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Review of freeform TIR collimator design methods

  • Taimoor Talpur

    Taimoor Talpur is a PhD research scholar at the Institute for Technical Optics, University of Stuttgart. He finished his post-graduation in Photonics from Abbe School of Photonics, at Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Germany in 2013. He is interested in the domain of optical modeling and design and has worked on Delano diagrams during his master thesis, in Carl Zeiss, Germany. Currently, he is working on TIR collimators for illumination systems for his PhD research.

     EMAIL logo     and Alois Herkommer

    Alois Herkommer received his PhD in Physics from the University of Ulm in the area of quantum optics. In 1996, he joined Carl Zeiss in Oberkochen as an optical designer for lithography, inspection, and metrology systems. After 2000, he was senior optical designer at the Carl Zeiss Laser Optics GmbH, developing laser and spectral components, as well as X-ray optics. From 2006, he headed the optical design group at the Carl Zeiss SMT GmbH, responsible for the design of high-performance lithography systems. Since 2011, he is the professor for ‘optical design and simulation’ at the Institute for Technical Optics (ITO) at the University of Stuttgart. His main research interests are complex surfaces in optical design, design methods for illumination and imaging systems, and optical systems for biomedical applications. Prof. Alois Herkommer is a member of the SPIE, the OSA, and the German DGaO. He has published several articles on optical design and holds over 20 patents.
Published/Copyright: March 25, 2016
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Advanced Optical Technologies
From the journal Advanced Optical Technologies Volume 5 Issue 2

Abstract

Total internal reflection (TIR) collimators are essential illumination components providing high efficiency and uniformity in a compact geometry. Various illumination design methods have been developed for designing such collimators, including tailoring methods, design via optimization, the mapping and feedback method, and the simultaneous multiple surface (SMS) method. This paper provides an overview of the different methods and compares the performance of the methods along with their advantages and their limitations.

Keywords: design methods; extended source design; illumination design; optimization methods; TIR collimator

About the authors

Taimoor Talpur

Taimoor Talpur is a PhD research scholar at the Institute for Technical Optics, University of Stuttgart. He finished his post-graduation in Photonics from Abbe School of Photonics, at Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Germany in 2013. He is interested in the domain of optical modeling and design and has worked on Delano diagrams during his master thesis, in Carl Zeiss, Germany. Currently, he is working on TIR collimators for illumination systems for his PhD research.

Alois Herkommer

Alois Herkommer received his PhD in Physics from the University of Ulm in the area of quantum optics. In 1996, he joined Carl Zeiss in Oberkochen as an optical designer for lithography, inspection, and metrology systems. After 2000, he was senior optical designer at the Carl Zeiss Laser Optics GmbH, developing laser and spectral components, as well as X-ray optics. From 2006, he headed the optical design group at the Carl Zeiss SMT GmbH, responsible for the design of high-performance lithography systems. Since 2011, he is the professor for ‘optical design and simulation’ at the Institute for Technical Optics (ITO) at the University of Stuttgart. His main research interests are complex surfaces in optical design, design methods for illumination and imaging systems, and optical systems for biomedical applications. Prof. Alois Herkommer is a member of the SPIE, the OSA, and the German DGaO. He has published several articles on optical design and holds over 20 patents.

Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to the Zentrales Innovationsprogramm Mittelstand (ZIM) program for the support of this research under project number KF 2281403DF3.

Author contributions

T. T. performed software implementations, numerical calculations, design and simulations, and wrote the manuscript. A. H. participated in discussions, provided ideas, verified the calculations, designs and simulations, and contributed to editing the manuscript.

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Received: 2016-1-5
Accepted: 2016-2-29
Published Online: 2016-3-25
Published in Print: 2016-4-1

©2016 THOSS Media & De Gruyter

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Cover and Frontmatter
  2. Community
  3. News from the European Optical Society
  4. News
  5. Conference Notes
  6. Conference Calendar
  7. Topical issue: Illumination optics
  8. Editorial
  9. Development in illumination optics
  10. Review Articles
  11. High-resolution headlamp
  12. Signal lights – designed light for rear lamps and new upcoming technologies: innovations in automotive lighting
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https://doi.org/10.1515/aot-2016-0003
Keywords for this article
design methods; extended source design; illumination design; optimization methods; TIR collimator

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Cover and Frontmatter
  2. Community
  3. News from the European Optical Society
  4. News
  5. Conference Notes
  6. Conference Calendar
  7. Topical issue: Illumination optics
  8. Editorial
  9. Development in illumination optics
  10. Review Articles
  11. High-resolution headlamp
  12. Signal lights – designed light for rear lamps and new upcoming technologies: innovations in automotive lighting
  13. Free-form illumination optics
  14. Review of freeform TIR collimator design methods
  15. Research Articles
  16. High-resolution vehicle headlamps: technologies and scanning prototype
  17. Angular and spatial color mixing using mixing rods with the geometry of a chaotic-dispersive billiard system
  18. Research Articles
  19. Dual-mode spectral imaging system employing a focus variable lens
  20. A holographic method for optimisation of laser-based production processes
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