ABSTRACT
Area and angle are related and that is the basis for illumination optics. Small collimator optics is desirable, but that is not the case with concentrator optics. Actually, the opposite is true. In a concentrator, the larger its aperture, the more light it captures from the source. Optics are first designed and then manufactured. Manufacturing, however, introduces different kinds of errors, which include imperfections in the optical surfaces, or imperfect assembly of components. Concentrators, like collimators, will have imperfections when they are made, assembled, and used. Also in the case of concentrators, errors will diffuse the light as it passes the optic. An important application of non-imaging optics is as solar energy concentrators. A more general situation occurs when the optic is asymmetric, and has internal losses.
