Introduction

This Workbench documentation is under construction. The text below is placeholder material and will be replaced or expanded as the Workbench user manual is completed.

Workbench is a Monte Carlo optical ray tracing application for modelling light transport in optical systems. It is intended for optical design and analysis workflows where a statistical ray model is needed to evaluate how light propagates through sources, materials, surfaces, detectors, and complex geometry.

The simulation of light transport within complex optical systems has evolved into a discipline that sits at the intersection of geometric optics, statistical mathematics, and computer science. While traditional analytical methods provide the foundation for imaging optics, illumination engineering and non-imaging optics often require a different approach. The central task is not only to determine where a focused image forms, but also to quantify the energetic distribution of light as it propagates through extended sources, scattering media, and complex geometries.

Monte Carlo ray tracing models radiant energy as a statistical ensemble of many discrete ray samples. This makes it useful for studying systems where deterministic analytical methods are impractical or incomplete.