Welcome to PAOS’s documentation!
PAOS is a reliable, user-friendly, and open-source Physical Optics Propagation code that integrates an implementation of Fourier optics. It employs the Fresnel approximation for efficient and accurate optical system simulations.
By including a flexible configuration file and paraxial ray-tracing, PAOS seamlessly facilitates the study of various optical systems, including non-axial symmetric ones, as long as the Fresnel approximation remains valid.
This guide will walk you through the PAOS code with examples and descriptions of the main algorithms.
Important
If you use this software or its products, please cite it as
Andrea Bocchieri, Lorenzo V. Mugnai, Enzo Pascale, “PAOS: a fast, modern, and reliable Python package for physical optics studies,” Proc. SPIE 13092, Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2024: Optical, Infrared, and Millimeter Wave, 130924K (23 August 2024); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.3018333
Caution
In case of inconsistency between the documentation and the paper, always assume that the paper is correct.
Hint
Please note that PAOS does not implement an automatic updating system.
Be always sure that you are using the most updated version by monitoring GitHub.
Want to install it? Head here: Installation
Want to jump into the PAOS program? Head here: User guide
Want to know more about the code? Head here: API guide
Want to collaborate? Head here: Developer Guide
Curious about the license? Head here: License
Curious about the project history? Head here: Changelog