First order lens design with the Delano diagram

The Delano diagram is an unusual way of looking at an optical system. Instead of projecting the x-axis onto the blackboard (having the y-axis and the optical axis z draw), the system is viewed with the optical axis projected onto the blackboard. This allows the user to see simultaneously object and aperture stop with their conjugates.

Also lens design programs such as Zemax or Oslo are cheap enough to be bought by small companies to do occasional lens design, such programs are good to look at the image quality of a system and to do optimization for that. But to add a lens or even to propose a simple optical set in a given case, such programs are useless. That's where the Delano diagram becomes very power full.

The institute developed a new software based QT which allows the user to move optical elements along rays, to change rays while maintaining the focal length of a element, and so on.