Ray Optics
PHYSICS
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Ray Optics
As we had earlier discussed different ways in which energy is propagated and
different ways of their transformation also, we know that acoustics is the term used
for the science of sound. Similarly, optics is the branch of physics that studies the
properties of light.
Whereas similar to sound light is also a form of energy that is detected by retina
inside our eyes which produces a visual sensation.
But unlike sound, light is a transverse electromagnetic wave which has electrical and
magnetic field vibrating in the perpendicular direction as shown below and the speed
of light in a vacuum is 3× 108 m/s
Nature of Light
In our history there are many attempts were made to understand the nature of light and
its behavior under the different conditions and at the beginning of the 20th century, it
was concluded that these are electromagnetic (EM) waves. Later, using quantum
theory, it was established that the particle nature of light was established which helped
us explain the same basic concepts like photoelectric effect.
And according to Maxwell’s equation, the speed of light in any medium can be
expressed as
With this result Maxwell concluded that light is an electromagnetic wave since v is
the velocity of electromagnetic wave, ϵ is the permittivity of an electric field in a
medium and μ is the permeability of magnetic field in any given medium.
Hence the speed of light will change as electromagnetic waves propagated from
one medium to another
lso, some other commonly observed phenomena related to light are
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Ray optics or Geometrical optics: Since light always travels in a straight line
and the direction in which light is propagated from the source is termed as the ray
of light. i.e., the imaginary straight line drawn from the source used to understand
the direction of propagation is known as a ray of light as shown below and we use
ray optics to understand the phenomenon like reflection, total internal reflection,
and refraction.
Wave optics or Physical optics: We use wave optics to understand the
phenomenon like doppler effect, interference, diffraction, etc., and according to
Maxwell’s and Huygens's theory light is propagated from one point to another in a
form of electromagnetic wave.
Particle nature of light: Unlike wave nature light also shows particle nature
which is used to understand a phenomenon like photoelectric effect, Compton
effect, etc. This was explained using quantum theory since classical mechanics
failed to explain this phenomenon.
Ray optics or Geometrical optics
In ray optics or geometric optics, we study the image formed by the mirrors, lenses,
and prisms.
It is based on four fundamental laws which are given as
Light always travels in a straight line in a homogeneous medium, whereas the
homogenous is a property of matter which means the medium is the same
everywhere in the medium i.e., it is isotropic which means that the matter in a
medium is distributed in same proportion everywhere.
Rays of light can intersect each other at any point without affecting their direction of
propagation.
Law’s of reflection:
Lightray can reflect from any polished surface.
Reflected ray, incident ray, and normal all lie in the same plane in which they
are propagating as shown in the figure below.
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Whereas the incident ray and reflected ray both lie on either side of the
normal drawn which is perpendicular to the reflecting surface.
Also, the angle of incidence is equal to the angle of reflection as shown
above.
i.e., angle of incidence (θi) = angle of reflection (θr)
4. Law’s of refraction:
As we discussed above as electromagnetic wave propagates from one
medium to another its velocity will change and hence light rays will bend as it
travels from one medium to another as shown below.
Now as shown below as light ray travels from one medium to another it will
bend towards or away from normal.
Law of Refraction
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And the relation between the angle of incidence (i) and angle of reflection (r) was given
by Snell’s law which states that the ratio of the sines of the angles of incidence and
refraction of a wave is constant when it passes between two given media.
i.e.,
Here,
i = angle of incidence of an incident ray
r = angle of incidence of the refracted ray
Optical instruments
In ray optics, we use different equipment like the lens, mirror, prism, etc. which have a
different application which works on the property as we discussed above and while
using geometrical optics it is necessary to use some sign convention which helps us in
quantifying and analyzing properties of the different instrument as we are going to
discuss below.
Cartesian sign convention of optical instrument
For deriving the formula for any optical instrument, we must use consistence or the
same sign convention for all the instruments.
Hence the Cartesian sign convention is the most suitable and convenient sign
convention which can be used for this process.
In this, we use x, y, and z coordinate to describe the motion in free space and
according to this sign convention
All distance is measured from the optical center or pole and the sign convention we
use is as shown below
As we move towards the left from the optical center the value will be denoted by
negative similarly as we move below from the optical center the value will also be
denoted by the negative sign.
And, as we move towards right or upward from an optical center the value, is
denoted by the positive sign.
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Light-reflecting from the plane and
curved mirror
Important terms related to mirror
Poles (vertex): The center point of a mirror is called its poles.
Principal axis: The straight line passing through the pole and the center of
curvature of the mirror is called the principal axis.
Centre of curvature: The center if the sphere of which the mirror is a part is
called the center of curvature and it is denoted by C.
The radius of curvature: The radius of the sphere of which the mirror or lens
is a part
Focus or focal point: The point at which all light rays meet is termed as focus
or focal point, i.e., the point at which we get the sharp image is known as the focal
point.
Focal plane: A plane drawn perpendicular to the principal axis and passing
through the principal axis.
Focal length: The distance between the pole and the focus is called the focal
length and it is represented by symbol f. Also, the focal length is always half of the
radius of curvature.
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The below diagram shows all the following term using a spherical concave mirror
Spherica; Mirror using Terms
Reflection from the plane mirror
A plane mirror is a mirror with a flat reflective surface thus if a light rays striking a
plane mirror, the angle of reflection equals the angle of incidence.
Therefore, the angle of reflection is the angle between the reflected ray and the
normal.
Now some of the important point related to plane mirror is
The image formed is ‘virtual’ because it is a copy of an object formed at the
location from which the light rays appear to come.
The focal length of a plane mirror is infinity. A plane mirror can be considered as a
spherical mirror of an infinite radius of curvature.
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Whereas the minimum size of the mirror required to see the full image by an
observer must be half of the observer’s height.
Also, if a plane mirror is rotated by an angle θ along the plane of incidence the
reflected ray will rotate by angle 2θ
Here,
θ = angle by which the mirror was rotated
i = angle of incidence
r1 = angle of reflection before rotation
n1 = normal drawn to mirror before rotation
M1 = Position of mirror one before rotation
r2 = angle of reflection after rotation
n2 = normal drawn to mirror after rotation
M2 = Position of mirror one after rotation
O = axis at which the mirror was rotated
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Points to Remember
For a plane mirror, the image is as far behind the mirror as the object is in front.
The image formed by a plane mirror is unmagnified, virtual, and erect.
The image formed by a plane mirror is inverted horizontally i.e., right and left are
inverted
The focal length of the plane mirror is infinity
Power of a plane mirror is zero
Reflection from curved or spherical mirror
A spherical mirror is simply a piece cut out of a reflective sphere. The first
mirror was made by German Scientist Justus von Liebig, he coated the
plane surface of a piece of ordinary glass with silver metal for making this mirror.
Such a mirror is called a silvered glass mirror.
There are two types of spherical mirrors: concave and convex mirrors.
The reflecting surface of spherical mirrors forms a part of the surface of a sphere.
Reflecting the surface of such mirrors can be curved inwards or outwards.
When reflecting surface curved inwards and faces towards the center of the sphere
is called a concave mirror and when reflecting surface curved outwards is called
a convex mirror.
The center of reflecting the surface of a spherical mirror is called a pole and it lies
on the surface of the mirror. It is represented by the letter P.
The reflecting surface of the spherical mirror forms a part of the sphere. The center
of this sphere is called the center of curvature of the mirror. It is represented by the
letter C.
The radius of the sphere is called the radius of curvature of the mirror. It is
represented by letter R.
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The distance between pole and principal focus is called principal focal length and it
is represented by f.
The image formed by Spherical mirror
There are two types of spherical mirror
1. Concave mirror: Curved inward
2. Convex mirror: Curved outward
And the image force by either of them can be explained as shown below
The image formed by a concave mirror
The below figure illustrates the ray diagram associated with the concave mirror.
In this AB is the height of the object and A’B’ is the height of the image and the following
diagram shows the position and the nature of image formed as we move the object
along principle axis.
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The table shows the use of the concave mirror for different position of the object
Position of object Position of image Nature of image Uses
Image is formed at Real, inverted and
principle focus, extremely diminish Can be used in
At infinity whereas object and image is formed at telescope, solar
image are on the same focus F cooker, etc.
side
Beyond the center of Between the principal Real, inverted and
curvature C focus and center of diminished
curvature
Reflecting mirror
At the center of At the center of Real, inverted, whereas for the projector
curvature curvature the image and object lamp
are of equal size
Between focus F Beyond the center of The real, inverted and
and center of curvature enlarged image is In floodlight
curvature formed
At the principle focus At infinity Extremely magnified In torches,
headlight
Between the pole Virtual, erect and Shaving mirror,
and the principal Behind the mirror magnified dentist mirror
focus
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The image formed by a convex mirror
The below figure illustrates the ray diagram associated with a convex mirror.
In this AB is the height of the object and A’B’ is the height of the image and the follow-
ing diagram shows the position and the nature of image formed as we move the object
along principle axis.
When an object is at infinite When an object is at infinite
distance form Optical axis
The table shows the use of a convex mirror for different position of the object
Position of object Position of image Nature of image Uses
Appears at the Virtual, erect and Used as a rear-view
At infinity principle focus extremely mirror
diminished
Between infinity and Appears between the Virtual, erect and Used as a rear-view
the pole principal focus and diminished mirror
the pole
Mirror formula and Magnification
For a spherical mirror the distance of an object from its pole is known as object
distance (u) similarly the distance between the image from its pole is known as image
distance (v).
The relation between image, object and the focal distance is given by mirror formula
and it is expressed as
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Whereas the distance measured from the pole is in accordance with the cartesian
coordinate system as shown above
Magnification formula: The ratio of the height of the object and image are termed as
linear magnification (m).
Also
The ratio of image distance to the object distance is called linear magnification.
Here if |m| < 1, the size of the image is smaller than the object and the negative sign showed
that the image is real and inverted
Similarly, if |m|> 1, the size of the image is greater than the object.
Refraction of light
As we had discussed above when light propagates from one medium to another it deviates
from its previous path and this phenomenon is known as refraction of light.
i.e., when light rays propagate from one medium to another light deviates from its original path
because of change in its velocity and wavelength whereas the frequency remains the same.
i.e., f1 = f2 ⇒
Thus, the Snell’s law can be modified as shown below
1μ2
Here,
v2 = velocity of light in the second medium
v1 = velocity of light in the first medium
λ2 = wavelength of light in the second medium
λ1 = wavelength of light in the first medium
μ2 = refractive index of light in the second medium with respect to air
μ1 = refractive index of light in the first medium with respect to air
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f2 = frequency of light in the first medium
f1 = frequency of light in the second medium
Factor affecting refractive index
The Refractive index of any medium depends on the nature of the medium, color of
the light ray, and temperature of two mediums.
Hence if the temperature of medium changes so does its refractive index
The Refractive index is the optical property of the medium which means any
impurity can alter the refractive index of the medium.
Whereas the velocity of light decrease with density, thus a refractive index of
diamond is maximum
∵ dμa =
Refraction of light from the spherical
surface
A spherical curved refracting surface can be classified into two types and such
refracting spherical surface are known as a lens
1. Convex lens
2. Concave lens
Whereas a lens is a uniform refracting medium and depending upon its shape it can be
further classified as shown below.
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Converging Lenses/ Convex lenses Diverging Lenses/ Concave lenses
From this, we can see that both convex and concave lens have 3 subclassifications as
shown above.
Lens
The most familiar and widely used optical device 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.
Such a lens is called a thin lens.
The two common types of lenses are
1) Converging lens or convex lens
2) Diverging lens or Concave lens.
Any lens that is thicker at the center than at its edges is a converging lens with
positive focal length f, and any lens that is thicker at its edges than at the center is a
diverging lens with negative f.
Important terms related to the lens
Optical center (C): The center of the lens is called the optical center. And if a
ray is an incident toward the optical center, it passes through it without any
deviation.
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1. Principal axis: The straight line passing through the optical center and the
center of curvature of two curved surfaces of a lens are called the principal axis.
Lightray passing through principal axis passes through the lens without any
deviation.
2. Centre of curvature: The centre if the sphere of which the lens is a part is
called the center of curvature and it is denoted by C.
Concave lens as external cross section of Plano-Convex Mirror
two spheres
Plano-Concave Mirror Concave-Convex Mirror Convex-Concave Mirror
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4. Focus or focal point: The point at which all light rays meet is termed as fo-
cus or focal point, i.e., the point at which we get the sharp image is known as a fo-
cal point.
5. Focal plane: A plane drawn perpendicular to the principal axis and passing
through the principal axis.
6. Focal length: The distance between the pole and the focus is called the focal
length and it is represented by symbol f.
Also, the focal length is always half of the radius of curvature.
The image formed by convex lens
The below figure illustrates the ray diagram associated with convex Lens.
In this AB is the height of the object and A’B’ is the height of the image and the
following diagram shows the position and the nature of image formed as we move the
object along principle axis.
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Position of object Position of image Nature of image Uses
Appears at the Real, inverted and
At infinity principle focus or in extremely diminished Telescopes
the focal plane in size
Beyond 2F Between F and 2F Real, inverted and In a camera
diminished
Real, inverted and
At 2F At 2F equal to the size of the Photocopier
object
Between F and 2F Beyond 2F Real, inverted and Projector, microscope
bigger than an object objective
At the principle At infinity Real, inverted and Spotlight
focus extremely magnified
Between the On the same side as Virtual, erect and Magnifying glass, eye
optical center and that of object magnified lenses spectacles for
the principal focus short-sightedness
The image formed by a concave lens
The below figure illustrates the ray diagram associated with Concave Lens.
In this AB is the height of the object and A’B’ is the height of the image and the
following diagram shows the position and the nature of image formed as we move the
object along principle axis.
Position of the object Ray Diagram
Infinity
Between infinity and optical cen-
tre O of
The lens
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The table shows the use of a concave lens for different position of the object
Position of object Position of image Nature of image Uses
At infinity Appears at the Virtual, erect, and Spectacles for short-
principle focus on extremely dimin- sightedness
the same side as ished
that of the object
Between infinity Appears between Virtual, erect and Spectacles for short-
and the lens the principal focus diminished sightedness
and the lens
Important formula related to the lens
Lens maker formula
If light rays are refracting from a spherical surface the focal length of such lens are
determined using lens maker formula given below
Since
Here,
f = the focal length
μ1 = is the refractive index of the medium on the right of the spherical surface
μ2 = is the refractive index of the medium on left of the spherical surface
R1 = Radius of curvature of a first spherical surface
R2 = Radius of curvature of a second spherical surface
Thin Lens formula
For a thin spherical lens the distance of an object from its pole is known as object
distance (u) similarly the distance between the image from its pole is known as image
distance (v).
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The relation between image, object and the focal distance is given by lens ] formula
and it is expressed as
Whereas the distance measured from the pole is in accordance with the cartesian
coordinate system as shown above
Magnification formula: The ratio of the height of the object to that of the image is
termed as linear magnification (m).
Also
The ratio of image distance to that of the object distance is called linear magnification.
Points to Remember
For both concave and convex lenses, the general sign convention can be given as
shown below
If object distance u is negative, it means that the object is placed at the left-hand
side of the lens
If image distance v is negative, the image and object will be formed at the left-
hand side of the lens (virtual image is formed)
If image distance v is positive, the image and object will be formed at the opposite
side of the lens (real image is formed)
The focal length of a concave lens is taken as negative
The focal length of a convex lens is taken as positive
If the magnification m < 1, then the image formed will be inverted and real
If the magnification m > 1, then the image formed will be inverted and real
For a coupled lens system (multiple lenses of different focal length) the combined
focal length for the system is given as
Whereas power of lens is given as P = P1 + P2+ …+ Pn
And magnification of such combination of a lens is given as m = m1× m2×….×mn
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Power of lens
Power of a lens (P) is a way to quantify the amount of light ray converging or diverging
to a point and its inversely proportional to focal length (f) from the optical center.
i.e.,
And the S.I unit is the power of a lens is m-1 or diopter (D)
A convex lens is represented by positive power and a concave lens is represented by
negative power.
Q. If an object is placed at 20 cm in front of a concave mirror of focal length 15
cm, then find out the image distance v.
A. Given that,
Object distance, u = 20 cm,
Focal length, f = 15 cm
Use mirror formula:
Image distance (v) = 5/300 = 60 cm. So option 4 is correct.
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