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What is Quadoa® Optical CAD?
Quadoa® Optical CAD is a new sequential optical design software for the complete prototyping process of optical systems.
With the main focus on optical simulation, analysis and optimization, Quadoa® Optical CAD features a wide range of comprehensive optical design capabilities.

Object-based approach enables a modular arrangement of lenses and assemblies.

High-level elements significantly simplify the handling and maintenance of complex optical systems.

The unprecedented multipath mode opens up a new range of design options and analysis features.

Real time analysis workbench saves unnecessary iteration steps after final design.

Full bi-directional compatibility with mechanical CAD software enhances the opto-mechanical development in a new way.

Modern Object Based Architecture The model architecture of Quadoa® is based on a high-level hierarchical structure. Working with high-level objects such as lenses, mirrors and assemblies provides a much more intuitive way to design an optical system compared to lists of surfaces used by most popular optical design software packages. As this high level of abstraction is already an industry standard in the world of mechanical CAD, as a common language it helps to further streamline the workflow between optical designers and mechanical engineers. Optical elements and assemblies can be easily placed, grouped into assemblies or moved within an optical system or exported to other systems. All elements in Quadoa® contain knowledge of relationships to other elements allowing to model real-world dependencies, that e.g. allows an easy and more realistic tolerancing. As a result, the high-level architecture leads to a simpler, less error-prone, and faster design process, creating models that are easier to maintain.

High-level objects facilitate optical design process.

Enhanced workflow between optical designers and mechanical engineers.

Faster and simpler overall design process.

Relative or global coordinates for positioning of elements.

Less error prone due to automatically defined dependencies.


Object oriented approach with own coordinate system for each element for positioning and rotation.


Create Multi-Path-Systems in the same model file.

Multi-Sequential Raytracing Quadoa®'s unique Multi-Sequential Raytracing feature allows to define an arbitrary number of sequential ray traces inside a single model. This approach enables the intuitive handling of systems as interferometers, where more than one optical path is of interest. In addition to classical raytracing, polarization raytracing is supported. Even ghost reflex analysis can directly be carried out and visualized within a single model file. Furthermore, the optimization of sub-assemblies of complex optical systems can be solved by a separate sequence, while being able to analyze the effect on the performance of the complete system. With the Multi-Sequential Raytracing, there is no need for multiple model files and makes a copy & paste of models abundant in most cases. The Multi-Sequential Raytracing defines a new standard when it comes to the design of complex optical systems. Using Multi-Sequential Raytracing makes it easier for optical designers to keep up with the rising requirements for more powerful complex optical systems.

Create Multi-path models with an arbitrary number of sequential paths in a single model.

Optimize sub-assemblies by a separate sequence.

Multi-Sequential Raytracing defines a new standard.

Extremely fast compared to non-sequential ray tracing.


Create Multi-Path-Systems in the same model file.

Flexible Surface Type Definition Freeform systems are essential for next-generation optical devices. With the Quadoa® Form Stack Ability it is possible to combine an arbitrary number of surface properties such as shape definitions, phase functions, coatings, polarization properties and more for the definition of any surface form. With the Form Stack Ability, designing free-form surfaces or arrays on curved substrates becomes easy and intuitive. Even for a tolerance analysis, adding arbitrary shape- or phase deviations to the surfaces can be easily realized. In addition, it is possible to instantly add measured shape deviations for the generation of a digital twin of a real world optical device, e.g. for uncertainty estimations of metrological instruments. Overall, this opens up a whole new world of possible surface types.

Flexible surface type definition thanks to the Form Stack Ability.

Coatings, phases, polarizers and more can be stacked.

Easy definition of aspheres, freeforms or CGHs.


Flexible Surface Type Definition thanks to the combination of surface properties with the Quadoa® Stack Ability.


Optimization of a Microscope Objective.

Powerful Optimization Quadoa® provides a set of powerful optimization algorithms that cover all the steps of the optical design process, from the search for a starting system to the final fine tuning of the lens performance. The optimization is not limited to parameters of the lens- and surface properties but is also able to search the glass catalogs that are included in Quadoa® to identify the best fitting materials for a design. The wide range of available design goals and constraint options allow to define even complex lens specifications. In combination with high performance multi-core CPUs, all these features make it possible to quickly find a solution even for complex design problems.

Powerful local and global optimizer cover all steps of the optical design process.

Wide range of design goals and constraints for definition of complex lens specifications.


Optimization of a Microscope Objective.

Intuitive Design of folded- and Off-Axis Systems For high-end optical systems, off-axis and free-form optics as well as folded optical systems become more and more important. The design, maintenance and tolerancing of such systems has always been a challenge. Quadoa®'s nested coordinate system capability was developed to meet these challenges. The high level hierarchical object based structure provides the possibility to position any elements intuitively. Besides the global coordinate space, the nesting of local coordinate spaces allows to directly reproduce the dependencies as they are in the real world system, by defining a local coordinate spaces for each object. This makes it possible to independently position elements or whole assemblies without having to worry about following surfaces and makes the definition of such systems less error-prone and more realistic.

Intuitive design of folded- and off-axis systems.

Global and local coordinate systems for easy element positioning.

Inspired by modern engineering software.


Off-Axis Fourier Transform Spectrometer.


Import mechanical parts to Quadoa® Optical CAD and export mechanical parts from Quadoa® to Mechanic CAD.

Bidirectional Exchange with Mechanical CAD An optical system can never exist without a mechanical system, that holds the optical components in place. Also the real world performance of an optical system not only depends on the optical design and lens tolerances, but strongly depends on the precision of the mechanical mountings. Therefore, the exchange between optical designers and mechanical engineers has always been of great importance. With Quadoa® it is possible to exchange the models in both directions, from Quadoa® to mechanical CAD and from mechanical CAD to Quadoa®. This makes it possible to directly identify errors during the design process avoiding unnecessary iterations on the design or even the fabricated components. As a result, it helps to streamline the workflow between optical designers and mechanical engineers.

Mechanical CAD compatibility in both directions.

Import and Export of STEP, IGES and STL files.

Enhance workflow between mechanical and optical engineers.

Opto-mechanical development is streamlined in a new way.


Import mechanical parts to Quadoa® Optical CAD and export mechanical parts from Quadoa® to Mechanic CAD.

Scripting Interface The more advanced a system gets, the higher is the need for specialized custom solutions fitting exactly the challenges that occur during the design process. Running large simulations and automate as much of the design workflow as possible is often necessary. To meet these challenges, Quadoa® provides a state of the art scripting interface, giving access to a wide range of features available in Quadoa®'s core library. The interface is available as a Python Module as well as a MATLAB® Toolbox and is completely independent from the Graphical User Interface. This allows users to work within a powerful high level language they already know, while building on Quadoa®'s raytracing-, optical design-, optimization-, analysis- and tolerancing features.

Python, MATLAB® and C++ SDK scripting interfaces with intuitive scripting wizards.

Automate design workflows and run large simulations with your favorite scripting language.

Core independent from graphical user interface.


Access to all core functions via the Scripting Interfaces for Python, MATLAB® and C++ SDK.


Polarization.

Polarization Raytracing Quadoa®'s Multi-Sequential Raytracing is not limited to pure raytracing. It further fully supports Polarization Raytracing in combination with any of the surface types, objects and analysis feature available. The raytracing is highly optimized and parallelized to squeeze out the maximum of performance of modern multicore CPUs.

Full polarization raytracing support with a large number of polarizers, retarders and custom made elements.


Polarization.

Real World Tolerance Analysis No matter how good an optical design is on paper, the real world performance is always limited by the tolerances of the optical and mechanical components. Therefore, for the design of any optical system a realistic tolerance analysis is of great importance. It not only allows to estimate the as build performance but also makes it possible to optimize the system in a way that is more resilient against deviations from the nominal design. Quadoa®'s high level hierarchical structure allows to set up the mechanical dependencies of the elements and assemblies in the model in perfect analogy to the real world. This leads to more realistic tolerance results, especially with complex optical systems, without the risk of inconsistencies e.g. if double passes through lenses or sub-assemblies are included. Furthermore, the intuitive specification of tolerances for any object helps to prevent errors and makes the systems easier to maintain.

Realistic tolerance analysis with mechanical dependencies.

Simultaneously tolerance systems during the design process.

Tolerancing workbench for analysis of real world performance.


Real World Tolerance Analysis leads to more realistic tolerance results.


The graphical User Interface (UI) enables an easy handling of even complex (e.g. folded) systems.

Wide Range of Analysis Features The Quadoa® User Interface gives access to a wide range of analysis features. These include all the state of the art and well-approved analysis features like Spot Diagrams, Wavefront Maps, Point Spread Functions, Modulation Transfer Function, Polarization Analysis etc. In addition, some unique features like the Multi-Sequential Ghost Analysis tools are available. The data shown in the analysis features is not only available in the GUI but can also be accessed via the Scripting Interface.

Large number of analysis features available via GUI and scripting interface.

Unique multi-sequential analysis features.

Real-time analysis workbench e.g. for reflex analysis.


The graphical User Interface (UI) enables an easy handling of even complex (e.g. folded) systems.

Modern User Interface Quadoa® is designed by proven operating concepts of modern engineering software as widely known from mechanical CAD. Lenses and Assemblies can be managed by simple drag and drop actions. A live 3D-View of the system directly shows the effect on any change of the optical system and allows direct editing of the elements. Any relevant data like wavefront aberrations or ray distributions can be visualized. During the whole development process, the intuitive operation of the GUI has always been of high priority. The result is a software package, that allows the user to quickly get started on working on the technical task without having to invest a large amount of time on learning how to control the software. Furthermore, a fluent design workflow can be achieved by granting quick access to any feature. For power users customizable shortcuts to the most commonly used features allow to increase the efficiency even more. Also for non-full-time optical designers, Quadoa®'s intuitive architecture allows to keep the entry threshold low.

Intuitive and modern graphical user interface.

Comfort functions as drag and drop for easy handling.

Low entry threshold due to intuitive GUI.


The Modern User Interface allows for an intuitive handling of Quadoa®.


Ghost Wizard allows to easily generate any relevant ghost sequences directly inside the model.

In-System Sequential Ghost Analysis Even for simple imaging systems where only one optical path is utilized, the Multi-Sequential Raytracing provides a huge advantage, through its application for sequential ghost analysis. Quadoa®'s Ghost Wizard allows to easily generate any relevant ghost sequences. The 3D View can visualize the ghost rays directly inside the model. The ghost analysis features allow to quickly identify critical surfaces and to use the information to optimize for a better stray light performance. Compared to non sequential raytracing, a huge gain in raytracing speed can be achieved allowing to simulate more rays in a shorter amount of time.

Real-time analysis workbench to apply a tolerancing- and Ghost-Analysis simultaneously during the design process.

Automated generation by wizards.

No extra files with ghost sequence required.

A lot faster than non-sequential analysis.


Ghost Wizard allows to easily generate any relevant ghost sequences directly inside the model.

Lens- and Material Catalogs Every Quadoa® installation includes catalogs of a wide range of optical glass types of different manufacturers, common thin film coating materials and more. Through the material manager, the materials can easily be browsed and filtered to identify suitable candidates for a design. If any material should be missing, the material catalogs can easily be extended by the user. The lens catalogs contain a large number of lenses that are available as stock optics. The filter functions allow to quickly find the best lens for a given task.

Thousands of lenses and materials included.

Filter catalogs to identify suitable candidates.

Thousands of lenses and materials are implemented in the lens- and material catalogs of the optical design software Quadoa Optical CAD

Thousands of Lenses and Materials are implemented in the Lens- and Material Catalogs.


Quadoa® runs on Windows and Linux operating systems.

Available for Windows and Linux Quadoa® runs on Windows and Linux. This includes not only the graphical user interface but also the Scripting Interface. In this way, users can keep their favorite OS and don't have to dual-boot or switch operating systems.

Linux and Windows compatibility.


Quadoa® runs on Windows and Linux operating systems.

Quadoa® feature highlights The intention of Quadoa® was to create a modern optical design software to provide a solution for the fast growing and rapidly developing optical market and especially to provide a software solution which can keep up with modern complex systems. Quadoa® Optical CAD is a state of the art optical design software with a vast range of features and functions for the complete prototyping process of modern optical systems. The feaure highlights listed below should only abstract the comprehensive design capability of Quadoa®. If you have specific questions about a specific design capability please contact the Quadoa® support. Open Feature List (PDF)

Lens Data

3D CAD Positioning

Real World Elements

Assembly arrangement

Lens Catalog with Filter Function

Lens Wizard

Surface Stack Ability: Freeforms and User Defined Forms by combining Surface Forms

Surface Types: Sphere, Plane, Asphere, Off-Axis, Axicon, Cylinder, Biconic, Cosine, Periodic Rotation, Gauss

Polynomial Form: Zernike, Zernike Fringe, Polynomial

Phases: Grating, Radial, Axial, Zernike, Zernike Fringe, Polynomial

Apertures: Circular, Rectangular, Elliptic, Annular

Obscuration: Circular, Rectangluar, Elliptic

Operators: Form Array, Fresnel, Phase Array

XYZ-Coordinate System / Easy Positioning

Absolute and Relative Coordinates

Drag & Drop of Elements

Easy drop down handling

3D Preview of Lens Design

Glass Catalogs with Filter Function

Coatings (Ideal VR, Ideal Mirror, Beam Splitter, Wavelength Dependant)

Analysis Plots

Ray Distribution (Spot Diagram, Field vs. Wavelength, Config vs. Field, Footprint Diagram, Ghost Diagram)

Aberrations (OPD Fan Plot, Transverse Ray Function)

Distortion (1D, 2D, Petzval Curvature 1D)

Wavefront (Falsecolor, Fringes, Gradient, Zernike)

Interferogram (Fringes, Unwrapped)

Vignetting over Field

Image Analysis (Incoherent, Coherent, Ghost)

Point Spread Function (FFT PSF, Huygens PSF, Geometrical PSF)

Modulation Transfer Function (FFT MTF, Huygens MTF, Geometrical MTF)

Surface Analysis (Form, Form Gradient, Phase, Phase Gradient)

Plot Settings incl. easy drop down selection

Ghost Analysis Tools

Live Ghost Analysis Tools (Generate Ghosts analysis parallel to design process within seconds)

Analysis of Ghost Impact on Camera

Diffractive Ghosts for Computer Generated Holograms

Total Flux Analysis

Total Illuminance Analysis

Ghosts inside same data structure

Real Time Tools

Live Ghost Analysis: During the optical design process the ghost wizards implemented in Quadoa® Optical CAD allow the automated generation of ghost sequences for any of the defined sequences in your system within seconds

Live Tolerancing: Perform a Tolerance Analysis at any time during design process to avoid the iteration process after the design process

Live Mechanics Analyzer: Integrated live Mechancis Analyzer to analyze influence of mechanical parts on optical system performance

Technical Drawing

Lens Drawing ISO 10110 Export (PDF)

Scripting Programming Interfaces

MATLAB®

Python

C++ SDK

System Handling

3D View (Create multiple 3D System Views to analyse system with different configurations at a time)

3D CAD Coordinate System (Simple system construction with CAD Interface)

Multi-Configuration (Unlimited number of Multi Configurations incl. Math Expression)

Slider Interface for stepless Parameter Values or Math Expression Input

Drag & Drop of elements

Easy drop down menu handling

System Parameters

Temperature Influence Calculation

Pressure Influence Calculation

Light Sequence

Multi-Sequence Path Definition (unlimited)

User Defined Sequence

Easy Light Path Definition

Unlimited Sequence Fields

Aperture Types (Obj. Space, From Stop, Entrane Pupil, None)

Field Type (Angle, Image Height)

OPD Reference (EP, Absolute over Cam, Absolute over EP)

Source Types (Point Source, Plane Wavefront, Wavefromt from Surface)

Aperture Radius

Source Power Settings

Unlimited Number of Wavelengths

Distribution Types

Tilf of Field

Weight Fields separately

Vignetting of Field

Optimization

Local Optimization

Extended Optimization

Global Optimization

Material Substitution

Lagrange Multiplier Constraints

Soft Constraints

Merit Function for different sequences (unlimited)

Unlimited Ray Trace Optimizations

Optimization Goals:

Aberrations: Spot Radius RMS, Spot Radius PV, Spot Size 1D RMS, Wavefront RMS, Wavefront PV, Lateral Chromatic Aberration, Longitudinal Chromatic Aberration, Field Curvature, Distortion, Zernike, Tilt, Defocus, Astigmatism, Coma, Spherical Aberration

Optical Properties: Image Space NA, Object Space NA, Image Space F#, Object Space F#, Effective Focal Length, Entrance Pupil Position, Entrance Pupil Radius, Exit Pupil Position, Exit Pupil Radius, Maginifation, Angular Magnification, Chief Ray Position, Spot

Ray Properties: Chief Ray Incident Angle, Chief Ray Incident Direction Angle, Chief Ray Exist Angle, Chief Ray Exist Direction Angle, Ray Incident Angle RMS, Ray Incident Angle MAX, Ray Exit Angle RMS, Ray Exit Angle Max, Ray Refraction Angle RMS, Ray Refraction Angle MAX, Absolute OPL

Element Properties: Center Thickness, Edge Thicknes, Center Air Gap, Edge Air Gap, Aperture Radius, Surface Sag, Aspheric Departure, Refractive Index, Abbe Number

Tolerancing

Tolerancing Wizard for Easy Tolerancing

Element Tolerances

Surface Tolerances

Assembly Tolerances

Compensators

Tolerance Simulations (Sensitivity Analysis, Inverse Analysis, Monte-Carlo Simulation)

Tolerance Weights

Specific ID Tolerancing (specify tolerances due to production process or to producer tolerances)

Realistic Tolerancing (Tolerance single elements without affecting each other)

Tolerancing with Multiple Merit Functions

CAD and Mechanics Integration

Import CAD Data (STEP, STL, IGES)

Export CAD Data (STEP, STL, IGES)

CAD Primitivs Creator

Integrated CAD Mechanics Analyzer (Analyze directly inside Quadoa® for intersection between Mechanics and Optical Rays)

CAD Handling (XYZ-Coordinate System for Position and Rotation)

Exchange File Formats and Data

Import External File Formats (*.ZMX)

Import CAD Data (STEP, IGES, STL)

Export CAD DATA (STEP, IGES, STL)

Export Point Cloud

3D View Image (Export of 3D System as PNG)


PDF Brochure
Next Generation Optical Design Software
Download Brochure (PDF)


Video (3:51 min)
What is Quadoa® Optical CAD?
See how Quadoa® Optical CAD can enhance your optical design process and how Quadoa®'s design features can facilitate your workflow.