Talk 2

‘The Principles of Optics’

Last Revised: January 2009

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Content

 Optical Lenses
- Lens types
- Image construction
 Optical Instruments
- Human eye
- Magnifier
- Objectives

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Optical Lenses

 An optical component is called a lens, when the following

features apply:
- 2 light refractive surfaces
- At least one surface has concave or convex curvature

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Optical Lenses
 Optical axis
- A virtual line, where all centers of curvature of the lens surfaces are
located
 Focus / focal point
- Each lens has this point, where all light rays are collected
focus

optical axis

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Optical Lenses
Lens types
 Convex The surface is curved outwards
 Concave The surface is curved inwards
 Plan The surface is flat
Convex lenses – collecting lenses Meniscus Concave lenses – dispersing lenses

bi- plan- concave- bi- plan- convex-

convex convex convex concave concave concave
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Convex Lenses
 Bi-convex and plan-convex lenses are acting as collecting
lenses
 Parallel light rays are collected in one point – focus (F)
 The distance between center of lens and focus is called ‘focal
distance’ (f)

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Convex Lenses
Image construction

parallel ray

foc c en t F
u sr ral ra
ay y
object
F
image

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Convex Lenses
Image construction
When the object is located between the focal point and the lens, the lens
forms a virtual image in front of the lens

parallel ray

focu
s ra
y
virtual object ce
image F ntr F
al
r ay

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Concave Lenses
 Bi-concave and plan-concave lenses are acting as dispersing
lenses
 Parallel light rays diverge (laufen auseinander) and can be
virtually collected in a focal point on the illuminated side
(diesseits) of the lens

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Concave Lenses
Image construction

r a y
u s
foc
parallel ray

object virtual c en t
ral ra
F image y F

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Optical Instruments
The human eye
The most simple optical instrument is our human eye.
Simply speaking, it consists of a lens and the retina, where the observed
object is displayed

The observed dimension (virtual dimension) of an object depends on the

observation angle (angle of sight ).
Objects of identical dimensions (G1 and G2) appear in different distances
with a different size (B1 and B2). The reason for that are the different
angles of sight (1 and 2)

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Optical Instruments
The human eye
 Accommodation:
By changing of the eye lens diameter the focal length and therefore the
angle of sight of the eye can be enlarged or diminished. Up to a certain
degree an adaptation to different object distances is possible. We call
this phenomenon ‘accommodation’.
 Conventional visual range:
Without effort a longer observation of objects is only possible with a
distance of approx. 25 cm. This is called ‘conventional visual range’.
To artificially enlarge the angle of sight resp. the visual range, devices like
magnifier, microscope or field glass are used.

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Optical Instruments
Magnifier
 It consists of a simple convex lens with small focal length
 The observed object is within the focal length, which means: the object
distance is smaller than the focal length
 As we showed on slide 8 the image, that is created is
- Enlarged
- Upright
- virtual

The function of a magnifier is

therefore to enlarge the angle of
sight for the human eye.
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Optical Instruments
Objectives
 Optical systems, which create a real image of the object
 Mostly composed of several lenses or mirrors
 In use for cameras, microscopes or field glasses
 The size of the image depends on the focal length of the
lenses and the distance of the object.

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Objectives
Microscope objectives
 The observed object is located between the focal length (f) and the
double focal length (2f)
 The created image is
- Enlarged
- Real
- Inverted (upside down)

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Objectives
Camera objectives
 The observed object is located beyond the double focal length (2f)
 The created image is
- Diminished
- Real
- Inverted (upside down)

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Summary: Optical lenses

What kind of lens types do we know?

 Convex – with outward curved surfaces
 Concave – with inward curved surfaces
 Plan – with flat surfaces
What are they doing?
 Bi-convex and plan-convex lenses are used as collecting lenses
 Bi-concave and plan-concave lenses are used as dispersing lenses

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Summary: Optical Instruments

Magnifier
 Consists of a simple convex lens
 Creates an image, that is
- Enlarged
- Upright
- Virtual
Microscope objective
 Optical system, mostly composed of several lenses and / or mirrors
 Creates an image, that is
- Enlarged
- Inverted
- Real
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