glassmap disply MGT option to show the data at the current wavelengths in the lens did not show the VNUM correctly.
5. The SLOPE aberration came back with the wrong sign.
6. Surfaces designated SEDGE (simple edge) did not draw correctly if the CAO was decentered.

Version 15.41

The update to version 15.41 incorporates the following changes:

Features:

1. A new shape is available: type USS 26 models a 3-layer DOE. This is similar to the 2-layer version USS 20, but has a layer of plastic between the two kinoforms and yields higher diffraction efficiency.
2. A new RLE entry LOG log will set the log number assigned to the lens to the entered value. Similarly, the command LOG LENS log will assign the number, as will the AI sentence LENS LOG = log.

Bugs Fixed:

1. Object type OBD did not support LRAYS.
2. ZDWG did not always position the lens drawings correctly.
3. The PAD SCAN button did not work properly with ZFILE zoom lenses assigned object type OBD.
4. Diffraction analysis did not work properly for DOEs in polarization mode.

Version 15.40

The update to version 15.40 incorporates the following changes:

Features:

1. The spreadsheet SYS has been enhanced. Now you can change wavelengths directly in the edit boxes; before, they did not take effect until you pressed a second button.
2. DSEARCH now lets you specify selected surfaces as Zernikes. You can choose the coefficient set: all, bilateral symmetric, or radially symmetric.

Bugs Fixed:

1. The USE CURRENT option in DSEARCH did not clean up aspheric coefficients that were present on surfaces past the target point.
2. FINAL listed FLUX aberrations with a current value of zero.

Version 15.39

The update to version 15.39 incorporates the following changes:

Features:

1. The flood-fill option in PAD has been enhanced, and it is now possible to declare a surface NOFFILL, for rare cases where the fill color leaks out and that feature got turned off.
2. DSEARCH now lets you USE CURRENT and vary the tilt and decenter on new elements.
3. A new operand, RCLEAR, can be used to keep adjacent surfaces from intersecting along a given ray. (The AEC monitor only works on default rays.)
4. The footprint dialog MFP now has an option to create rays over a grid of object points.
5. A new surface shape, USS 25 is now available. This models an extended DOE, with 32 terms in both X and Y, for systems where an axially-symmetric kinoform will not do.
6. The FINAL command has been enhanced. Now you can request FINAL NUMBER number, to show only the numbered aberration, or FINAL NAME “name”, to show only the aberration with that assigned name.
7. Some new entries are available for the AANT file: The operand NURBS works for shape USS 15 and will target each of the Z-coordinates of the control points to the entered target. This is intended for cases where the point locations oscillate wildly — still producing a smooth surface — but are hard to use as variables. Just assign a small target and low weight, and the surface should be better behaved. The form XNURBS works on USS 24, the extended NURBS shape.
8. A similar operand, ASPHERIC, works on power-series aspherics and Zernike surfaces. If you want to see if you can remove aspheric terms, but rays fail if you just delete them, this lets you move them gracefully to zero.
9. The ACA monitor has been enhanced. Now, if you enter a negative weight, it monitors only the rays at the field point HBAR = -1. (A positive weight monitors the rays at a value equal to the diagonal distance to the corner of the field, which is appropriate for centered systems.)
10. You can now declare a surface SEDGES, which results in a very simple edge for most of the drawing programs. This is for cases that are too complicated for the usual edge-drawing routines.
11. A new online tutorial, Lesson 46, is now up. This shows how to design a converter for a laser diode whose divergence is different in X and Y and you want to make the beam circular.

Bugs Fixed:

1. If you entered a zero value for the Zernike unit radius, it could crash. Now it won’t let you.
2. The Worksheet edit pane did not process the bottommost line unless you pressed the Enter key. Now it works either way.
3. Assigning aspherics to a DSEARCH run only worked for the first 21 surfaces.
4. Varying the RAD on a toric surface did not work.
5. If you ran RSOLID and then tried to print a window, the program would crash.

Version 15.38

The update to version 15.38 incorporates the following changes:

Features:

1. AED now has a new option that will do an additional optimization run, after you agree to delete the selected element, where the targets on that element are controlled via “C” aberrations rather than by “M”. This should reduce the thickness and power to very close to zero, so when that element is removed the ray paths are unchanged. Also, the former PIA parameter has been renamed PEL. The power is now controlled by taking the difference between the curvatures on both sides. Before, it used the first-order power, which was not appropriate if the element was cemented.
2. The number of allowed variables is increased from 200 to 400.
3. A new surface shape, USS 24, models a NURBS surface, as does type USS 15 — but in this case the data area can contain up to 400 points instead of the 81 of the other shape. This form has a new restriction: only five slots are available, and you must select one of them when you assign this shape.
4. If switch 95 is turned on, KICK and ANNEAL will not alter GLM variables. (It still does not change the conic constant or general aspheric terms.) This should avoid ray failures that might occur in some systems.
5. PAD now shows an element with an aspheric on side 1 with a green surface number circle, and with blue if the aspheric is on side 2. If both sides are aspheric, the color is black or white.
6. A Zernike surface can now be assigned a new ZVZ setting. This will make term G 37 (a constant term) automatically adjust itself so the vertex of the surface actually goes through the axis point given by the preceding thickness. Since some Zernike terms are nonzero even at the axis, it is possible for the surface to wind up a distance from this vertex point otherwise — which is an unwelcome surprise.

Bugs Fixed:

1. A DO MACRO loop that ended up in one of the image analysis features did not loop.
2. DWG did not correctly render a flat surface assigned a decentered aperture.
3. DSEARCH did not utilize an existing system (with USE CURRENT) if that system had aspheric surfaces.
4. SOUT operating on a surface within a tilt or decenter group did not work correctly.
5. The polarization phase difference was not properly calculated by IFP
6. ADEF … FRINGES produced a blank picture.
7. The WorkSheet SEL slider sometimes produced a corrupted edit pane.