Photon Engineering President Richard Pfisterer has recently written an article published on page 16 of the October 2011 issue of Optics and Photonics News: “Approximated Scatter Models for Stray Light Analysis”.

In this article Rich talks about how to perform approximate yet valuable scatter calculations for both optical and non-optical surface scatter and in the case of mirror and lens surface scatter. The ABg model and Lambertian scatter models are discussed.

"In the absence of measured data, stray light estimates can be daunting for engineers who do not regularly make scatter calculations. Here’s how to make reasonable approximations.

Optical designers and engineers frequently need to model optical phenomena before they can accomplish component  characterization. For example, for a proposal effort, they might have to estimate scatter from optical elements in order to establish a budget for stray light.  Illumination engineers may do a “back-of-the-envelope” calculation to determine how energy is scattered by a diffuser plate. This article describes how to make such approximations....."

You can view the article online here.

With over 30 years of experience in the areas of stray light analysis, algorithm and software development, optical design and contamination control, Rich Pfisterer is an industry expert.  He has direct experience working with virtually all commercial (and several proprietary) stray light software packages.

Photon Engineering Stray light course

Photon Engineering’s stray light short course is an intensive 3-day instruction on the language, science, theory, techniques, and calculations involved in all aspects of stray light.  As a practical course on the theory and calculations involved in stray light analysis, no software programs are used during the class.  The topics covered include the radiometry of the BSDF, scatter model definitions, applying and interpreting BSDF functions, scatter model approximations, stray light calculations of PST, contrast/veiling glare, ghost imaging, thermal self emission, and diffraction, effective baffling and beam dumping, and more.