Sketch optical setups. Watch the rays trace live.
A free, browser-based 2D workbench for lasers, lenses, mirrors, and everything between the source and the detector. Place components on a virtual optical table and the beam paths update in real time — no install, no account, no server storing your work.
Live ray tracing
Every optical element in your scene is physically simulated — move a component and the light path recalculates instantly, exactly as it would on an optical bench.
A real element library
OpticalSetup covers most of the hardware you'd find on an actual optics bench — sources, optics, and detectors alike — and the library keeps growing as new elements are added.
Direct manipulation
Select a component to get resize handles, a rotation handle, and a tuning knob for its key parameter — right on the canvas, no dialog required.
Paper-ready export
Export a clean crop of your setup as SVG or PNG, ready to drop straight into a manuscript or slide deck. Frame exactly what you want with an optional Figure frame — it defines the export bounds without ever showing up in the artwork.
Share a link, not a file
The Share action compresses your sketch into the URL itself and generates a QR code. Opening the link rebuilds the exact setup — no account, no server-side scene storage.
Honest about what's simulated
OpticalSetup shows you how light behaves geometrically, not exact numerical predictions — it's built for building intuition, not for specifying real hardware tolerances. Read the wiki related to each optical element for additional information.
How it works
- Choose a source from the component library — a laser, LED, or broadband point source.
- Place optics in the beam: lenses, mirrors, filters, splitters, anything the light should pass through.
- Add a detector and select it to read the signal, spectrum, or polarization the tracer computed.