GaussianBeamVI

A handy tool to visualize Gaussian beam propagation through lenses

Here I present a handy tool written in Python to visualize how Gaussain beams propagate through two simple lenses. It provides a friendly environment to graphically see how beam property changes as we tune the beam intial beam size, lens focus and position. I utilize the widgets embedded in Matpyplot to create a dynamical user interface. It gives a graphical and intuitive sense when setting up the optics.

Packages needed: numpy matpylot

How to use: dowload the code GaussianVI.py, and type: python GaussianVI.py on the command line.

For Theory regarding Gaussian Optics, please see the following link: http://nic.ucsf.edu/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Gaussian-Beam-Optics.pdf

Todo list：

1. Include beam property parameter M^2
2. Add more lenses
3. Fix the plotting issue when the second lens to set before the first lens.

Note for users:

1. Please make sure the second lens is always set before the first lens and the the beam waist of the first images. I will try to fix this issue in the future.
2. My intuition tells me this code can be done more elegantly and simply, excuse me for the code being too complex, will try to improve.
3. The x = 0 position is the beam waist