Graphical User Interface for DIFFRACT

Optical System Simulation Software

Graphical User Interface (New)

The General Edition of DIFFRACT now comes with an optional Graphical User Interface (GUI). The GUI allows the user to set up an optical system by selecting objects from a menu and specifying their parameter values in an interactive, user-friendly environment. Once the optical system is set up, the GUI submits its Command.dat file to DIFFRACT and waits for the simulation to run its course. Afterwards, GUI will access the various graphics and data files created by DIFFRACT during the simulation, displays the results, and enables the user to modify the setup, to put the simulation through loops, and to plot the various signals recorded in the Signals.dat file.

The various features of DIFFRACT's Graphical User Interface also enable the user to:

Import/export data files for constructing large and complex geometric-optical systems.
Import/export data files containing the Zernike aberration coefficients.
Import interferometrically measured, cross-sectional beam profiles from WYKO-compatible data files, then save them in standard DIFFRACT format for later processing.
Create amplitude/phase masks from existing beam profiles, or from user-defined functions, then save the mask files in standard DIFFRACT format.
Extract the Zernike aberration coefficients from the phase profile of imported beams.
Create "sliced masks" from continuous amplitude/phase profiles; useful for studying segmented liquid crystal phase modulators.

Although DIFFRACT and its GUI are separate programs and can, in principle, function independently of each other, in practice GUI acts as gateway to DIFFRACT by facilitating the input/output of text and graphical information. In the process, the simulation engine (DIFFRACT) remains invisible, while its behind-the-scenes operation is fully controlled by an exchange of information with the GUI.

For more information about DIFFRACT's GUI, please download a (compressed) copy of the Readme.doc file, which contains instructions on how to set up and run the Limited Edition of DIFFRACT 7.9. You may also download a free copy of DIFFRACT's Limited Edition and its GUI by clicking on LimitedDiffGUI.ZIP, then following the instructions provided in the Readme.doc file.

Current users of DIFFRACT 7.7 and 7.9 may purchase the Graphical User Interface package and run their copy of DIFFRACT under the GUI. New users may order DIFFRACT with or without the optional GUI, although a discount would apply when DIFFRACT and its GUI are purchased together (see Pricing and Service Policy).