optixstuff 1.0.0

Hardware abstractions for the HWO direct imaging simulation suite

optixstuff

Shared hardware objects — with standard values — for the HWO direct-imaging simulation suite.

What optixstuff is

optixstuff is a thin shared dependency that defines the observatory's hardware as composable JAX modules: primary aperture, throughput-affecting elements, coronagraph backend, detector. Its job is to be the single source of truth for the hardware configuration that downstream tools consume.

Both coronagraphoto (2D image simulation) and jaxEDITH (exposure-time and yield calculations) import the same OpticalPath class and the same detector / throughput / primary types from optixstuff. Change a value here and both downstream tools pick it up on the next import.

What optixstuff is not

• Not a wavefront tool. Diffraction, E-field propagation, and PSFs-from-first-principles belong to dLux and HCIPy.
• Not a PSF interpolator. That's yippy's job; optixstuff wraps a PSF backend via YippyCoronagraph but does not compute PSFs.
• Not a scene model. Stars, planets, disks, and zodi live in skyscapes.
• Not a simulator. Downstream tools (coronagraphoto, jaxEDITH) consume an OpticalPath to produce images or count rates.

Architecture

Built on JAX and Equinox, optixstuff provides:

• Abstract interfaces — AbstractPrimary, AbstractOpticalElement, AbstractCoronagraph, AbstractDetector
• Concrete implementations — SimplePrimary, ConstantThroughput, IdealDetector
• Container — OpticalPath, a composable hardware configuration passed to all simulators

Every abstract method accepts three fidelity axes — wavelength, position, and time — with defaults so that simple implementations can ignore unused axes while future high-fidelity models (wavelength-dependent coatings, position-dependent vignetting, time-dependent detector degradation) can use them without breaking the interface.

Ecosystem position

flowchart TB
    physopt["<b>Physical optics</b><br/>dLux · HCIPy · PROPER<br/>E-fields → PSFs"]
    yippy["<b>yippy</b><br/>PSF interpolation"]
    optix["<b>optixstuff</b><br/>Telescope · Coronagraph · Detector · OpticalPath<br/>Throughput chains · QE · Noise rates"]
    jaxedith["<b>jaxEDITH</b><br/>Scalar count rates<br/>Exposure-time calculations"]
    corono["<b>coronagraphoto</b><br/>2D image simulation<br/>Multi-epoch scenes"]

    physopt -- YIP --> yippy
    yippy -- flux patterns --> optix
    optix --> jaxedith
    optix --> corono

Installation

pip install optixstuff

Status

This package is in early development (pre-v0.1.0).