A concise introduction to lens design, including the fundamental theory, concepts, methods and tools used in the field. Covering all the essential concepts and providing suggestions for further reading at the end of each chapter, this book is an essential resource for graduate students working in optics and photonics.

The process of designing lenses is both an art and a science. While advances in the field over the past two centuries have done much to transform it from the former category to the latter, much of the lens design process remains encapsulated in the experience and knowledge of industry veterans. This SPIE Field Guide provides a working reference for practicing physicists, engineers, and scientists for deciphering the nuances of basic lens design.

A Practical Guide to Lens Design focuses on the very detailed practical process of lens design. Every step from setup specifications to finalizing the design for production is discussed in a straight forward, tangible way. Design examples of several widely used modern lenses are provided. Optics basics are introduced and basic functions of Zemax are described. Zemax will be used throughout the book.

Unlike the first edition, which was more a collection of lens designs for use in larger projects, the 2nd edition of Modern Lens Design is an optical “how-to.” Delving deep into the mechanics of lens design, optics legend Warren J. Smith reveals time-tested methods for designing top-quality lenses. He deals with lens design software, primarily OSLO, by far the current market leaders, and provides 7 comprehensive worked examples, all new to this edition. With this book in hand, there’s no lens an optical engineer can’t design.

A Course in Lens Design is an instruction in the design of image-forming optical systems. It teaches how a satisfactory design can be obtained in a straightforward way. Theory is limited to a minimum, and used to support the practical design work. The book introduces geometrical optics, optical instruments and aberrations. It gives a description of the process of lens design and of the strategies used in this process. Half of its content is devoted to the design of sixteen types of lenses, described in detail from beginning to end. This book is different from most other books on lens design because it stresses the importance of the initial phases of the design process: (paraxial) lay-out and (thin-lens) pre-design. The argument for this change of accent is that in these phases much information can be obtained about the properties of the lens to be designed. This information can be used in later phases of the design. This makes A Course in Lens Design a useful self-study book and a suitable basis for an introductory course in lens design. The mathematics mainly used is college algebra, in a few sections calculus is applied. The book could be used by students of engineering and technical physics and by engineers and scientists.