Concave lens

The passage of light through lenses. The concave lenses diverges a beam of light from a distant source. The convex and compound lenses focus light from a distant source to a point. The distance between the focus and the lens is called the focal length. The shorter the focus, the more powerful the lens. A convex (or converging) lens causes light rays to refract inwards. A concave (or diverging lens) causes light rays to refract outwards. Convex lenses are used to correct long-sightedness and concave lenses to correct short-sightedness.Lens that possesses at
least one surface that curves inwards. It is a diverging lens, spreading out those light rays that have been refracted through it. A concave lens is thinner at its centre than at its edges, and is used to correct short-sightedness (myopia).After light rays have passed through the lens, they

appear to come from a point called the principal focus. The distance between the principle focus and the lens is the focal length. A more curved lens will have a smaller focal length and will be a more powerful lens. The image formed by a concave lens is virtual, upright, and smaller than the object, and it cannot be projected onto a screen. The lens formula is used to work out the position and nature of an image formed by a lens: 1/u + 1/v = 1/f, where u and v are the distances of the object and image from the lens, respectively, and f is the focal length of the lens

Convex lens
The passage of light through lenses. The concave lenses diverges a beam of light from a distant source. The convex and compound lenses focus light from a distant source to a point. The distance between the focus and the lens is called the focal length. The shorter the focus, the more powerful the lens.A convex (or converging) lens causes light rays to refract inwards. A concave (or diverging lens) causes light rays to refract outwards. Convex lenses are used to correct long-sightedness and concave lenses to correct shortsightedness.Lens that possesses at least one surface that curves outwards. It causes light to deviate inward, bringing the rays of light to a focus, and is thus called a converging lens. A convex lens is thicker at its centre than at its edges, and is used to correct longsightedness (hypermetropism).The distance between the lens and the point at which all the rays of light converge (the focal point) is called the focal length. The centre of the lens is known as the optical centre.At close distance a convex lens forms a magnified virtual image of an object. At further distances the image formed is real, and it can be focused and projected onto a screen behind the lens. The real image formed is upside down, and it can be smaller than, the same size as, or larger than the object depending upon how far the object is from the lens. Ray diagrams are used to show the position (distance from the lens), size (enlarged or diminished), and nature (real, virtual, inverted, or upright) of an image formed. The lens formula is used to work out the position and nature of an image formed by a lens: 1/u +

1/v = 1/f, where u and v are the distances of the object and image from the lens, respectively, and f is the focal length of the lens.

Defects
There are other lens defects such as flare and vignetting. Flare results from internal reflections within the lens and causes images to be "washed out", or causes bright spots to appear when a bright light (e.g. the sun) is in the picture. Vignetting is when the lens cuts off light in the corners of the image. Both are usually improved by stopping down the lens.

Prism
In optics, a prism is a transparent optical element with flat, polished surfaces that refract light. The exact angles between the surfaces depend on the application. The traditional geometrical shape is that of a triangular prism with a triangular base and rectangular sides, and in colloquial use "prism" usually refers to this type. Some types of optical prism are not in fact in the shape of geometric prisms. Prisms are typically made out of glass, but can be made from any material that is transparent to the wavelengths for which they are designed.A prism can be used to break light up into its constituent spectral colors (the colors of the rainbow). Prisms can also be used to reflect light, or to split light into components with different polarizations.

Color temperature is a characteristic of visible light that has important

applications in lighting, photography, videography, publishing, and other fields. The color temperature of a light source is determined by comparing its chromaticity with that of an ideal black-body radiator. The temperature (usually measured in kelvins (K)) at which the heated black-body radiator matches the color of the light source is that source's color temperature; for a black body source, it is directly related to Planck's law and Wien's displacement law. Higher color temperatures (5000 K or more) are "cool" (greenblue) colors, and lower color temperatures (27003000 K) "warm" (yellowred) colors.

Types of lightning
Cloud-to-cloud lightning, Victoria, Australia Cloud to Ground Lightning Some lightning strikes exhibit particular characteristics; scientists and the general public have given names to these various types of lightning. The lightning that is most-

commonly observed is streak lightning. This is nothing more than the return stroke, the visible part of the lightning stroke. The majority of strokes occur inside a cloud so we do not see most of the individual return strokes during a thunderstorm. Cloud-to-ground lightning This is the best known and second most common type of lightning. Of all the different types of lightning, it poses the greatest threat to life and property since it strikes the ground. Cloud-to-ground lightning is a lightning discharge between a cumulonimbus cloud and the ground. It is initiated by a leader stroke moving down from the cloud (see Leader formation above). Bead lightning Bead lightning is a type of cloud-to-ground lightning which appears to break up into a string of short, bright sections, which last longer than the usual discharge channel. It is relatively rare. Several theories have been proposed to explain it; one is that the observer sees portions of the lightning channel end on, and that these portions appear especially bright. Another is that, in bead lightning, the width of the lightning channel varies; as the lightning channel cools and fades, the wider sections cool more slowly and remain visible longer, appearing as a string of beads. Ribbon lightning Ribbon lightning occurs in thunderstorms with high cross winds and multiple return strokes. The wind will blow each successive return stroke slightly to one side of the previous return stroke, causing a ribbon effect. Staccato lightning Staccato lightning is a cloud to ground lightning strike which is a short-duration stroke that appears as a single very bright flash and often has considerable branching.[32] Forked lightning Forked lightning is a name, not in formal usage, for cloud-to-ground lightning that exhibits branching called forked lighting Ground-to-cloud lightning Ground-to-cloud lightning is a lightning discharge between the ground and a cumulonimbus cloud initiated by an upward-moving leader stroke. It is much rarer than cloud-to-ground lightning.[citation needed]

Cloud-to-cloud lightning Multiple paths of cloud-to-cloud lightning, Swifts Creek, Australia Lightning discharges may occur between areas of cloud without contacting the ground. When it occurs between two separate clouds it is known as inter-cloud lightning and when it occurs between areas of differing electric potential within a single cloud, it is known as intra-cloud lightning. Intra-cloud lightning is the most frequently occurring type. These are most common between the upper anvil portion and lower reaches of a given thunderstorm. This lightning can sometimes be observed at great distances at night as socalled "heat lightning". In such instances, the observer may see only a flash of light without hearing any thunder. The "heat" portion of the term is a folk association between locally experienced warmth and the distant lightning flashes. Sheet lightning Sheet lightning is an informally applied name to cloud-to-cloud lightning that exhibits a diffuse brightening of the surface of a cloud caused by the actual discharge path being hidden. Heat lightning Heat lightning occurs too far away for the thunder to be heard. This occurs because the lightning occurs very far away and the sound waves dissipate before they reach the observer.[33] Dry lightning Dry lightning is a term in the United States for lightning that occurs with no precipitation at the surface. This type of lightning is the most common natural cause of wildfires.[34] Pyrocumulus clouds produce lightning for the same reason that it is produced by cumulonimbus clouds. When the higher levels of the atmosphere are cooler, and the surface is warmed to extreme temperatures due to a wildfire, volcano, etc, convection will occur, and the convection produces lightning. Therefore, fire can beget dry lightning through the development of more dry thunderstorms which cause more fires. Rocket lightning It is a form of cloud discharge, generally horizontal and at cloud base, with a luminous channel appearing to advance through the air with visually resolvable speed, often intermittently.[35]

Positive lightning Positive lightning is a type of lightning strike that comes from apparently clear or only slightly cloudy skies; they are also known as "bolts from the blue" because of this trait. Unlike the more common negative lightning, the positive charge is carried by the top of the clouds (generally anvil clouds) rather than the ground. The leader forms in the sky travelling horizontally for several miles before veering to down to meet the negatively charged streamer rising from below. Positive lightning makes up less than 5% of all lightning strikes.[36] Because of the much greater distance they must travel before discharging, positive lightning strikes typically carry six to ten times the charge and voltage difference of a negative bolt and last around ten times longer.[37] During a positive lightning strike, huge quantities of ELF and VLF radio waves are generated.[38]

Ball lightning A photo purportedly depicting natural ball lightning, taken in 1987 by a student in Nagano, Japan. Ball lightning may be an atmospheric electrical phenomenon, the physical nature of which is still controversial. The term refers to reports of luminous, usually spherical objects which vary from pea-sized to several meters in diameter.[42] It is sometimes associated with thunderstorms, but unlike lightning flashes, which last only a fraction of a second, ball lightning reportedly lasts many seconds. Ball lightning has been described by eyewitnesses but rarely recorded by meteorologists.[43] Scientific data on natural ball lightning is scarce owing to its infrequency and unpredictability. The presumption of its existence is based on reported public sightings, and has therefore produced somewhat inconsistent findings. Laboratory experiments have produced effects that are visually similar to reports of ball lightning, but at present, it is unknown whether these are actually related to any naturally occurring phenomenon. One theory is that ball lightning may be created when lightning strikes silicon in soil, a phenomenon which has been duplicated in laboratory testing.[44] Given inconsistencies and the lack of reliable data, the true nature of ball lightning is still unknown[45] and was often regarded as a fantasy or a hoax.[46] Reports of the phenomenon were dismissed for lack of physical evidence, and were often regarded the same way as UFO sightings.[45] One theory that may account for this wider spectrum of observational evidence is the idea of combustion inside the low-velocity region of spherical vortex breakdown of a natural vortex (e.g., the 'Hill's spherical vortex').[47] Natural ball lightning appears infrequently and unpredictably, and is therefore rarely (if ever truly) photographed. However, several purported photos and videos exist. Perhaps the most famous story of ball lightning unfolded when 18th-century physicist Georg Wilhelm Richmann installed a lightning rod in his home and was struck in the head - and killed - by a "pale blue ball of fire."[48]

Upper-atmospheric lighting Reports by scientists of strange lightning phenomena about storms date back to at least 1886. However, it is only in recent years that fuller investigations have been made. This has sometimes been called megalightning.[49][50]

1)The Refraction of Light Why Light Rays Bend at the Interface of Materials
There an analogy that vividly indicates why a beam of light would bend at the interface of materials in which light travels at different speeds. Imagine a column of soldiers marching twelve abreast on concrete whose path is going to take them into a field in which there is mud. Suppose the column of soldiers crosses the edge of the concrete at angle different from the perpendicular. The first soldiers to cross the edge of the concrete into the mud will be slowed down compared to the other soldiers still marching on the concrete. A rank of soldiers pivots as a result of the slower marching of those at one end of the rank who are marching in the mud compared to those at the other end who are still marching on the concrete. All of the turning of the rank occurs between the time the first soldier and last soldier in a rank hit the mud. This is illustrated below. In the extreme case in which no progress at all can be made in the mud, one end of the rank is held fixed and the other end procedes until it is stopped by the mud. In this extreme case the rank assumes the position of interface and the deviation of its normal from the normal of the interface is zero. Consider the diagram that shows what happens between the time that one end of a rank touches the new slower media and the time when the other end of the rand enters the new media. In the diagram the angles ABC and CDA are supposed to be right angles. The angle of the rank with the horizontal in the diagram before encountering the slower medium is . In the slower medium the angle is

2) Geometric Optics
An optical image is formed when all the rays from a point of an object are brought back together at a point. This is shown in the figure below. The figure shows two of the many, many rays that emanate from the tip of the tree diverging until they impinge upon the lens. The lens refracts the rays changing their direction slightly. The refracted rays then come together at a point behind the lens. The same thing happens with the rays coming from every point on the front of the object tree. The collection of points where the divergent rays from all the points of the object tree come back together is the optical image. 3) The Aberrations of a Lens System The early workers in optics must have been aware of the distortions in the image that a lens or lens system could produce. However it was not until the German mathematician Ludwig von Seidel worked out and named the various distortions that the phenomenon of lens abberation was systematized. In optics there are relationships that involve the sine

function of some angle, say sin(). The sine and cost functions can be expressed as infinite series; i.e., The approximation that sin() is equal to is called the first order approximation and corresponds to geometric optic theory. If this approximation were exact there would be no distortion in the images produced by lenses. Ludwig von Seidel used the approximation that sin() is equal to 3/3!, which is called a third order approximation. Seidel classified the abberations of a spherical lens into five categories:

Spherical Abberation: Coma: Astigmatism: Curvature of Field: Distortion:

To Seidel's five abberation there is usually added a sixth, Chromatic abberation, which arises from an entirely different source than does Seidel's five.

lens
A lens is an optical device with perfect or approximate axial symmetry which transmits and refracts light, converging or diverging the beam. A simple lens is a lens consisting of a single optical element. A compound lens is an array of simple lenses (elements) with a common axis; the use of multiple elements allows more optical aberrations to be corrected than is possible with a single element. Manufactured lenses are typically made of glass or transparent plastic. Elements which refract electromagnetic radiation outside the visual spectrum are also called lenses: for instance, a microwave lens can be made from paraffin wax. Types of lens Lenses are classified by the curvature of the two optical surfaces. A lens is biconvex (or double convex, or just convex) if both surfaces are convex. If both surfaces have the same radius of curvature, the lens is equiconvex. A lens with two concave surfaces is biconcave (or just concave). If one of the surfaces is flat, the lens is plano-convex or plano-concave depending on the curvature of the other surface. A lens with one convex and one concave side is convex-concave or meniscus. It is this type of lens that is most commonly used in corrective lenses. If the lens is biconvex or plano-convex, a collimated or parallel beam of light travelling parallel to the lens axis and passing through the lens will be converged (or focused) to a spot on the axis, at a certain distance behind the lens (known as the focal length). In this case, the lens is called a positive or converging lens.

Concave
Lens that possesses at least one surface that curves inwards. It is a diverging lens, spreading out those light rays that have been refracted through it. A concave lens is thinner at its centre than at its edges, and is used to correct short-sightedness (myopia). After light rays have passed through the lens, they appear to come from a point called the principal focus. The distance between the principle focus and the lens is the focal length. A more curved lens will have a smaller focal length and will be a more powerful lens. The image formed by a concave lens is virtual, upright, and smaller than the object, and it cannot be projected onto a screen. The lens formula is used to work out the position and nature of an image formed by a lens: 1/u + 1/v = 1/f, where u and v are the distances of the object and image from the lens, respectively, and f is the focal length of the lens. Convex The most commonly-seen type of lens is the convex lens. This type of lens is often used for close examination of small objects, such as rare stamps or coins. Children often use such a lens to concentrate sunlight to burn small pinholes in pieces of paper. That result by itself shows the power of concentrated light from the sun. But there must be more to it than that. Let's see if we can define the behavior of lenses a bit more specifically. We will assume that the lens is made of glass with a nominal index of refraction of 1.50. The rays are parallel as they approach the lens. As each ray reaches the glass surface, it refracts according to the effective angle of incidence at that point of the lens. (See the pages on refraction for the definitions and descriptions of these terms.) Since the surface is curved, different rays of light will refract to different degrees; the outermost rays will refract the most.As the light rays exit the glass, they once again encounter a curved surface, and refract again. This further bends the rays of light towards the centerline of the lens (which coincides with the green light ray in the figure). Calculation of focal length The focal length of an optical system is a measure of how strongly it converges (focuses) or diverges (defocuses) light. For an optical system in air, it is the distance over which initially collimated rays are brought to a focus. A system with a shorter focal length has greater optical power than one with a long focal length; that is, it bends the rays more strongly, bringing them to a focus in a shorter distance.In telescopy and most photography, longer focal length or lower optical power is associated with larger magnification of distant objects, and a narrower angle of view. Conversely, shorter focal length or higher optical power is associated with a wider angle of view. In microscopy, on the other hand, a short objective lens focal length leads to higher magnification.Light is falling on the planar side of a thin planar convex glass lens. The curvature radius |r| is 50cm. I have to calculate the distance of the focal point to the curved surface of the lens, which to my understanding is the focal length, since it's a thin lens. Additionally I am

supposed to only look at rays that are close to the axis, and I'm not sure what exactly that means.

Lens fringes
Thermal lens fringes are obtained by using MachZehnder interferometer on the nileblue/ethanol solution. S-Transform algorithm is used firstly to obtain local phase and refractive index change distributions by analyzing the thermal lens fringes. In the result, it was seen that this method showed a better result than that obtained by continuous wavelet transform in the previous work mentioned in the literature, since the frequency resolution and filtration effect of the S-transform method are better than other algorithms. Prism (optics) In optics, a prism is a transparent optical element with flat, polished surfaces that refract light. The exact angles between the surfaces depend on the application. The traditional geometrical shape is that of a triangular prism with a triangular base and rectangular sides, and in colloquial use "prism" usually refers to this type. Some types of optical prism are not in fact in the shape of geometric prisms. Prisms are typically made out of glass, but can be made from any material that is transparent to the wavelengths for which they are designed.A prism can be used to break light up into its constituent spectral colors (the colors of the rainbow). Prisms can also be used to reflect light, or to split light into components with different polarizations.

How prisms work

Light changes speed as it moves from one medium to another (for example, from air into the glass of the prism). This speed change causes the light to be refracted and to enter the new medium at a different angle (Huygens principle). The degree of bending of the light's path depends on the angle that the incident beam of light makes with the surface, and on the ratio between the refractive indices of the two media (Snell's law). The refractive index of many materials (such as glass) varies with the wavelength or color of the light used, a phenomenon known as dispersion. This causes light of different colors to be refracted differently and to leave the prism at different angles, creating an effect similar to a rainbow. This can be used to separate a beam of white light into its constituent spectrum of colors. Prisms will generally disperse light over a much larger frequency bandwidth than diffraction gratings, making them useful for broad-spectrum spectroscopy. Furthermore, prisms do not suffer from complications arising from overlapping spectral orders, which all gratings have. Prisms are sometimes used for the internal reflection at the surfaces rather than for dispersion. If light inside the prism hits one of the surfaces at a sufficiently steep angle, total internal reflection occurs and all of the light is reflected. This makes a prism a useful substitute for a mirror in some situations.

Types of prisms

Dispersive prisms Dispersive prisms are used to break up light into its constituent spectral colors because the refractive index depends on frequency; the white light entering the prism is a mixture of different frequencies, each of which gets bent slightly differently. Blue light is slowed down more than red light and will therefore be bent more than red light.

Triangular prism Abbe prism Pellin-Broca prism Amici prism

Grisms (grating prisms) Diffraction gratings may be replicated onto prisms to form grating prisms, called "grisms". A transmission grism is a useful component in an astronomical telescope, allowing observation of stellar spectra. A reflection grating replicated onto a prism allows light to diffract inside the prism medium, which increases the dispersion by the ratio of refractive index of that medium to that of air.

Polarizing prisms There are also polarizing prisms which can split a beam of light into components of varying polarization. These are typically made of a birefringent crystalline material.

Nicol prism Wollaston prism Nomarski prism - a variant of the Wollastom prism with advantages in microscopy Rochon prism Snarmont prism GlanFoucault prism GlanTaylor prism GlanThompson prism