Optical Instruments

• Analysis generally involves

the laws of reflection and refraction:
realm of Geometric optics

• To explain certain phenomena,

the wave nature of light must be used
 The Camera
• Is an optical instrument

• Components:
– Opaque, light-tight box I
– Converging lens Object O Real
• Produces a real image
Inverted
M<0
– CCD (or Film) behind the lens
• Receives the image I smaller
than O
|M | < 1
digital analog
 The Eye
• The normal eye focuses light
and produces a sharp image
• Essential parts of the eye:
Cornea – light passes through
this transparent structure
Aqueous Humor – clear liquid
behind the cornea
• The pupil
A variable aperture
An opening in the iris
• The crystalline lens
Most of the refraction takes place at the outer surface of the eye,
where the cornea is covered with a film of tears
 The Eyes – Parts, Cont.
• The iris is the colored
portion of the eye
– It is a muscular diaphragm that
controls pupil size
– Regulates the amount of light
entering the eye
by dilating the pupil
in low-light conditions
and contracting the pupil
in high-light conditions
– The f-number of the eye is
from about 2.8 to 16
 The Eye – Operation
• The cornea-lens system focuses light
onto the back surface of the eye,
called the retina
– The retina contains receptors
of two types, rods and cones
– These structures send impulses
via the optic nerve
to the brain

The brain converts these impulses

into our conscious view of the world
 The Eye – Operation, Cont.
• Rods and Cones
– Chemically adjust their sensitivity
to light conditions
• Adjustment takes about 15 minutes
• This phenomena is “getting used to the dark”
color
• Accommodation low light vision
– The eye focuses on an object by varying
the shape of the crystalline lens
– How? The ciliary muscle, situated in
a circle around the rim of the lens

– Thin filaments, called Zonules,

run from this muscle to the edge of the lens
 The Eye – Focusing
• The eye can focus on a distant object
The ciliary muscle is relaxed, the zonules tighten
This causes the lens to flatten, increasing its focal length f
For an object at infinity, f is equal
to the fixed distance between lens and retina, about 1.7 cm
• The eye can focus on near objects:
The ciliary muscles tense, this relaxes the zonules
The lens bulges a bit and the focal length f decreases
The image is focused on the retina
 The Eye – Near and Far Points
• The near point is the closest distance
for which the eye can accommodate p 0 = 25 cm
Average is about 25 cm and increases with age
• The far point of the eye: the largest distance
for which the lens of the relaxed eye can focus light
on the retina
Normal vision has a far point of infinity, p = 
q= f
Eyes may suffer a mismatch between:
the focusing power of the lens-cornea system
and the length of the eye d,
f =q d
 Conditions of the Eye
• A mismatch between
the focusing power of the lens-cornea system
and the length of the eye, d
d
• Eyes may be
Nearsighted
Light rays reach the retina after they converge to form an image
qd
Farsighted
Light rays reach the retina before they converge to form an image

qd
 Farsightedness

Light rays reach the retina before they converge to form an image
• Also called hyperopia
• The image focuses behind the retina
• Can usually see far away objects clearly,
but not nearby objects
 Correcting Farsightedness

• A converging lens placed in front of the eye

can correct the condition
• The lens refracts the incoming rays more
toward the principle axis before entering the eye
– This allows the rays to converge and focus on the retina
 Nearsightedness

Light rays reach the retina after they converge to form an image

• Also called myopia

• In axial myopia: the lens is too far from the retina
• In refractive myopia: the lens-cornea system is
too powerful
 Correcting Nearsightedness

• A diverging lens can be used to correct the condition.

• The lens refracts the rays away from the principle axis
before they enter the eye
– This allows the rays to focus on the retina.
 Presbyopia and Astigmatism
• Presbyopia is due to a reduction
in accommodation ability:
The cornea and lens do not have sufficient focusing power
to bring nearby objects into focus on the retina
Condition can be corrected with converging lenses

• In Astigmatism, the light from a point source

produces a line image on the retina
Produced when either the cornea or the lens
or both are not perfectly symmetric
Can be corrected with lenses having different curvatures
in two mutually perpendicular directions
 Diopters
• Optometrists and ophthalmologists usually
prescribe lenses measured in diopters
The power of a lens in diopters equals
the inverse of the focal length in meters
1 1
diopters P = = − 8 (diopters = )
f m
1
f = − m = − 12 . 5 cm
8
focal length in meters
Farsighted? Nearsighted?
LENS-MAKERS FORMULA
 Simple Magnifier
• A simple magnifier consists
of a single converging lens
This device
• … is used to increase
the apparent size of an object

• The size of an image formed on the retina

depends on the angle subtended by the eye
The Size of a Magnified Image
p 0 = 25 cm

q0
• When an object is placed at the near point,
the angle subtended is θo
– The near point is about p 0 = 2 5 c m

• When the object is placed near the focal

point of a converging lens, p  f
the lens forms a virtual, q  0
upright, and enlarged image h’
 Magnification m by a Lens
• With a single lens, it is possible to achieve
angular magnification up to about m = 4
without serious aberrations

• With multiple lenses, magnifications

of up to about m = 20 can be achieved
– The multiple lenses can correct for aberrations
 Compound Microscope

• A compound microscope consists of two lenses

– Gives greater magnification than a single lens
– The objective lens has a short focal length, ƒo< 1 cm
– The ocular lens (eyepiece) has a focal length, ƒe, of a few cm
 Compound Microscope, Cont.
• The lenses are separated by a distance L
L >> ƒo , ƒe is much greater than either focal length
• The approach to analysis is the same
as for any two lenses in a row:
– The image formed by the first lens
becomes the object for the second lens
• The image seen by the eye, I2,
is virtual, inverted and very much enlarged
 Other Considerations
with a Microscope
• The ability of an optical microscope to view
an object depends on the size of the object, d,
relative to the wavelength λ of the light used
to observe it.
– Example, you could not observe
an atom with visible light:
d  0.1 nm λ 500 nm
Electron-
atomic-force-
tunneling-
microscopy
• A periscope enables observation around
walls, corners or other obstacles. Submarines
have periscopes so that people inside can
what is on the surface of the water - a useful
example of the law of reflection at work.
PERISCOPE
 Telescopes
• Two fundamental types of telescopes
– Refracting telescope uses a combination of lenses
– Reflecting telescope uses a curved mirror and a lens

In both types, two optical elements in a row:

the image of the first element becomes
the object of the second element
 Refracting Telescope
• The objective forms
a real, inverted image I1
• The image is near the focal
point of the eyepiece Fe
• The two lenses are
separated by the distance
ƒo + ƒe about the length
of the tube
• The eyepiece forms an
enlarged, inverted image I1
of the distant object
 CHROMATIC ABERRATION
• Chromatic Aberration, is a color distortion that
creates an outline of unwanted color along
the edges of objects in a photograph. Light
rays passing through a lens focus at different
points, depending on their wavelength.

• Correction: By use of achromatic doublets

 SHERICAL ABERRATION
• Spherical Aberration - light entering the
periphery of a spherical lens is focused to a
different point on the optical axis than
paraxial light rays near the center.

• Correction: Use of thin lenses and STOPS