Virtual Optics Bench

There is a second hot spot in the lower right corner of the iframe.

Virtual optics bench. Then when i was most of the way through i thought why not build a ui and then other people could use it too. It uses optical principles and a virtual optical bench to predict the behavior of many kinds of ordinary and exotic lens types as well as flat and curved mirrors. Matlab virtual optics bench we had a need to simulate beam propagation on our optics bench as a part of designing a new vortex trap so i took to coding some of that up this weekend.

A good example of this is the optics physlet. The uprights are provided with verniers so that their positions relatively to the bar can be read. The optical bench fig.

The applet is designed to be scripted but may also be used to construct optical systems using buttons and a click and drag metaphor. Elements can be added to the optics bench by clicking on the appropriate button and then clicking inside the applet at the desired location. The optics bench interactive is shown in the iframe below.

Please refer to the script examples or play with the applet that is embedded in the top of this page. The focal length of the mirror or lens can also be changed. 39 consists essentially of a graduated bar carrying three upright pieces which can slide along the bar.

The second upright from the right in the figure is an addition to be described later. To add something such as a mirror a lens or an object to the simulation click the appropriate button above or below the simulation and then click inside the simulation at the position you d like to place it. Beam adds a beam of parallel light rays.

Opticalraytracer includes an advanced easy to use interface that allows the user to rearrange the optical configuration by dragging objects around using the mouse. For any of the experiments click the button to reset parameters to the initial conditions. The height of the object either a candle an arrow or a set of letters can be easily adjusted.