LIGHT AND OPTICS

14
The picture on the left side is an
experimental study about the dark side of
light wherein artificial lightning was
conducted to probe its harmful effects to
the ecosystem. The experiment was done
in Berlin where Researchers growing
increasingly concerned about the problem.
Several field studies had been done by
monitoring on how plant and animal
communities respond to both direct light
and the more diffuse unnatural luminance
of the night sky, known as sky glow.

In mini-ecosystems in the Netherlands, researchers test

the effects of artificial light. (Source: https://www.nature
.com)

14.1 The Nature of Light

What is light? This question has been asked by humans for centuries, but there
was no answer until electricity and magnetism were unified into electromagnetism, as
explained by the Maxwell’s equation.

Electromagnetic radiation is one of the many ways that energy travels through space. Light is
an electromagnetic radiation (or wave) of a wavelength that is visible to the human eye
(visible light region). When emitted or absorbed, it exhibits particle properties. Albert Einstein
proposed this model that light sometimes behaved as particles (called photons or quanta) of
electromagnetic energy. The wave-like and particle-like properties of light are referred to as
the dual nature of light. Interference and diffraction demonstrate wave-like behaviour, while
emission and absorption of photons demonstrate the particle-like behaviour of light.

The speed of light in vacuum is a fundamental physical constant approximately equivalent to

. The speed of light depends upon the medium in which it is travelling.

14.2 Properties of Light

There are three primary properties of light namely intensity or brightness,

wavelength or frequency, and polarization or direction of the wave propagation.

The intensity of light refers to the strength or amount of light produced by a specific lamp
source. It is measured as the rate at which light energy is delivered to a unit of surface area.
Brightness is the relative intensity as perceived by the average human eye.

302
The wavelength of light is the distance between repeating units of a propagating wave of a
given frequency. However, the frequency of a light wave is related to its color. The
relationship between the wavelength and frequency of light is given by the equation

(14-1)

where is in unit meter (m), is in unit m/s, and in or Hertz ( ). Wavelength ( ) and
frequency ( ) are inversely proportional, that is, the shorter the wavelength, the higher the
frequency, and vice versa.

Laser light is effectively monochromatic, meaning its light is described by only one frequency.
However, polychromatic light is described by many different frequencies. White light is an
example of polychromatic light.

A light wave propagating forward can vibrate in the vertical plane, horizontal plane, or in an
intermediate direction. Ordinarily, a ray of light consists of a mixture of waves vibrating in all
directions perpendicular to its line of propagation. If the vibration remains constant in
direction, the light is said to be polarized. However, a light wave that is vibrating in more than
one plane is referred to as unpolarised light. The process of transforming unpolarized light into
polarized light is known as polarization of light.

14.3 The Propagation of Light

Propagation of light refers to the manner in which an electromagnetic wave

transfers its energy from one point to another. Two main processes generally occur when light
passes between boundaries from one medium to another namely reflection and refraction.

Reflection of Light

Reflected waves are simply those waves that are neither transmitted nor absorbed,
but are reflected from the surface of the medium they encounter. When a wave approaches a
reflecting surface, like a mirror, the wave that strikes the surface is called the incident wave,
and the one that bounces back is called the reflected wave.

Law of Reflection

Consider a light-ray incident on a plane

mirror, as shown in Figure 14.1. The law of
reflection states “that the incident ray, the
reflected ray, and the normal to the surface of
the mirror all lie in the same plane.”
Furthermore, the angle of reflection is
equal to the angle of incidence . Both angles
are measured with respect to the normal of
the mirror.
Figure 14.1: Law of Reflection.
(Source :http://farside.ph.utexas.edu)
The law of reflection is represented by the equation

(14-2)

303
Refraction of Light

Refraction is the bending of light when it

enters media of different index of refraction as shown
in Figure . As light passes from one transparent
medium to another, it changes speed and bends.

The index of refraction is defined as the speed of

light in vacuum divided by the speed of light in the
medium . The equation is given by

(14-3)

Figure 14.2: Law of Refraction.

Law of Refraction or Snell’s Law
(Source :http://farside.ph.utexas.edu)

The law of refraction, which is generally known as Snell's law, governs the
behaviour of light-rays as they propagate across a sharp interface between two transparent
dielectric media. Snell’s law was expressed in symbol as

(14-4)

where is the index of refraction of the first medium, is the index of refraction of the
second medium, is the angle of incident, and is the angle of refraction.

When entering a medium of higher refractive index (denser medium), light twists inward with
respect to the normal. However, light twists outward or away from the normal if light enters a
medium of lower refractive index (rarer medium). Lastly, light oriented along the normal does
not bend, regardless of the materials. These phenomena are illustrated in Figure 14.3a, 14.3b,
and 14.3c respectively.

Figure 14.3: (a) A ray entering a material of larger index of refraction bends toward the normal. (b) A
ray entering a material of smaller index of refraction bends away from the normal. (c) A ray oriented
along the normal does not bend, regardless of the materials. Source: (Young & Freedman, Univ. Physics
with Modern Physics 13th Ed.)

304
Sample Problem

In figure below, a material is water and material is glass with index of refraction 1.52. The
incident ray makes an angle of 60 with the normal; find the directions of the reflected and
refracted rays.

Figure 14.4: Reflection and refraction of light

passing from water to glass. (Source: Young &
Freedman, Univ. Physics with Modern Physics
13th Ed.)

Solution

According to Eq. (14-2), the angle of reflected ray makes with the normal is the same as
that of the incident ray, so

To find the direction of the refracted ray we use Snell’s law, Eq. (14-4):

( ) ( )

The second material has a larger refractive index than the first, as in Figure 14.3a. Hence
the refracted ray is bent toward the normal and .

14.4 Total Internal Reflection

When light is incident to a medium of

lesser refractive index (less dense), the ray is bent
away from the normal, so the exit angle is greater
than the incident angle. Such reflection is commonly
called “internal reflection”. At some point of time, the
exit angle will then be approaching for some
critical incident angle , and for angles greater than
the critical angle, there will be Total Internal
Reflection. To illustrate total internal reflection, see
Figure 14.5.

We can determine the critical angle for two given

media or materials by setting . This implies
Figure 14.5: Total Internal
that in Snell’s Law. Therefore we
Reflection. (Source: Young &
have Freedman, Univ. Physics with Modern
Physics 13th Ed.)
(14-5)

305
Note that the total internal reflection will occur if the angle of incidence is larger than or
equal to .

Sample Problems

1. Consider a glass with index of refraction n = 1.52. If light propagating within this glass
encounters a glass–air interface, what is the critical angle?

Solution

By using Eq. (14-5),

( ) ( )

2. A ray of light is incident on a surface of a prism and emerges at the second surface
such that the angle of refraction is as shown in the figure below. Derive the expression
for the index of refraction of the prism in terms of the angle of incidence .

Solution

We will apply Snell’s law at a,

( ) ( )

We then apply Snell’s law at c,

( ) ( )

Express in terms of ,

( )

Substitute eqn. (3) to eqn. (2): ( ) √

√ √ ( )

Substitute eqn. (4) to eqn. (1): √

√

14.5 Geometric Optics

How do magnifying lenses work? At what distance from the object being examined do
they provide the sharpest view?

To understand images and image formation, all we need are the ray model of light, the laws of
reflection and refraction, and some simple geometry and trigonometry. The key role played by
geometry in our analysis is the reason for the name geometric optics that is given to the study
of how light rays form images.

306
We define an object as anything at which light radiates. This light could be emitted by the
object itself if the object is self-luminous, or light could be emitted by another source and then
reflected from the object. We can often represent an object as an arrow or candle. The
distance from the head to the tail of an arrow is called its height. Distances are measured from
the object of the image point or from any point to the vertex, or the intersection between the
optic axis of a reflecting or a refracting surface.

When light rays that come from a point on an object are deflected by reflection or refraction,
or both, so they converge toward or appear to diverge from a point called the image point. If
the outgoing rays don’t really pass through the image point, we call the image a virtual image.
If the outgoing rays do pass through the image point, the resulting image is a real image,
image that can be projected on screen.

The ratio of the image height to object height, in any image-forming situation is called the
lateral magnification. Although it is termed as magnification, the image formed by a mirror or
lens maybe larger than, smaller than, or the same size as the object.

There are two methods in solving image-forming problems; analytic and graphical methods.
Analytic method uses the object-image relation. The equations are summarized in Table 1
including the sign rules. It is applicable for any image-forming situations. Graphical method for
spherical mirrors uses principal-ray diagrams. Both methods are also used in thin lenses
problems.

Table 14.1: Summary of equations for reflecting and refracting surfaces.

Object and image Lateral magnification
distances

Plane mirrors

Spherical mirrors

Plane refracting surfaces

Spherical refracting surfaces

where is the height of the object and is the image height.

Sign Convention:

1. The distance is positive if the object is on the same side of the reflecting or
refracting surface as the incoming light (real object); otherwise, it is negative
(virtual object).
2. The image distance is positive if the image is on the same side of the reflecting
or refracting surface as the outgoing light (real image); otherwise, it is negative
(virtual image).
3. The radius of curvature is positive when the center of curvature is on the same
side as the outgoing light; otherwise, it is negative.

307
 4. If the lateral magnification is positive, the image is erect or upright; if is
negative, the image is inverted.

Graphical Methods for Mirrors

We can determine the properties of the image by a simple graphical method. This
consists of finding the point of intersection of a few particular rays that diverge from a point of
the object and are reflected by the mirror. Four rays that we can usually draw easily:

1. The parallel ray, drawn parallel to the axis. After reflection, this ray passes through
the focal point of a concave mirror or appears to come from (virtual) focal point of a
convex mirror.
2. The focal ray, drawn through (or proceeding toward) the focal point . This ray is
reflected parallel to the axis.
3. The radial ray, drawn through or away from the center of the curvature . This ray
intersects the surface normally and is reflected back along its original path.
4. The central ray, drawn to the vertex . It is reflected forming equal angles with the
optic axis.

Images formed by reflection in plane, convex, and concave mirrors are shown in Figure 14.6.

Figure 14.6: Images formed by reflection. (a)

Plane mirror. (b) Convex mirror. (c) Concave
mirror. (Source: https://www.sarthaks.com)

Sample Problem

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?

308
Solution

If we sketch the problem, it looks like this

(a) Both the object and the image are on the concave (reflective) side of the mirror, so
both and are positive; we have and . We solve the radius of
curvature by using the equation under spherical mirrors (see Table 14.1):

The focal length of the mirror is

(b) The lateral magnification is

Because is negative, the image is inverted.

Solving the height of the image:

( )( )

The height of the image is 30 times the height

of the object.

Images formed by refraction in convex Figure 14.7: Image formed by refraction in a

convex hemispherical mirror. (Source: Source:
hemispherical and concave hemispherical
Young & Freedman, Univ. Physics with Modern
surface are shown in Figures 14.7 and 14.8. Physics 13th Ed.)

309
2. A small tropical fish is at the center of a water-filled, spherical fish bowl 28.0 cm in
diameter. (a) Find the apparent position and magnification of the fish to an observer
outside the bowl. The effect of the thin walls of the bowl may be ignored. (b) A friend
advised the owner of the bowl to keep it out of direct sunlight to avoid blinding the fish,
which might swim into the focal point of the parallel rays from the sun. Is the focal point
actually within the bowl?

Solution

We will use equation of spherical refracting surfaces in Table 14.1 to solve for the
apparent position and magnification of the fish to an observer outside the bowl. Take
note that the light comes from the fish to the person’s eye. Then identify the given
variables:

( ) ( ).

(a) The apparent position of the fish to an observer is:

The magnification is
( )( )
( )( )

(b) The focal point is at the image location when s → ∞, then, . This time,
( ), ( ) and . Then,

( )( )

is greater than the diameter of the bowl, so the surface facing the sunlight does not
focus the sunlight to a point inside the bowl. The focal point is outside the bowl and
there is no danger to the fish.

14.6 Thin Lenses

The most familiar and widely used optical device

(after the plane mirror) is the lens. A lens is an optical system
with two refracting surfaces. The simplest lens has two
spherical surfaces close enough together that we can neglect
the distance between them (the thickness of the lens); we call
this a thin lens.

A thin lens has two focal points. As an example, two focal

points of a converging lens are shown in Figure 14.9. Focal Figure 14.9: Properties of a
point is sometimes called object focal point and is the converging lens. (Source:
image focal point, and the distance measured from the center Young & Freedman, Univ.
of the lens is the focal length. The central horizontal line is Physics with Modern Physics
13th Ed.)
310
called the optic axis and is where the two center of curvature of the two spherical surfaces lie.
The two focal lengths are always equal for thin lenses, even when the two sides have different
radius of curvature, and is labelled by .

An equation was derived to approximately show the relationship between the image and
object distance, and foal length. This is given by

(14-6)

where is the distance of the object from the center of the lens and is the distance of the
image from the center of the lens. The same situation applies to the lateral magnification of
thin lenses with that of reflecting surfaces in Table 14.1.

Converging Lenses

Like a concave mirror, a converging lens can form an image of an extended object. In
Figure 14.9, when a beam of parallel rays passes through the lens, the rays converge to a
point and form a real image at that point. This lens is called a converging lens. Similarly,
rays passing through point emerge from the lens as a beam of parallel rays. The focal
length of a converging lens is defined to be a positive quantity, and such a lens is also called a
positive lens.

Diverging Lenses

Figure 14.10 shows a diverging lens; the

beam of parallel rays incident on this lens diverges
after refraction. The focal length of a diverging lens is
a negative quantity, and the lens is also called a
negative lens.

The focal points of a negative lens are reversed,

relative to those of a positive lens. The second focal
point, , of a negative lens is the point from which
rays that are originally parallel to the axis appear to
diverge after refraction.

To find the final image formed by two or more lenses, Figure 14.10: Focal points of a
consider first the lens near the object and find the diverging lens. (Source: Young &
image formed by that lens. This image now serves as Freedman, Univ. Physics with Modern
Physics 13th Ed.)
the object of the next lens, and so on. The final image
is the one formed by the last lens.

14.7 Graphical Methods for Lenses

We can also determine the properties of the image by using a simple graphical method
very similar to the one we used for spherical mirrors. The method consists of finding the point
of intersection of a few special rays, called principal rays, which diverge from a point of the
object that is NOT on the optic axis. This intersection determines the position and size of the
image. The principal rays whose paths are easy to trace for lenses are shown in Figures 14.11
and 14.12. These are the principal rays:

1. The parallel ray, drawn parallel to the axis. This ray is bent through the second focal
point of the lens.

311
 2. The central ray, drawn through the center (the vertex) of the lens. This ray is
undeflected.
3. The focal ray, drawn through the focal point. This ray emerges parallel to the axis.

Figure 14.11: Principal rays for converging lens. Figure 14.12: Principal rays for diverging lens.

14.8 The Lensmaker’s Equation

Equation 14-6 and magnification equation in Table 14.1 apply to both positive and
negative lenses. Here’s an important observation: Any lens that is thicker at its center than at
its edges is a converging lens with positive ; and any lens that is thicker at its edges than at
its center is a diverging lens with negative (provided that the lens has a greater index of
refraction than the surrounding material). We can prove this using the lensmaker’s equation
that is expressed as

( )( ) (14-7)

In the process of re-deriving the relationship among object distance, image distance, and focal
length for a thin lens, we have also derived an expression for the focal length of a lens in
terms of its index of refraction and the radii of curvature and of its surfaces.

We use all our sign rules from Section 14.4 with equation (14-7). For example, in Figure
Figure 14.13, , , and are positive, but is negative.

Figure 14.13: A converging thin lens with a positive focal length ƒ.

312
Sample Problems

1. Suppose the absolute values of the radii of curvature of the lens surfaces in Fig. 14.13 are
both equal to 10 cm and the index of refraction of the glass is . What is the focal
length of the lens?

Solution

The lens in Fig. 14.13 is double convex. The center of curvature of the first surface ( ) is
on the outgoing side of the lens, so is positive, and the center of curvature of the
second surface ( ) is on the incoming side, so is negative. Hence, and
. Then from Eq. (14-7)

( )( )

2. A beam of parallel rays spreads out after passing through a thin diverging lens, as if the
rays all came from a point 20.0 cm from the center of the lens. You want to use this lens
to form an erect, virtual image that is the height of the object. (a) Where should the
object be placed? Where will the image be? (b) Draw a principal-ray diagram.

Solution

The result with parallel rays shows that the focal length is . We want the lateral
magnification to be (positive because the image is to be erect).

(a) From equations in Table 14.1,

Inserting to Eq. (14-6) and solve for the object distance :

( )

The object should be 40 cm from the lens. The image distance will be

The image distance is negative, so the object

and image are on the same side of the lens.

(b) Figure in the right is a principal-ray diagram

for this problem, with the rays numbered as in
figure.

313