Solving the Monge-Amp\`ere Equations for the Inverse Reflector Problem

TL;DR

This paper presents a numerical method for solving the Monge-Ampère equation to design free-form reflectors in nonimaging optics, enabling precise control of light distribution on targets.

Contribution

It introduces a collocation method with tensor-product B-splines and nested iteration techniques for efficiently solving the inverse reflector problem modeled by the Monge-Ampère equation.

Findings

Successful numerical solutions for benchmark Monge-Ampère problems

Design of reflectors for various target images

Validation of reflector surfaces via ray tracing

Abstract

The inverse reflector problem arises in geometrical nonimaging optics: Given a light source and a target, the question is how to design a reflecting free-form surface such that a desired light density distribution is generated on the target, e.g., a projected image on a screen. This optical problem can mathematically be understood as a problem of optimal transport and equivalently be expressed by a secondary boundary value problem of the Monge-Amp\`ere equation, which consists of a highly nonlinear partial differential equation of second order and constraints. In our approach the Monge-Amp\`ere equation is numerically solved using a collocation method based on tensor-product B-splines, in which nested iteration techniques are applied to ensure the convergence of the nonlinear solver and to speed up the calculation. In the numerical method special care has to be taken for the constraint: It enters the discrete problem formulation via a Picard-type iteration. Numerical results are presented as well for benchmark problems for the standard Monge-Amp\`ere equation as for the inverse reflector problem for various images. The designed reflector surfaces are validated by a forward simulation using ray tracing.