Handbook of Optical Design, 3rd Edition

Appendix 4: Exact Ray Tracing of Skew Rays

A4.1  EXACT RAY TRACING

Ray-tracing procedures have been described many times in the literature (Allen and Snyder 1952; Cornejo-Rodríguez and Cordero-Dávila 1979; Feder 1968; Herzberger 1951, 1957; Herzberger and Hoadley 1946; Lessing 1962; Malacara 1965; Spencer and Murty 1962). These methods are basically simple, in the sense that only elementary geometry is needed. However, tracing of skew rays through aspherical surfaces is quite involved from an algebraic point of view. This is the reason why these methods are not well described in many optical design books. Nevertheless, the practical importance of ray-tracing procedures is great, especially if a computer program is to be used.

We will derive ...