Abstract

The IBM Card Programmed Electronic Calculator has been applied to the problem of lens design. Optical design is an inverse process consisting of a provisional choice of optical parameters, an exhaustive mathematical study of such a tentative prescription, and subsequent refinement of the lens system.

The standard ray tracing equations can be adapted easily for machine use. The mathematical treatment is algebraic rather than trigonometric. Examples of meridional and skew ray tracing are given. A satisfactory lens has been calculated and tested entirely by machine methods.

The machine is expected to be of value in the refining of optical systems, in the determination of optical shop tolerances, and in the investigation of existing prescriptions.

© 1951 Optical Society of America

Optical Calculations with Automatic Computing Machinery*

Donald P. Feder
J. Opt. Soc. Am. 41(9) 630-635 (1951)

Thin Films Calculations Using the IBM 650 Electronic Calculator

Jean A. Berning and Peter H. Berning
J. Opt. Soc. Am. 50(8) 813-815 (1960)

Ray Tracing through Uncentered and Aspheric Surfaces

William A. Allen and John R. Snyder
J. Opt. Soc. Am. 42(4) 243-249 (1952)

Some Remarks on Ray Tracing*

M. Herzberger
J. Opt. Soc. Am. 41(11) 805-807 (1951)

Automatic Ray Tracing Using the IBM 704

Milton Laikin
J. Opt. Soc. Am. 48(9) 666-667 (1958)