Introduction

In this tutorial, we discuss the System object. In PyPO, all functionality is accessed through the System object. This object can be seen as the laboratory, where one can place optical elements and simulate the propagation of electromagnetic fields through them.

Importing The System

A System object is created in PyPO in the following way:

from PyPO.System import System

st = System()

We have created a System object named st. A System has its own logger. This logger is an instance of the Logging module in the Python standard library. It logs, for example, whenever a reflector or optical element is generated, or when such an element is transformed. If you do not want the System to log actions, you can instantiate the System and pass the "verbose=False" argument:

from PyPO.System import System

st = System(verbose=False)

This can always be changed down the line by calling the setLoggingVerbosity() method of System:

st.setLoggingVerbosity(True)

For an overview of the System methods that affect the configuration of the System, see the API documentation for the System.

Internal Components Of A System

A System keeps track of all reflectors/elements, ray-trace frames and PO fields/currents (these are explained in a later tutorial) in internal dictionaries. Each internal dictionary will be explained later when the relevant data structure it stores is discussed, but for now, it is important to know that System methods rarely return objects. Rather, it stores these objects internally.