PARAX 2.0 – A Powerful GUI for Initial Step Optical Design

For predesign of optical systems it is necessary to simultaneously guarantee imaging between object and image planes as well as between the systems pupil planes. Based on this requirement of so-called “double imaging systems”, optics design thus should focus on optimized systems layout before subsequent numerical optimization. Already in the 1990s, we developed the graphically supported software tool PARAX based on a calculation method of Kryszczynski. This method supports the derivation of appropriate starting systems. In a recently finished version of this powerful tool, we fundamentally revised the programming strategy. In a first step, we derive the degrees of freedom of the imaging situation, indicating the number of System Description Parameters (SDP) required for comprehensive description of the system. Multiple solutions can be tracked using an implemented parameter variation and iteration. Also, pickup solves allow to link each SDP with another SDP via a coupling factor. Our program provides Delano and aperture diagrams, useful to analyze well-designed systems. We present the fundamental structure of the tool and demonstrate its functionality on specific examples.