Getting Started

LensHH-LT runs on Windows, Linux, and macOS:

See the Download page for full details.

System Requirements

User Guide

Read the full, searchable user guide right in your browser, or download the PDF. The same guide is built into the application under Help → User Guide.

Open User Guide →   Download PDF

Activation

Free Trial

To start a 45-day free trial:

  1. Open LensHH-LT
  2. Go to Help → Start Free Trial
  3. Enter your email address
  4. Check your email for a 6-digit activation code
  5. Enter the code in the application

The trial is full-featured with no limitations. One trial per email address, valid on one machine.

License Activation

After purchasing a license:

  1. Go to Help → Activate License
  2. Enter your license key (format: LHLT-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX)
  3. Click Activate

Each license can be activated on up to 2 machines. To move a license, use Help → Deactivate This Machine on the old machine first.

Offline Activation

For air-gapped machines without internet access, use the CLI on any connected machine:

license fetch-token LHLT-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX <machineId> token.json

Transfer token.json to the target machine, then:

license offline token.json

Lens Editor

The lens editor displays the optical system as a spreadsheet-style surface table. Each row represents one surface.

Surface Properties

Analysis

Available under the Analysis menu:

Optimization

Local Optimization

Damped least-squares (Levenberg-Marquardt) optimizer. Set variables on surfaces, define a merit function, and run Optimization → Local Optimization.

Multistart

Randomizes variables around the current solution and runs many short local optimizations in parallel. Finds the best result across all trials.

GPU pre-screen (beta). On Windows or Linux with a CUDA-capable NVIDIA GPU, Multistart can offload the candidate pre-screening pass to the GPU; the Levenberg–Marquardt refinement always runs on the CPU. Benefit varies by GPU.

Global Search

Explores the design space from many diverse seeds and returns a gallery of structurally distinct solutions rather than a single answer — near-duplicates are merged by merit so each card is a genuinely different lens form. Pick the form that best fits your packaging and aberration trade-offs, then polish it locally. Ideal early in a design when the best topology is still unknown.

Basin Hopping

Hooke-Jeeves direct search combined with LM polishing — good when the topology is fixed but the local minimum needs to be escaped.

Synthesis by Saddle-Point Construction

Grows the design one element at a time by finding saddle points in merit-vs-curvature space. Can insert single elements or cemented doublets, restricted to either side of the stop. Turns a single lens into a multi-element system in one run.

Split Element & Search Best Asphere Surface

Targeted topology growth: split the highest-aberration element into two glasses, or aspherize the surface that gives the most merit improvement.

File Formats

Native Format (.lhlt)

JSON-based format that preserves all data including merit function, variables, and constraints.

Import

Export

Export to all supported formats via File → Export As.

Command Line Interface

LensHH-LT includes a CLI for scripting and batch operations:

lenshh open mylens.lhlt
paraxial
fft-mtf
spot
optimize 500
save result.lhlt

Support

Email: support@synapseoptics.com