The Look of Optical Elements in Realistic Environment

For technical applications the look of optical elements is of no relevance. However, for elements like eye glasses or artwork their appearance plays a major role. Before the production of a prototype, a full simulation including material, surface qualities, extinctions, textures and coatings placed in different realistic environments gives a first guess and enables modifications. A non-sequential raytracer has been developed in Matlab® which uses 360°/180° panorama or “surrounding-box” photography to provide environments close to reality. Optical elements consisting of plane, spherical or aspherical surfaces made from any material, coated with single or multilayer coatings and textured with amplitude or phase patterns of any kind can be designed and observed. Multiple total reflections in transparent glass elements or inner multiple reflections in hollow objects like hemispheres or cylinders can be studied in static positions or while moving through space.