Radiant Zemax acquires Optima Research

21 Feb 2012

Acquisition "will accelerate client collaboration and product offerings throughout Europe", says the software company.

Radiant Zemax, Redmond, WA, US, has acquired UK-based Optima Research. The company simultaneously announced that existing Radiant Zemax partners and both parties’ customers “can expect to benefit from the acquisition – with expanded geographic support coverage times and increased local market support”. The price and other terms of the deal were not released.

Optima Research, which continues to operate from its offices in Stansted, Cambridgeshire, UK will act as the European headquarters for sales and support of Zemax 12 optical and illumination design software as well as providing training in computer-based optical design methods.

“We are delighted to welcome Optima Research and its clients to the Radiant Zemax family,” said Paul Caragher, CEO of Radiant Zemax. “This acquisition will accelerate client collaboration and product offerings throughout Europe. We are gaining strong talent and industry experience to enhance Radiant Zemax technology platforms.”

Neil Barrett, Managing Director of Optima Research, added, “Our acquisition formalizes and strengthens the long-standing business relationship between Optima Research and Radiant Zemax. The Optima team is delighted to be part of Radiant Zemax. Our combined business is able to provide better solutions to meet the demanding needs of our clients.”

Zemax 12 with New IE Edition

At Photonics West 2012, Radiant Zemax released Zemax 12, the newest version of its optical and illumination design software. Zemax 12 includes a new IE edition, and is said to “deliver breakthrough capabilities to optical and illumination engineers and designers while providing new levels of flexibility and productivity”.

Zemax 12 is available in SE, EE and IE editions, all of which include novel lens design capabilities. New advances in the IE edition are expected to be of interest to illumination engineers and designers. IE includes all of the capabilities found in the SE and EE editions, plus six additional breakthrough features:

PartLink for SolidWorks allows users to dynamically modify SolidWorks parts within the Zemax environment.
Radiant Source Models source model library that allows users to generate customized ray sets based on actual measured data.
Reverse Radiance Reverse Ray Tracing in conjunction with luminous intensity data from Radiant Source Models, accurately predicts real-world results without tracing millions of rays.
Advanced Path Analysis breaks down light into constituent paths to eliminate glint, glare and problem light in the most challenging designs.
Script Object Editor 3D Geometry Creation Engine parts can be created directly in the Zemax environment with this easy-to-learn part editor. Flexible part designs feature fully parametric 3D geometry and performance optimization.
Source Illumination Map fast and accurate visualization of the far-field illumination pattern formed on a distant plane by multiple IES, Eulumdat and RSMX source data files in true color.

Upgrade offer

Radiant Zemax is currently offering special introductory pricing for existing users to upgrade from previous SE and EE editions to the new IE edition. For pricing and more information about Zemax 12 and the new IE edition visit Radiant Zemax.

About the Author

Matthew Peach is a contributing editor to optics.org