I need some help ray-tracing in a microscope. I have rays that leave my sample, travel through the cover-slip. After they leave the objective I can trace the rays through the rest of my system. The only section I am having trouble with is the objective.
The nature of the aberration I am studying (Depth Dependent Spherical Aberration) requires that I accurately treat the light path through the cover-slip. Past the cover-slip though I am free to model the objective however I want as long as it doesn't add any aberrations itself. Ideally the result will be a ray height and direction which I can then use to propagate the ray through the rest of the system.
This aberration is only significant when using high numerical aperture oil-immersion objectives.
Does anyone know how, or can point me towards a resource which can give some pointers on modeling an ideal objective for ray tracing?
Hi Dr.Snoeyink,
You could potentially make your own model based on the patent documents of the objectives :
https://patents.google.com/patent/US7046451
If you are using a simulation package like Zmax for modeling your system, There are models of objective lenses available:
https://figshare.com/articles/Zemax_optical_design_files_of_microscope_objectives_tube_lenses_and_Fourier_imaging_setups/1481270
http://www.lens-designs.com/MicroscopeObjectives
Dear Dr. Snoeyink, I should add comment that the applicabilty of the scalar theory of light is limited to moderate NA. Beyond the limit, at extremly high NA, one cannot ignore the vectorial nature of light, which is well described in "Effect of polarization of diffraction systems of high numerical aperture" in Masud Mansuripure's Classical Optics and its applications. Shigeo Kubota
- Badges
- Science topic