Best Optical Design Software with a Free Trial

Ansys SPEOS predicts the illumination and optical performance of systems to save on prototyping time and costs while improving your product’s efficiency. Ansys SPEOS delivers an intuitive and comprehensive user interface, enhanced productivity with use of GPUs for simulation previews and easy access to the Ansys multiphysics ecosystem. SPEOS has been assessed by the International Commission on Illumination (CIE) against CIE 171:2006 test cases, assessing the accuracy of light modeling software and showing the performance benefits of Ansys SPEOS. Turn on the light in your virtual model and intuitively explore the propagation of light in 3D. The SPEOS Live preview function features simulation and rendering capabilities so you can design products interactively. Cut iteration time and speed up your decision-making process by performing simulations correctly the first time, automatically designing for optical surfaces, light guides and optical lenses.

Combines Monte Carlo ray tracing, analysis, CAD import/export, and optimization methods with a complete and robust macro language to solve a wide variety of problems in illumination design and optical analysis. Using TracePro’s user-friendly, 3D CAD interface you can create TracePro models by importing lens design or CAD files, or by directly creating solid geometry. TracePro uses a true solid modeling engine to ensure consistent and robust models. TracePro’s ray tracing engine is fast and accurate. Exact ray tracing to all surfaces even imported splines ‒ no missed intersections or “leaky” rays. Analysis Mode ray tracing, unique to TracePro, is a very powerful capability that creates an interactive environment. With Analysis Mode you can analyze every surface and object both visually and quantitatively.

Ansys Zemax OpticStudio is a comprehensive optical design software utilized globally by companies and universities to create and analyze optical systems, including imaging, illumination, and laser systems. It offers a user-friendly interface that integrates analysis, optimization, and tolerancing tools, facilitating the design of complex optical systems for a wide range of applications. The software supports both sequential and non-sequential ray tracing, enabling precise modeling of light propagation through various optical components. Advanced features include structural and thermal analysis, allowing users to assess the impact of environmental factors on optical performance. OpticStudio also provides extensive materials and optical element libraries, enhancing the accuracy of simulations. For students, Ansys offers a free version of OpticStudio, providing hands-on experience in designing and analyzing optical systems, thereby preparing them for future careers in optics.

OSLO (Optics Software for Layout and Optimization) is a comprehensive optical design program developed by Lambda Research Corporation. It integrates advanced ray tracing, analysis, and optimization methods with a high-speed internal compiled language, enabling users to address a wide array of challenges in optical design. OSLO's open architecture provides designers with significant flexibility to define and constrain systems according to their specific requirements. The software is capable of modeling various optical components, including refractive, reflective, diffractive, gradient index, aspheric, and freeform optics. Its robust ray tracing algorithms and analytical tools offer a solid foundation for optimizing and evaluating lenses, telescopes, and other optical systems. OSLO has been employed in designing numerous optical systems, such as space telescopes, camera lenses, zoom lenses, scanning systems, anamorphic systems, cinema systems, microscopes, ocular systems, etc.

Ansys Lumerical Multiphysics is a photonics component simulation software that enables the seamless design of photonic components by capturing multiphysics effects, including optical, thermal, electrical, and quantum well interactions, within a unified design environment. Tailored for design engineering workflows, this intuitive product design software offers a fast user experience, facilitating rapid design exploration and providing detailed insights into real-world product performance. It combines live physics and accurate high-fidelity simulation into an easy-to-use interface, supporting faster time-to-market. Key features include a finite element design environment, integrated multiphysics workflows, comprehensive material models, and capabilities for automation and optimization. The suite of solvers and seamless workflows in Lumerical Multiphysics accurately capture the interplay of physical effects in modeling both passive and active photonic components.

LightTools is a comprehensive 3D optical engineering and design software that supports virtual prototyping, simulation, optimization, and photorealistic renderings of illumination applications. It enables users to quickly create illumination designs that work right the first time, reducing prototype iterations and accelerating time to market. Key features include sophisticated solid modeling with full optical accuracy, state-of-the-art ray tracing speed with user-controlled accuracy and resolution, and the ability to create light sources from any geometric model for unlimited flexibility. LightTools offers application-specific utilities to help users quickly build complete models, extensive source and materials libraries, including LEDs and BSDF measurements, and robust data exchange support for mechanical CAD data. The software provides an interactive, dynamic link with SOLIDWORKS and includes multiple modules that can be licensed in various configurations to best match user needs.

Synopsys OptSim is an award-winning photonic integrated circuit (PIC) and fiber-optic system simulator that enables engineers to design and optimize photonic circuits and systems. It offers state-of-the-art time- and frequency-domain split-step algorithms, providing a native photonic-domain environment for accurate simulations. OptSim can function as a standalone solution with its own graphical user interface or integrate into the OptoCompiler Photonic IC design platform. When integrated with OptoCompiler, OptSim supports electro-optic co-simulation with Synopsys PrimeSim HSPICE and PrimeSim SPICE electrical circuit simulators, and seamlessly integrates with the PrimeWave Design Environment for advanced simulation, analyses, and visualization, including parametric scans, Monte Carlo, and corner analyses. The software includes extensive libraries of photonic and electronic components and analysis tools, and supports numerous foundry process design kits (PDKs).

Synopsys OptoCompiler is the industry's first unified electronic and photonic design platform, combining mature and dedicated photonic technology with Synopsys' industry-proven electronic design tools to enable engineers to produce and verify complex photonic integrated circuit designs quickly and accurately. By providing schematic-driven layout and advanced photonic layout synthesis in a single platform, OptoCompiler bridges the gap between photonic experts and integrated circuit designers to make photonic design accessible, fast, and flexible. OptoCompiler supports electronic-photonic co-design to ensure scalable design processes and offers comprehensive features for hierarchical design, enabling multiple designers to work closely together to shorten product development cycle times. The platform includes dedicated native photonic simulators, in conjunction with industry-standard electrical simulators, for accurate simulation results that account for statistical variations.

RayViz is a SOLIDWORKS add-in developed by Lambda Research Corporation that enables users to apply and save optical properties directly within the SOLIDWORKS CAD environment. This integration allows for the assignment of optical characteristics from the TracePro property database, which are then stored as part of the SOLIDWORKS model. Users can define light sources and perform ray tracing within SOLIDWORKS to visualize light rays and paths, facilitating tasks such as beam path verification, detection of vignetting by mechanical structures, and identification of light leakage in light guides. RayViz includes catalogs of LED sources, as well as sources with Gaussian and Lambertian beam profiles. A significant advantage of RayViz is its ability to save SOLIDWORKS models in TracePro file format, enabling comprehensive optical analysis in TracePro. If modifications are made to the SOLIDWORKS model, the "update from RayViz" option in TracePro allows for synchronization of the changes.

VirtualLab Fusion is an advanced optical design software that facilitates fast physical optics modeling by connecting various field solvers through a unique operator and channel concept. This integration enables efficient simulations that balance accuracy and speed. The software offers a range of packages tailored to specific optical design needs, providing tools and functionalities to support diverse applications. With an intuitive user interface, VirtualLab Fusion simplifies the design process, allowing users to focus on innovation and optimization. The platform also provides access to tips, tricks, training, and webinars to enhance user proficiency.

Quickly and easily create reflector or lens geometry with LucidShape FunGeo. It leverages proprietary algorithms that automatically calculate and construct optical geometries based on user-defined illuminance and intensity patterns. This unique, functional approach gives you the freedom to focus on overall design objectives rather than the implementation details of complex optical components. Accelerate LucidShape illumination simulations with GPUTrace and experience a quantum leap in speed. LucidShape is the first optical simulation software to take advantage of graphics processing unit computing to deliver simulation speed increases by orders of magnitude compared to multithreading capabilities. Use LucidShape's visualization module to demonstrate luminance effects when light sources in a model are illuminated and depict all interactions between system geometry and light sources.