RCopt

This is the Python code accompanying the paper I. Loboda and A. Réva, "Optimization of the Ritchey-Chrétien telescope for a discrete set of reference spheres," Opt. Express 33, 38015-38028 (2025).

This code implements the method described in the paper, allowing optimization of a Ritchey–Chrétien telescope design to match a set of standard reference spheres used in optical manufacturing. The approach minimizes the required aspherization of the mirrors while making only minimal modifications to the telescope's geometry.

📦 Repository contents

• RC_opt.py — the main library containing the optimization routines.
• User_manual.ipynb — a Jupyter notebook with a detailed usage example, illustrating the optimization process with two space-based EUV solar telescopes, ARKA and KORTES, analyzed in the paper.
• GOST_1807-75.csv — a sample reference sphere catalog (Soviet/Russian standard GOST 1807-75) used in the examples.
• Manuscript/ — LaTeX source files for the paper (necessary style files can be downloaded from the Optica Publishing Group Guide for Authors).
• Paper_Figures.ipynb — a Jupyter notebook used to reproduce the figures and tables for the paper.
• LICENSE.txt — license information for this repository.

🛠️ Requirements

• Python 3.7+
• numpy
• scipy
• matplotlib
• Jupyter (for running the example notebook)

You can install the dependencies with:

pip install numpy scipy matplotlib jupyterlab

🚀 Quick start

1️⃣ Clone the repository:

git clone https://github.com/Melmot/RCopt.git
cd RCopt

2️⃣ Open the Jupyter notebook:

jupyter lab RCopt_example.ipynb

3️⃣ Follow the notebook to see how to:

• Import the library and set up a telescope
• Load a set of standard reference spheres
• Optimize the telescope layout to minimize required aspherization
• Visualize and export aspherization profiles
• Export the final design to a Zemax file

🤝 Contributing

Contributions, bug reports, and suggestions are welcome! Please open an issue or submit a pull request.

🔗 Citation

If you use this code in your research, please cite:

I. Loboda and A. Réva, "Optimization of the Ritchey-Chrétien telescope for a discrete set of reference spheres," Opt. Express 33, 38015-38028 (2025).