We present an overview of the pros and cons of using GPUs in optical design software. While GPUs can run multiple calculations in parallel, that parallelization comes with a price. We will discuss the trade-offs that allow GPUs to run up to thousands of cores in parallel and how those trade-offs effect the use of GPUs in optical design software. In particular, we review the use of GPUs in several steps of design calculations, including ray-tracing and computationally expensive steps such as calculating Huygens integrals.

Date Published: 30 August 2019
PDF: 7 pages
Proc. SPIE 11104, Current Developments in Lens Design and Optical Engineering XX, 1110404 (30 August 2019); doi: 10.1117/12.2526861

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 11104:
Current Developments in Lens Design and Optical Engineering XX
R. Barry Johnson; Virendra N. Mahajan; Simon Thibault, Editor(s)