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OPTICS

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55 views2 pages

OPTICS

Uploaded by

tamayojasminfaith02
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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OPTICS light encounters a flat reflecting surface the angle

of incidence of a ray is equal to the angle of


*study of the behavior of light, and its interactions reflection.
w/ matter. 2. The law of refraction, experimentally
*branch of physics that deals with the generation, determined by Willebrord Snell in 1621,
propagation, and detection of light. explains the manner in which a light ray changes
direction when it passes across a planar boundary
It studies the properties and behavior of light, from one material to another.
including how it interacts with matter and what
instruments are used to detect it. From the laws of reflection and refraction:
-One can determine the behavior of optical
"optics" originated from the Ancient Greek word devices such as telescopes and microscopes.
(optike), which means "look, appearance" and "of -One can trace the paths of different rays (known
or relating to seeing, sight or vision." as ‘ray tracing’) through the optical system.

How images can be formed?


IMPORTANCE +Their relative orientation, and their
magnification. This is in fact the most important
In physics, Optics is essential in understanding use of geometrical optics to this day: the behavior
how humans visualize the world. Studying the of complicated optical systems can be determined
behavior of light allowed humans to construct by studying the paths of all rays through the
and use optical devices, such as telescopes, system.
microscopes, and cameras. These devices opened
more opportunities to learn about other fields of
study.

Optics also paved the way for producing


groundbreaking inventions (e.g., lasers and
holography), some of which are used in visual 2. PHYSICAL OPTICS
communication and medical techniques. The Looking again at the ray picture of focusing
discovery of fiber optics also played a crucial role above, we run into a problem: at the focal point,
in faster communication and transmission of the rays all intersect. The density of rays at this
information. It made on-demand video and point is therefore infinite, which according to
broadcast television and high-speed data geometrical optics implies an infinitely bright
focal spot. Obviously, this cannot be true.
accessible for everyone. • If we put a black screen in the plane of the focal
point and look closely at the structure of the focal
spot projected on the plane, experimentally we
3 Broad Subfields of Optics would see an image as simulated below:
1) Geometrical optics- study of light as rays
2) Physical optics- study of light as waves
3) Quantum optics- study of light as particles

1. GEOMETRICAL OPTICS
*Light is postulated to travel along rays – line
segments which are straight in free space but may • There is a very small central bright spot, but also
change direction, or even curve, when much fainter (augmented in this image) rings
encountering matter. surrounding the central spot. These rings cannot
be explained by the use of geometrical optics
*Two laws dictate what happens when light alone, and result from the wave nature of light.
encounters a material surface.
1. The law of reflection, evidently first
stated by Euclid around 300 BC, states that when
Physical optics is the study of the wave nature of the two media involved. Light may be
properties of light, which may be roughly absorbed by the new medium or transmitted
grouped into three Categories: onward through it or it may bounce back into first
1) Interference medium. This bouncing of light at an interface is
+ ability of a wave to interfere with itself, creating called Reflection.
localized regions where the field is alternately
extremely bright and extremely dark. What happened to the light when it strikes a
surface?
2) Diffraction 3 things may happen. It may be:
+ ability of waves to ‘bend’ around corners and  Absorbed  Reflected  Refracted
spread after passing through an aperture.

3) Polarization
+ refers to properties of light related to its
transverse nature.

3. QUANTUM OPTICS
We return to the picture of the focal spot
illustrated above and now imagine that the light
source which produces the focal spot is on a very
precise dimmer switch. What happens as we
slowly turn the dimmer switch down to the off
position?

Physical optics predicts that the shape of the focal


spot will remain unchanged; it will just grow less
bright. When the dimmer switch is turned below
some critical threshold, however, something
different and rather unexpected happens: we
detect light in little localized ‘squirts’ of energy,
and do not see our ring pattern at all.

Geometric Optics
-deals with the formation of images by using such
optical devices as lenses, prisms and mirrors and
with the laws governing the characteristics of
these images, such as their size, shape, position
and clarity.
 Rays of light  Pencil of light  Beam of light

Reflection of light • When light meets an interface


between two media, its behavior depends on the

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