Useful external links
Ray Optics Simulator
A versatile and easy-to-use simulator of light reflection and refraction. It has a graphical user interface, which makes it easier to use than other similar calculators. It runs in a browser; no installation needed. You can save different arrangements locally and reload them later. It even goes beyond the thin-lens approximation to simulate realistic spherical lenses and mirrors.
Gaussian Beam
A Gaussian beam propagation simulator. Indispensable when designing optical systems involving laser beams (which are Gaussian beams). It is capable of automatically optimizing lens positions to match a target beam waist, which is perfect for mode-matching a laser beam into a single-mode optical fiber or a Fabry-Perot interferometer.
Grating Calculator
3DOptix
ToptiCalc
ToptiCalc is TOPTICA Photonics' scientific calculator specially designed for use in optics laboratories. There is a desktop version and mobile versions for Android and iOS. ToptiCalc helps you in your everyday laboratory life by offering simple but practical optics calculations like:
- Spectral unit conversion
- Calculating spot sizes for focused Gaussian beams
- Fabry-Perot calculations
- Reflection and diffraction at plane glass surfaces
- Pulse train calculations
- Short pulse properties and chirp
- Conversion between linear and decibel scale
Luxpop
Luxpop offers a number of optical calculations on their website including:
- Refractive indices of materials at different wavelengths and temperatures. (Especially useful and difficult to find elsewhere.)
- Thin film reflectivity calculations.
- Gaussian beam propagation.
- Phase shifts upon reflection from a material.
- Evolution of the Stokes vector (polarization) after passing through optical elements.
- Ray tracing.