Select Optical Material for Optical System

This example uses:

Open Live Script

This example shows how to select optical materials from the glass library and from optical materials in the workspace based on criteria such as refractive index, Abbe number, and supported wavelengths. For an interactive UI component for selecting optical materials, see opticalMaterialPicker.

Load Optical Materials

Create optical materials in the workspace.

om1 = opticalMaterial([1.673 35.56],Name="Glass1",WavelengthRange=[400 700]);
om2 = opticalMaterial([1.613 36.28],Name="Glass2",WavelengthRange=[200 800]);
om3 = opticalMaterial(Name="Glass3",RefractiveIndexMethod="Sellmeier",RefractiveIndexParameter=[1.1819 0.011313]);

Gather all optical materials in the workspace into an array of opticalMaterial objects.

workspaceVars = evalin("base","whos");
vars = workspaceVars(strcmp({workspaceVars.class},"opticalMaterial"));
workspaceGlasses = [];
for i = 1:numel(vars)
    currentGlass = evalin("base",vars(i).name);
    workspaceGlasses = [workspaceGlasses; currentGlass];
end

Load the glass library into the workspace.

gl = glassLibrary;

Specify Filtering Criteria

Specify the criteria for the refractive index (Nd) range, Abbe number (Vd) range, and supported wavelength range in which to filter optical materials from the glass library and from the workspace.

minNd = 1.5;
maxNd = 1.7;
minVd = 35;
maxVd = 37;
minWavelength = 1;
maxWavelength = 1000;

Filter Glass Materials

Filter the optical materials from the glass library to match the Nd range and Vd range by using the searchGlassLibrary function. You can also use a wavelength range criterion to filter optical materials from the glass library. Add a name hint filter criterion, as well. Inspect the table of filtered optical materials returned by the function.

glFiltered = searchGlassLibrary(NameHint="F2G",NdRange=[minNd maxNd],VdRange=[minVd maxVd])
glFiltered=4×6 table
     Name      Catalog       Nd        Vd      WavelengthRange         Material      
    _______    ________    ______    ______    _______________    ___________________

    "F2G12"    "SCHOTT"    1.6207     36.56      400    2500      1×1 opticalMaterial
    "F2"       "SCHOTT"      1.62     36.37      320    2500      1×1 opticalMaterial
    "F2"       "HIKARI"      1.62    36.331      400     700      1×1 opticalMaterial
    "F2"       "CDGM"      1.6129    36.986      365    1014      1×1 opticalMaterial

Filter the optical materials in the workspace for the desired Nd range, Vd range, and supported wavelength range. Arrange the filtered materials in a table for better visualization. Inspect the table of filtered optical materials.

ndlist = vertcat(workspaceGlasses.Nd);
vdlist = vertcat(workspaceGlasses.Vd);
wlrlist = vertcat(workspaceGlasses.WavelengthRange);
workspaceFilteredMaterials = workspaceGlasses(ndlist>=minNd & ndlist<=maxNd & vdlist>=minVd & vdlist<=maxVd & wlrlist(:,1)>minWavelength & wlrlist(:,2)<maxWavelength);

names = [workspaceFilteredMaterials.Name]';
NdValues = [workspaceFilteredMaterials.Nd]';
VdValues= [workspaceFilteredMaterials.Vd]';
wavelengths = reshape([workspaceFilteredMaterials.WavelengthRange],2,[])';
workspaceFiltered = table(names,NdValues,VdValues,wavelengths,VariableNames=["Name","Nd","Vd","WavelengthRange"])
workspaceFiltered=2×4 table
      Name       Nd       Vd      WavelengthRange
    ________    _____    _____    _______________

    "Glass1"    1.673    35.56      400    700   
    "Glass2"    1.613    36.28      200    800

Pick and Analyze Glass Materials

Pick the desired glass material from the glass library using the pickGlass function. Plot the refractive index of the selected glass material.

selectedGlass1 = pickGlass("F2G12");
lambdas = selectedGlass1.WavelengthRange(1):10:selectedGlass1.WavelengthRange(2);
complexIndex = refractiveIndex(selectedGlass1,lambdas);
Nd = real(complexIndex);
k = imag(complexIndex);
figure
yyaxis left
plot(lambdas,Nd)
ylabel("Refractive Index (n_d)")
yyaxis right
plot(lambdas,k)
ylabel("Extinction Coefficient (k)")
xlabel("Wavelength (nm)")

Figure contains an axes object. The axes object with xlabel Wavelength (nm), ylabel Extinction Coefficient (k) contains 2 objects of type line.

Pick the desired glass material from the workspace. Plot the refractive index of the selected glass material.

selectedGlass2 = workspaceFilteredMaterials(2);
lambdas = selectedGlass2.WavelengthRange(1):10:selectedGlass2.WavelengthRange(2);
complexIndex = refractiveIndex(selectedGlass2,lambdas);
Nd = real(complexIndex);
k = imag(complexIndex);
figure
yyaxis left
plot(lambdas,Nd)
ylabel("Refractive Index (n_d)")
yyaxis right
plot(lambdas,k)
ylabel("Extinction Coefficient (k)")
xlabel("Wavelength (nm)")

Figure contains an axes object. The axes object with xlabel Wavelength (nm), ylabel Extinction Coefficient (k) contains 2 objects of type line.

See Also

Objects

Functions