Performance Considerations for Ray Tracing in Gradient-index Optics with Symplectic Numerical Methods

New ray-tracing method for radial gradient-index lenses

A new method to derive algebraic formulae for tracing skew rays in radial gradient-index media is described. We obtained power series for the ray position and direction, optical path length and coordinates of the intersection point of the curved ray with the spherical end surface of the GRIN lens. All these formulae include the effects of terms up to the eighth power of the radius in the refrac...

Geometry-invariant gradient refractive index lens: analytical ray tracing.

A new class of gradient refractive index (GRIN) lens is introduced and analyzed. The interior iso-indicial contours mimic the external shape of the lens, which leads to an invariant geometry of the GRIN structure. The lens model employs a conventional surface representation using a coincoid of revolution with a higher-order aspheric term. This model has a unique feature, namely, it allows analy...

Memory Considerations for Low Energy Ray Tracing

We propose two hardware mechanisms to decrease energy consumption on massively parallel graphics processors for ray tracing. First, we use a streaming data model and configure part of the L2 cache into a ray stream memory to enable efficient data processing through ray reordering. This increases L1 hit rates and reduces off-chip memory energy substantially through better management of off-chip ...

Thomas Young's investigations in gradient-index optics.

PURPOSE James Clerk Maxwell is usually recognized as being the first, in 1854, to consider using inhomogeneous media in optical systems. However, some 50 years earlier, Thomas Young, stimulated by his interest in the optics of the eye and accommodation, had already modeled some applications of gradient-index optics. These applications included using an axial gradient to provide spherical aberra...

Numerical Methods in Aero-optics