Computational Optics
Inspiration Overflow
This book explains how a lens prescription becomes ray data, wavefront error, a point spread function, and finally an MTF curve. The chapters use equations and executable Python examples together so that numerical conventions and assumptions remain visible.
How to use this book
Read the chapters in order if ray tracing or Fourier optics is new to you. Each chapter builds on definitions and conventions introduced earlier. Readers who already know geometrical optics may start at Chapter 10 for the wavefront-to-MTF computation.
The tested Python package, dependency lockfile, and reproduction commands are described in Companion Code.
Acknowledgements
Selected examples and validation tests use Optiland, an open-source optical design platform. We thank Kramer Harrison and the Optiland contributors for making it available under the MIT License. See the third-party notices.
License
The prose and figures are licensed under CC BY 4.0. Companion source code is licensed under the MIT License.