Creative Thinking and Computing Machines in Optical Design*

Abstract

Our present optical programs are made up of a group of subroutines which may be used in a large variety of ways. These routines are automatic first- and third-order aberration, fifth-order aberration, ray tracing, energy distribution, and tolerance analysis. The design procedure is to string these routines together into iterative loops. As the design nears completion a high and higher degree of automation is possible. Perhaps the greatest value of the computer is that it enables designers to explore some of their wildest ideas. The program is flexible enough to allow individual differences in the method of approaching the design.