Ray tracing is used to:

• Design reflectors, mirrors, and solar concentrators
• Estimate fluence, flux, and dose
• Design baffles
• Calculate allowable surface defects and geometry deviations

As all mirrors have imperfections – it is important to specify what type and magnitude of aberrations and defects are tolerable. The left figure depicts a perfect mirror and the one on the right depicts an actual mirror. Mirror specification will depend on the degree of defocusing the application can tolerate. By modeling a perfect mirror with superimposed aberrations and defects, the most appropriate specification can be developed.