Lecture 2

Basic Geometrical Optics:

❖ Geometrical optics will help you understand the basics of light reflection and refraction and
the use of simple optical elements such as mirrors, prisms, lenses, and fibers.
❖ Physical optics will help you understand the phenomena of light wave interference,
diffraction, and polarization; the use of thin film coatings on mirrors to enhance or suppress
reflection; and the operation of such devices as gratings and quarter-wave plates.
Basic Concepts:
We begin our study of basic geometrical optics by examining how light reflects and refracts at
smooth, plane interfaces. Figure 1, shows ordinary reflection of light at a plane surface, and
refraction of light at two successive plane surfaces. In each instance, light is pictured simply in
terms of straight lines, which we refer to as light rays.

Figure 1 Light rays undergoing reflection and refraction at

plane surfaces
1. Reflection of light from optical surfaces
When light is incident on an interface between two transparent optical media—such as
between air and glass or between water and glass—four things can happen to the incident light:
• It can be partly or totally reflected at the interface.
• It can be scattered in random directions at the interface.
• It can be partly transmitted via refraction at the interface and enter the second medium.
• It can be partly absorbed in either medium.
In our introductory study of geometrical optics we shall consider only smooth surfaces that give
rise to specular (regular, geometric) reflections.
Reflection or refraction at a plane surface:
When rays diverge from
an object point P and are
reflected or refracted, the
directions of the
outgoing rays are the
same as though they had
diverged from a point P'
called the image point. If
they actually converge at
P' and diverge again
beyond it, is a real image
of P ; if they only appear to have diverged from P' it is a virtual
image. Images can be either erect or inverted.

Figure 1: Light rays from the object at point P are reflected from a plane mirror.
The reflected rays entering the eye look as though they had come from image point p'.

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Lateral magnification:
 The lateral magnification m in any reflecting or refracting situation
is defined as the ratio of image height y' to object height y. When
m is positive, the image is erect; when m is negative, the image is
inverted.

m=

Focal point and focal length:

The focal point of a mirror is the point where parallel rays converge after
reflection from a concave mirror, or the point from which they appear to
diverge after reflection from a convex mirror. Rays diverging from the
focal point of a concave mirror are parallel after reflection; rays
converging toward the focal point of a convex mirror are parallel after
reflection. The distance from the focal point to the vertex is called the
focal length, denoted as the focal points of a lens are defined similarly.
Relating object and image distances:
The formulas for object
distance s and image
distance s' for plane and spherical mirrors and single refracting
surfaces are summarized in the table. The equation for a plane
surface can be obtained from the corresponding equation for a
spherical surface by setting R = ∞. We see that f is related to the
radius of curvature R by:

Reflection at a spherical surfaces:

A plane mirror produces an image that is the
same size as the object. But there are many
applications for mirrors in which the image
and object must be of different sizes. A
magnifying mirror used when applying
makeup gives an image that is larger than the
object, and surveillance mirrors (used in
stores to help spot
shoplifters) give an image that is smaller than
the object. There are also applications of mirrors
in which a real image is desired, so light rays do
indeed pass through the image point p'. A plane
mirror by itself cannot perform any of these
tasks. Instead, curved mirrors are used. We also
have the relationship y/s = -y'/s'. The negative
sign is needed because object and image are on
opposite sides of the optic axis; if y is positive,
y' is negative. Therefore:

If m is positive, the image is erect in comparison to the object; if m is negative, the image is
inverted relative to the object.

We will usually express the relationship between object and image distances for a mirror, f :

Example2-1:
A concave mirror forms an image, on a wall 3.00 m in front of the mirror, of a headlamp filament
10.0 cm in front of the mirror.
(a) What are the radius of curvature and focal length of the mirror?
(b) What is the lateral magnification? What is the image height if the object height
is 5.00 mm?

Convex Mirrors
In Fig. the convex side of a spherical mirror faces the incident light. The center of curvature is on
the side opposite to the outgoing rays; R is negative. Ray PB is reflected, with the angles of
incidence and reflection both equal to θ. The reflected ray, projected backward, intersects the axis
at P'. As with a concave mirror, all rays from P that are reflected by the mirror diverge from the
same point P', provided that the angle α is small. Therefore P' is the image of P. The object
distance s is positive, the image distance s' is negative, and the radius of curvature R is negative for
a convex mirror.

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Example 2-2:
A concave mirror has a radius of curvature with absolute value 20 cm. Find graphically the
image of an object in the form of an arrow perpendicular to the axis of the mirror at object
distances of
by computing the size and lateral magnification of each image.
The signs of tell us that the image is real in cases (a) and (b) and virtual in case (d).
The lateral magnifications measured from the figures are
Approximately
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IMAGE FORMATION WITH LENSES:

Lenses are at the heart of many optical devices, not the least
of which are cameras, microscopes, binoculars, and telescopes. Just as the law of reflection
determines the imaging properties of mirrors, so Snell’s law of refraction determines the
imaging properties of lenses. Lenses are essentially light-controlling elements, used primarily
for image formation with visible light, but also for ultraviolet and infrared light.
Function of a lens
A lens is made up of a transparent refracting medium, generally of some type of glass, with
spherically shaped surfaces on the front and back. A ray incident on the lens refracts at the front
surface (according to Snell’s law) propagates through the lens, and refracts again at the rear
surface. The ray-tracing techniques and lens formulas we shall use here are based again on
Gaussian optics, just as they were for mirrors.
Graphical Methods for Lenses
We can determine the position and size of an image formed by a thin lens by using a graphical
method. The three principal rays whose paths are usually easy to trace for lenses are
shown in Fig.
1. A ray parallel to the axis emerges from the lens in a direction that passes through the second
focal point of a converging lens, or appears to come from the second focal point of a diverging
lens.
2. A ray through the center of the lens is not appreciably deviated; at the center of the lens the
two surfaces are parallel, so this ray emerges at essentially the same angle at which it enters and
along essentially the same line.
3. A ray through (or proceeding toward) the first focal point emerges parallel to the axis.

The graphical method of locating an image formed by a thin lens. The colors of the rays are for

identification only; they do not refer to specific colors of ligh

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Example 2-3:
 A concave mirror has a
radius of curvature of 34.0 cm. (a) What is its focal length? (b) If the
Solution:

(b) The image formation by the mirror is determined by the law of reflection and that is
unaffected by the medium in which the light is traveling. The focal length remains 17.0 cm.

Example 2-4:
A lens forms an image of an object. The object is 16.0 cm from the lens. The image is 12.0 cm
from the lens on the same side as the object. (a) What is the focal length of the lens? Is the lens
converging or diverging? (b) If the object is 8.50 mm tall, how tall is the image.
Solution:

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Example 2-5:
A converging lens forms an image of an 8.00-mm-tall real object. The image is 12.0 cm to the
left of the lens, 3.40 cm tall, and erect. What is the focal length of the lens? Where is the object
located?
Solution:

s and s' be the object and image distances, respectively, and let y and y' be the object and image
heights, R radius of curvature, na , nb index of refraction with a and b material respectively.

Sign Rules:
Let’s introduce some general sign rules. These may seem unnecessarily complicated for the
 simple case of an image formed by a plane mirror, but we want to state the rules in a form that
will be applicable to all the situations we will encounter later. These will include image
formation by a plane or spherical reflecting or refracting surface, or by a pair of refracting
surfaces forming a lens. Here are the rules:
1. object distance: When the object is on the same side of the reflecting or refracting surface as
the incoming light, the object distance s is positive; otherwise, it is negative.
2. image distance: When the image is on the same side of the reflecting or refracting surface as
the outgoing light, the image distance s' is positive; otherwise, it is negative.
3. radius of curvature of a spherical surface: When the center of curvature C is on the same side
as the outgoing light, the radius of curvature is positive; otherwise, it is negative.

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Dispersion:
An important property of the index of refraction n is that, for a given material, the index varies
with the wavelength of the light passing through the material as Figure shows. This behavior is
called dispersion. Because n is a function of wavelength, Snell’s law of refraction indicates
that light of different wavelengths is refracted at different angles when incident on a material.

Variation of index of refraction with vacuum wavelength for three materials.

Total Internal Reflection:

An interesting effect called total internal reflection can occur when

light is directed from a medium having a given index of refraction toward one having a lower
index of refraction. We can use Snell’s law of refraction to find the critical angle. When θc =
θ1 , θ2 = 90°

This equation can be used only when n1 is greater than n2. That is, total internal reflection
occurs only when light is directed from a medium of a given index of refraction toward a
medium of lower index of refraction. If n1 were less than n2.

Example 2-6 :
Find the critical angle for an air–water boundary. (Assume the index of refraction of water
is 1.33.)

Solution:
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Optical Fibers:
Another interesting application of total internal reflection is the use of glass or transparent
plastic rods to “pipe” light from one place to another. As indicated in Figure, light is confined
to traveling within a rod, even around curves, as the result of successive total internal
reflections. Such a light pipe is flexible. If thin fibers
are used rather than thick rods. A flexible light
pipe is called an optical fiber.
A practical optical fiber consists of a transparent
core surrounded by a cladding, a material that has
a lower index of refraction than the core.

Wave Optics:
The
Nature of Light
that either was emitted by the object being viewed or emanated from the eyes of the viewer.
According to Einstein’s theory, the energy of a photon is proportional to the frequency of the
electromagnetic wave:

DIFFRACTION
Huygens principle:

E =hf

-34
J · s is called Planck’s constant

❖ When the source and the observer are so far away from the obstructing surface that the
outgoing rays can be considered parallel, it is called Fraunhofer diffraction. When the
source or the observer is relatively close to the obstructing surface, it is Fresnel diffraction.
❖ Diffraction usually involves a continuous distribution of Huygens's wavelets across the area
of an aperture, or a very large number of sources or apertures. But both categories of
phenomena are governed by the same basic physics of superposition and Huygens's
principle, in this section we'll discuss the diffraction pattern formed by plane-wave (parallel
ray) monochromatic light when it emerges from a long, narrow slit. We call the narrow
dimension the width, the diffraction pattern consists of a central bright band, which may be
much broader than the width of the slit, bordered by alternating dark and bright bands with
rapidly decreasing intensity. About 85% of the power in the transmitted beam is in the central
bright band, whose width is found to be inversely proportional to the width of the slit. In
 general, the smaller the width of the slit, the broader the entire diffraction pattern.
❖ The diffraction pattern from a circular aperture of diameter D consists of a central bright
spot, called the Airy disk, and a series of concentric dark and bright rings. Equation gives the
angular radius θ1, of the first dark ring, equal to the angular size of the Airy disk. Diffraction
sets the ultimate limit on resolution (image sharpness) of optical instruments. According to
Rayleigh's criterion, two point objects are just barely resolved when their angular separation
θ is given by :

Figure 2-1 Huygens’s construction for (a) a plane wave propagating to the right and (b) a spherical wave propagating to
the right.
The Diffraction Crating
An array of a large number of parallel slits, all with the same width a and spaced equal distances d
between centers, is called a diffraction grating.

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Applications of Diffraction:
1- The spectrometer is a useful tool in atomic spectroscopy, in which the light from an atom is
analyzed to find the wavelength components.
2- holography, the production of three-dimensional images of objects.

Dispersion:
An important property of the index of refraction n is that, for a given material, the index varies
with the wavelength of the light passing through the material.
 Now
suppose a beam of white light (a combination of all visible wavelengths) is incident on rays that
emerge spread out in a series of colors known as the visible spectrum. These colors, in order of
decreasing wavelength, are red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and violet. Newton showed that each
color has a particular angle of deviation and that the colors can be recombined to form the original
white light.

INTERFERENCE

Interference and Coherent Sources

The term interference refers to any situation in which two or more waves overlap in space or the
initial and reflected waves overlap in the same region of the medium. This overlapping of waves is
called interference.
Interference in two or Three Dimensions
Interference effects are most easily seen when we combine sinusoidal waves with a single
frequency f and wavelength λ. Figure shows a "snapshot" or "freeze-frame" of a single source S1 of
sinusoidal waves and some of the wave fronts produced by this source. The figure shows only the
wave fronts corresponding to wave crests, so the spacing between successive wave fronts is one
wavelength. The material surrounding S1 is uniform, so the wave speed is the same in all
directions, and there is no refraction (and hence no bending of the wave fronts). If the waves are
two-dimensional, like waves on the surface of a liquid, the circles in Fig. represent circular wave
fronts; if the waves propagate in three dimensions, the circles represent spherical wave fronts
spreading away from S1. In optics, sinusoidal waves are characteristic of monochromatic light
(light of a single color) common sources of light do not emit monochromatic. However, there are
several ways to produce approximately monochromatic
13 light. For example, some filters block all
but a very narrow range of wavelengths. By far the most nearly monochromatic source that is
available at present is the laser. An example is the helium-neon laser, which emits red light at 632.8
nm.

Constructive and Destructive Interference

In general, when waves from two or more sources arrive at a point in phase, the amplitude of the
resultant wave is the sum of the amplitudes of the individual waves; the individual waves
reinforce each other. This is called constructive interference. For constructive interference to
occur at P, the path difference r2 – r1 for the two sources must be an integral multiple of the
wavelength λ:

The path difference r2 - rl = -2.50 λ, which is a half-integral number of wavelengths. This

cancellation or partial cancellation of the individual waves called destructive interference, the
.condition for destructive interference in the situation shown in Fig.2.4

F Figure 2-1
igure 2-4Figure 2-4

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Figure 2-4

Two-Source Interference of Light

To visualize the interference pattern, a screen is placed so that the light from S1 and S2 falls on it.
The screen will be most brightly illuminated at points P, where the light waves from the slits
interfere constructively, and will be darkest at points where the interference is destructive. To
simplify the analysis of Young's experiment, we assume that the distance R from the slits to the
screen is so large in comparison to the distance d between the slits that the lines from S1 and S2 to P
are very nearly parallel, as in Fig.2.5. This is usually the case for experiments with light; the slit
separation is typically a few millimeters, while the screen may be a meter or more away. The
difference in path length is then given by:
 Figur
e 2.5

Constructive and Destructive Two-Slit Interference

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Thus the pattern on the screen of Figs. is a succession of bright and dark bands, or interference
fringes, Let ym the distance from the center of the pattern (θ= 0) to the center of the mth bright
band. Let θm be the corresponding value of θ; then

Conditions for interference:

Because the eye cannot follow such rapid changes, no interference effects are observed. Such
light sources are said to be incoherent. To observe interference of waves from two sources, the
following conditions must be met:
■ The sources must be coherent; that is, they must maintain a constant phase with
respect to each other.
■ The sources should be monochromatic; that is, they should be of a single wavelength.
If we assume the rays labeled r1 and r2 are parallel, which is approximately true if L is much
greater than d, then d is given by:

(2-1)

The value of δ determines whether the two waves are in phase when they arrive at point P. If δ
is either zero or some integer multiple of the wavelength, the two waves are in phase at point P
and constructive interference results. Therefore, the condition for bright fringes, or
constructive interference, at point P is :

(2-2)

The number m is called the order number. For constructive interference, the order number is the
same as the number of wavelengths that represents the path difference between the waves from the
two slits. When δ is an odd multiple of λ/ 2, the two waves arriving at point P are 180° out of phase
and give rise to destructive interference. Therefore, the condition for dark fringes, or destructive
interference, at point P is

(2-3)

From the triangle OPQ in Figure

EXAMPLE 2-7:
A radio station operating at a frequency of 1500 kHz = 1.5 X 10 6 Hz (near the top end of the
AM broadcast band) has two identical vertical dipole antennas spaced 400 m apart, oscillating
in phase. At distances much greater than 400 m, in what directions is the intensity greatest in
the resulting radiation pattern?
Solution:
Since the resultant wave is detected at distances much greater than d = 400 m, we give the
directions of the intensity maxima, the values of θ for which the path difference is zero or a
whole number of wavelengths. The wavelength is λ= c/f = 200 m. with m = 0, +-l, and+- 2, the
intensity maxima are given by
EXAMPLE 2-8:
‫׳‬
A light source emits visible light of two wavelengths λ= 430 nm and λ510 = nm. The source is
used in a double slit interference experiment in which L=m and d= 0.025 mm. Find the
separation distance between the third-order bright fringes for the two wavelengths.

SOLUTION
Evaluate the separation distance between the two fringes:

H.W
Q1. In a two-slit interference experiment, the slits are 0.200 mm apart, and the screen is at a
distance of 1.00 m. The third bright fringe (not counting the central bright fringe straight ahead
from the slits) is found to be displaced 9.49 mm from the central fringe. Find the wavelength of the
light used.
Q2. A photon of green light has a wavelength of 520 nm. Find the photon's frequency, magnitude
of momentum, and energy. Express the energy in both joules and electron volts.