PHY 260

CHAPTER 1:
GEOMETRIC OPTICS
Nurul Ilham Adam
Faculty of Applied Sciences
Universiti Teknologi MARA Malaysia
Cawangan Perak KampusTapah
35400 Tapah Road
Perak, Malaysia

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 Contents
1.1 Ray Model of Light
1.2 Reflection and refraction
1.3 Total internal reflection
1.4 Dispersion
1.5 Thin lenses
1.6 Locating images by ray tracing
1.7 The Thin- Lens equations, Lensmaker’s
equation
1.8 Spherical mirrors, locating images, mirror
equation

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 1.1 Ray Model of light
Light travels in
straight-lines paths, called
as light rays.

Ray = straight line + arrow

(indicating travelling direction)

Ray Model of Light

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 • Beam = a set of rays
Types of beams:

▪parallel beams

▪divergent beams

▪convergent beams

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 1.1 Ray model of light

⦿ Light from an object either results because the object

is emitting light or light is reflecting from the surface
of the object

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Example

Light rays are

emitted from
the lamp.

Light rays are

reflected from
the cat to the
camera lens.

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1.2 Reflection and Refraction

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 1.2 REFLECTION & REFRACTION

REFLECTION

Angle of Incidence
– angle made by the
incident ray and the
normal

Angle of Reflection
– angle made by the
reflected ray and the
normal

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 1.2 REFLECTION & REFRACTION

The law of reflection

The angle of incidence = the angle of reflection.

The Law of Reflection
* Assuming the surface is perfectly smooth.

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 1.2 REFLECTION & REFRACTION

The law of reflection

Laws of Reflection of
Light:
Normal

i) The angle of incidence is

equal to the angle of
reflection.

ii) The incident ray, the

reflected ray and the
normal to the mirror at
the point of incidence all
lie in the same plane.

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 1.2 REFLECTION & REFRACTION
Types Of Reflection
a) Specular reflection b) Diffuse reflection

a) When light reflects from a smooth b) When light reflects from a rough
surface, it undergoes specular surface, it undergoes diffuse reflection
reflection (parallel rays will all be (parallel rays will be reflected in a
reflected in the same direction). variety of directions). Light is reflected
to any position of eye.

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Example
The angle between an incident ray and the plane mirror is
40°.
The angles of incidence and reflection are ____ and
____.

40
°
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Example
mirror
A light ray is incident on a
50o plane mirror. Determine

α
the value of α.

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 1.2 REFLECTION & REFRACTION

Plane (flat) Mirrors

u v
ho hi

object image

Images are virtual (formed by sight lines) and upright

Object and image are same size: object height (ho) equals image height (hi).
Object distance (u) equals image distance (v).

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 1.2 REFLECTION & REFRACTION

Images

The magnification, m, of an image is defined as:

If m is negative, the image is inverted (upside down).

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 1.2 REFLECTION & REFRACTION
Summaries:
Law of Reflection states that:

a)

b)

Magnification of an image is,

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 1.2 REFLECTION & REFRACTION

Refraction
Light rays may bend as they cross a
boundary from one medium to
another.
(Eg: from air to water)

This bending of light rays is known as

refraction.

The light rays from the straw are

refracted (or bent) when they cross
from water back into air before
reaching your eyes.
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 1.2 REFLECTION & REFRACTION

Refraction
When a ray of light crosses from one medium to another,
the amount it bends depends on the difference in index of
refraction between the two mediums.

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 1.2 REFLECTION & REFRACTION
REFRACTION
Index of Refraction
The index of refraction of the medium is the ratio of the speed of
light in vacuum to the speed of light in the medium:

c = speed of light in vacuum

= 3.0 x 108 ms-1
v = speed of light in the medium
f = frequency of light in the medium
λ = wavelength of light in the medium

The index of refraction is never less than 1

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 1.2 REFLECTION & REFRACTION

Exercise 1.2.1
1. A fused quartz has an index of refraction of 1.46.
Calculate the speed of light passing through it. Speed
of light in vacuum = 3.0 x 108 ms-1
(ans: 2.05 x 108 ms-1)
Solution :

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 1.2 REFLECTION & REFRACTION

EXERCISE 1.2.1

2. If the speed of light in crown glass is 2.2 x

108 ms-1, what is the index of refraction of
crown glass? (ans: 1.36)
(Final exam march 2012)

3. If a material has an index of refraction of

1.53, what is the speed of light passing
through it? (ans: 1.96 x 108 ms-1)
(Final exam Apr 2011)

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 1.2 REFLECTION & REFRACTION

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 1.2 REFLECTION & REFRACTION

Snell's law of refraction

Snell’s law is the relationship between the angles of
incidence and refraction and the index of refraction of both
materials.
Angle of refraction
Angle of incidence
(degrees)
(degrees)

n1 sin θ1 = n2 sin θ2
Index of
refraction of Index of
incident refraction of
material refractive
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 EXERCISE 1.2.2
1. A beam of light of wavelength 500 nm traveling in air incident on
a slab of transparent material. The incident beam makes an angle
of 40.0 0 with the normal, and the refracted beam makes an
angle of 26.0 0 with the normal. Find the index of refraction of
the material. (nair = 1.00)

n1 sin θ1 = n2 sin θ2

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EXERCISE 1.2.2
2. A light ray of wavelength 589 nm traveling through air is incident
on a smooth, flat slab of crown glass at an angle of 30º to the
normal. Find the angle of refraction. (ncrown glass = 1.52 ; nair = 1.00)

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Refractive index is defined as:
The ratio of real depth to apparent depth of object in the medium.

NORMAL

AIR O

WATER
VIRTUAL
OBJECT P

ACTUAL
R OBJECT

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 1.2 REFLECTION & REFRACTION
EXERCISE 1.2.3
Apparent depth of a pool
A swimmer has dropped her goggles to the bottom of a pool at the shallow
end, marked as 1.0 m deep. But the goggles don’t look that deep. How
deep do the goggles appear to be when you look straight down into the
water? (Given nwater=1.33)
(Ans: 0.75 m)

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 1.2 REFLECTION & REFRACTION
Summaries:

Index of Refraction:

Snell’s Law:

Refrective index of water with respect to air:

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 1.3 TOTAL INTERNAL REFLECTION
If light passes into a medium with a smaller index of refraction, the angle of
refraction is larger.

Critical angle is the angle of incidence for which the angle of

refraction will be 90°.

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If the angle of incidence is larger than critical angle, no
transmission occurs. This is called total internal
reflection.

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Examples of prisms and total internal
reflection

45o

45o
45o

Totally reflecting prism

45o

Porro Prism

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OTHER EXAMPLES OF TOTAL INTERNAL
REFLECTION:

SPARKLING OF DIAMOND

OPTICAL FIBRE

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 1.3 CRITICAL ANGLE & TOTAL INTERNAL REFLECTION

EXERCISE 1.3.1
1. A light ray passes through a glass then incident on glass air
boundary. Determine the critical angle for glass. Given n air
= 1.00 and n glass = 1.5

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 1.3 CRITICAL ANGLE & TOTAL INTERNAL REFLECTION

EXERCISE 1.3.1
2. Find the critical angle at the surface of a glass slab
immersed in Ethyl Alcohol. Assume the index of
refraction of Ethyl Alcohol is 1.36 and index of
refraction of the glass is 1.55. (ans: 61.30)
( Past year oct 2010)

3. The critical angle for a certain liquid-air surface is

52.5°. What is the index of refraction of the liquid?
(ans: 1.26)
( Past year oct 2009)

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 1.3 CRITICAL ANGLE & TOTAL INTERNAL REFLECTION

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 1.3 CRITICAL ANGLE & TOTAL INTERNAL REFLECTION
Summaries:

Critical angle is defined as:

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 1.4 DISPERSION
White light is a mixture of all visible wavelength, and
when incident on a prism, the different wavelength
are bent to varying degrees.

A prism separates white light into a rainbow of

colors.

This variation in
refractive index is
why a prism will
split visible light
into a rainbow of
colors.

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 1.4 DISPERSION

Index of refraction of a material depends on the wavelength as

shown in figure.

The spreading of white light into the full spectrum is called

dispersion.

The index of
refraction of a
material varies
with the
wavelength of
the light.

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 1.4 DISPERSION
Example: Rainbow

Actual rainbows are created by dispersion in

tiny drops of water.

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 1.5 Thin lens
❖ A spherical lens is a transparent material bounded by two surfaces
one or both of which are spherical.

❖ There are 2 main types of spherical lens:

i. Convex lens :- is thicker in the middle and thinner at the

edges. Rays of light parallel to the principal axis after refraction
through a convex lens meet at a point (converge) on the principal
axis.

ii. Concave lens :- is thinner in the middle and thicker at the

edges. Rays of light parallel to the principal axis after refraction get
diverged and appear o come from a point on the principal axis on
the same side of the lens.
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 1.5 THIN LENS

F F

Convex/ Converging Lens Concave/ Diverging Lens

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 1.5 THIN LENS

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 1.5 THIN LENS
❑ The ray will be focused to a point called the focal
point, F.

❑ The focal point of a lens can be found by locating the

sharp image of a distant object.

❑ The distance of the focal point to the center of lens is

called then focal length, f.

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 1.5 THIN LENS

❑ Optometrist use the reciprocal of the focal

length or Power, P to specify the strength of
eyeglass.

❑ The unit for lens Power, P is the Diopter

(D).

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 1.5 THIN LENS
Exercise 1.5.1
1. Find the lens power of a 20 cm focal length lens.
2. Lens of what power is required to magnify reading material by a
factor of 2.5, when a book is placed 8.0 cm behind the lens?
(ans: 7.5 D)
( Past year march 2012)

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 1.6 Locating image by ray tracing
Convex Lens/ Converging Lens

1. Ray 1, parallel to the axis refracted by lens through the

focal point, F.

2. Ray 2, passing through the other focal point, F’

refracted by lens parallel to the axis.

3. Ray 3, directed toward the center of lens emerges

straight through at the same angle as it entered.

**The image is located at the point of where any two lines intersect.

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 1.6 Locating image by ray tracing

**The image is located at the point of where any two lines intersect.

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Exercise 1.6 Object Outside 2F

Real;
F 2F inverted;
diminished

2F F

The image is inverted, real and diminised.

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Exercise 1.6 : Object at 2F

F 2F

2F F

The image is inverted, real and same size.

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 Exercise 1.6 : Object Between 2F and F

F 2F

2F F

The image is inverted, real and magnified.

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 Exercise 1.6 : Object at Focal Length F

F 2F

2F F

When the object is located at the focal length, the

rays of light are parallel. The lines never cross, and
no image is formed.
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Exercise 1.6 : Object Inside F

F 2F

2F F

The image is upright, virtual and magnified.

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A diverging lens (thicker at the edge than in the center) makes
parallel light diverge; the focal point is that point where the
diverging rays would converge if projected back.

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• We follow the same procedure to find the image for a diverging lens.

F F'

The image “appears” to be on the same side of the lens as the object;
that’s why F and F' have been switched compared to the double
convex lens.
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 Image Characteristics of concave/
Diverging lens:

• Virtual
• Upright
• Diminished
Exercises : Locate the image, by ray tracing, of an object placed at the other
positions

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SUMMARY OF IMAGE CHARACTERISTICS

No image

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 1.7 The Thin- Lens equations,
Lensmaker’s equation
The lens formula for spherical lenses is the
relationship between the object distance
(u), image distance (v) and focal length (f).

The lens formula is expressed as:

or

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 1.7 THE THIN- LENS EQUATIONS, LENSMAKER’S EQUATION

Magnification
❑ Magnification for spherical lens is:

❑ Also can be expressed as :-

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 1.7 THE THIN- LENS EQUATIONS, LENSMAKER’S EQUATION

Exercise 1.6.2
1. An object is placed at 10 cm from a convex lens with the focal
length 15 cm. Determine the position and the nature of image
formed.
Given: u = 10 cm, f= +15 cm

Nature of image:
30 cm in front of lens, virtual,
upright and 3X magnification

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 1.7 THE THIN- LENS EQUATIONS, LENSMAKER’S EQUATION

2. An object is placed at 30 cm from a concave lens with the

focal length 20 cm. Determine the position and the nature
of image formed.
Given: u = 30 cm, f=- 20 cm

Nature of image:
12 cm in front of lens, virtual,
upright and smaller than object

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 Notes: Combination of Two Lenses
• The image of the first lens is treated as the object of the second lens.

• The image formed by the second lens is the final image of the system.

• If the image formed by the first lens lies on the back side of the second lens, then
the image is treated at a virtual object for the second lens
– u will be negative.
• The overall magnification is the product of the magnification of the separate
lenses.

h2

Figure 3.101
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EXAMPLE

( Past year JUN 2018)

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 SOLUTION
1 = 1 + 1
f1 u1 v 1
1/10 = 1/60 + 1/v1
v1 = 12 cm

v1 = u2 = 40 cm – 12 cm = 28 cm

1 = 1 + 1
f2 u2 v 2
1/15 = 1/28 + 1/v2
v2 = 32.3 cm
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Exercise 1.6.3

( Past year DEC 2018)

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Solution:

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Exercise 1.6.4

( Past year JUN 2019)

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Solution:

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 1.7 THE THIN- LENS EQUATIONS, LENSMAKER’S EQUATION

Lensmaker’s Equation
• Lensmaker’s Equation relates the focal length of a lens to the
radii of curvature of its two surfaces.
• Lens in air:
f = the focal length
n = Refractive index of the lens material
R1&R2 = Radii of curvature for surface 1 and 2

• Lens in a medium other than air:

f = power of lens
n1 = Refractive index of medium
n2 = Refractive index of the lens material
R1&R2 = Radii of curvature for surface 1 and 2

• For concave surface radius, R is –ve and plane, R = 0. R is +ve for convex surface.
• From the equation, if the surface is turned around, the focal length is the same even the
two lens surfaces are different.
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 EXAMPLE
•

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Exercise 1.7.1

( Past year DEC 2018)

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Solution:

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 Summary :Sign Conventions
for Thin Lenses
Quantity Positive When Negative When
Object location (u) Object is in front of Object is in back of
the lens the lens

Image location (v) Image is in back of Image is in front of

the lens (REAL) the lens (VIRTUAL)

Image height (hi) Image is upright Image is inverted

R1 and R2 Center of curvature is Center of curvature is

in back of the lens in front of the lens

Focal length (f) Converging lens Diverging lens

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 1.8 SPHERICAL MIRRORS,
LOCATING IMAGES, MIRROR
EQUATION

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 1.8 SPHERICAL MIRRORS, LOCATING IMAGES, MIRROR EQUATION

Spherical Mirrors

❑ A spherical mirror is a mirror

whose surface shape is spherical
with radius of curvature R.

❑ Two types of spherical mirrors:

❑ concave mirror
❑ Convex mirror

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 1.8 SPHERICAL MIRRORS, LOCATING IMAGES, MIRROR EQUATION

Spherical Mirrors

Again, we use the angle of incidence equals the angle of

reflection.

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 1.8 SPHERICAL MIRRORS, LOCATING IMAGES, MIRROR EQUATION

Focal Point

When parallel rays are incident

upon a spherical mirror, the
reflected rays intersect at the focal
point F.

For a concave mirror, the focal

point is in front of the mirror.

For a convex mirror, the focal point

is behind the mirror.

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 Focal Length
❑ The focal length f is the distance from the surface of the mirror to the focal
point.
❑ It can be shown that the focal length is half the radius of curvature of the
mirror.
❑ Sign Convention: the focal length is negative if the focal point is behind the
mirror.
❑ For a concave mirror, f = ½ r
❑ For a convex mirror, f = ½ r
❑ (R is always positive)

f = focus length
r = radius
c = center of the sphere

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Image Formation: Ray Diagram

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 1.8 SPHERICAL MIRRORS, LOCATING IMAGES, MIRROR EQUATION

Concave Mirror

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 1.8 SPHERICAL MIRRORS, LOCATING IMAGES, MIRROR EQUATION
Images formed by concave mirror:
i) When the object is at infinity the image is formed at the focus, it
is highly diminished, real and inverted.

C F P

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ii) When the object is beyond C, the image is formed between C
and F, it is diminished, real and inverted.

C F P

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iii) When the object is at C, the image is formed at C, it is same size as
the object, real and inverted.

C F P

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iv) When the object is between C and F, the image is formed
beyond C, it is enlarged, real and inverted.

C F P

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v) When the object is at F, there is no image formed.

C F P

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vi) When the object is between F and P, the image is formed behind
the mirror, it is enlarged, virtual and upright.

C F P

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 1.8 SPHERICAL MIRRORS, LOCATING IMAGES, MIRROR EQUATION

Convex Mirror

The sun shield in this pilot’s helmet acts

When an object is placed in front of a as a convex mirror and reflects an
convex mirror, the image is: image of his plane

• Virtual
• Smaller
• Upright

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 Formation of Images by Spherical Mirrors
Image produced by concave mirror
u>C Real, inverted and smaller than object
u=C Real, inverted and same size as object
C<u<F Real, inverted and bigger than object
u=F No formation of image
u<F Virtual, upright and bigger than object

Example application: shaving mirror, dentist mirror

Image produced by convex mirror

Any position Virtual, upright and smaller than object

Example application: rearview car mirror

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 1.8 SPHERICAL MIRRORS, LOCATING IMAGES, MIRROR EQUATION

Mirror equations
The mirror formula is expressed as:

Magnification of curved mirror

The negative sign indicates

that the image is inverted.

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Formation of Images by Spherical Mirrors
The sign conventions :
1. Focal length:
f is +ve for a concave mirror
f is -ve for a convex mirror
2. Object distance
u is +ve if the object in front of the mirror (real object)
u is -ve if the object behind of the mirror (virtual object)

3. Image distance
v is +ve if the image in front of the mirror (real object)
v is -ve if the image behind of the mirror (virtual object)

4. Magnification
m is +ve if the image is upright with respect to the object
m is -ve if the imagre is inverted with respect to the object

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 1.8 SPHERICAL MIRRORS, LOCATING IMAGES, MIRROR EQUATION

Examples
An object is placed in front of a convex mirror with
30.0 cm radius of curvature. A virtual image half the
size of the object is formed. At what distance is the
object from the mirror. (Ans: 15 cm)
(PYQ Oct 2008)

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EXAMPLES

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66.67 cm

0.6
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 1.8 SPHERICAL MIRRORS, LOCATING IMAGES, MIRROR EQUATION

Exercise 1.8.1
1. An object of height 6 mm is placed 60 cm from a concave
mirror with radius 30 cm. Determine the nature of the
image form?
Given: u = 60 cm, ho = 6 mm = 0.6 cm, r = 30 cm, ∴ f = r/2 =
+15 cm

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Exercise 1.8.2
An external rearview car mirror is convex with a
radius of curvature of 16 m. Determine the location
of the image and its magnification for an object
10.0 m from the mirror
Given: u = 10 m, r = 16 m, ∴ f = r/2 = -8 cm

Nature of image:
4.4 m behind the mirror, real,
upright and smaller than object

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Exercise 1.8.3

( Past year MAC 2017)

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Exercise 1.8.4

( Past year MAC 2017)

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END OF CHAPTER 1

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