2026-08-14 –, Room 4
BeamletOptics.jl (BMO) is a Gaussian beamlet tracing package built on top of a geometrical ray tracing solver. It can be used to prototype laboratory optical setups featuring laser sources. BMO features a signed distance function (SDF) based geometry representation which allows for the accurate modeling of surface normals. It offers a variety of optical models for common components, like mirrors, lenses, beamsplitters and detectors. In addition, the API allows for the easy implementation of custom optical elements. This talk will focus on the current state of the package, feature several showcases and outline future development goals.
Designing optical setups featuring laser sources is a common task in many optical laboratories. The use of digital models for this purpose can allow for easier prototyping before committing to an experimental setup. Commercial and open-source software for this purpose already exists, for instance in Julia the OpticSim.jl and ABCDMatrixOptics.jl packages are referred to. These packages implement classic geometrical optics and matrix optics, respectively. An alternative modeling approach is the complex ray tracing or Gaussian beamlet tracing approach first proposed by J. Arnaud (1968) and later A. Greynolds (1985).
This formalism uses a set of geometrical rays to represent the 0th order Gaussian mode (TEM00). By using a classical ray tracing approach, this model of the Gaussian beam can be efficiently propagated through optical systems. More recent improvements of this method have also introduced the ability to model polarization effects and astigmatism. The TEM00 Gaussian mode can also be used to coherently decompose and propagate arbitrary electrical fields.
The goal of this package is to implement the mentioned approach with a focus on 3D volume-based optics modelling and easy manipulation of optics position and orientation. Therefore, we have opted for a solids-based geometry representation rather than the more established surface-based modelling approach. Our package features a hybrid sequential-non-sequential tracing solver and SDF-based representation of e.g. spherical and aspherical lenses.
This talk will focus on an introduction into the application programming interface (API) of BMO by explaining the structure of the underlying solver (Intersect-Interact-Repeat-Loop), the options for the representation of optical geometries and the optical models for mirrors, lenses, beamsplitters and more that are provided as part of this package. In addition, the extension capabilities for the implementation of custom optical models will be featured. We will talk about the current and future development roadmap for this package and showcase examples for practical uses cases from our research group.
PhD student at the German Aerospace Center (Institute of Technical Physics)