A differential ray tracing (DRT) formulation for the analysis and design of arbitrary optical systems is presented. An approach based on sequential rays is proposed to define a functional representation of the ray path, where the gradient information associated with the ray path is obtained using an automatic differentiation technique. The proposed DRT algorithm is neither constrained to a specific optical system geometry nor restricted to a set of surface types or material definition. |
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Ray tracing
GRIN lenses
Optical engineering
Inhomogeneities
Design and modelling
Spherical lenses
Refractive index