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Geometrical optics, or ray optics, is a model of optics that describes light propagation in terms of rays. The ray in geometrical optics is an abstraction useful for approximating the paths along which light propagates under certain circumstances. The simplifying assumptions of geometrical optics include that light rays: propagate in straight ...
In optics, a ray is an idealized geometrical model of light or other electromagnetic radiation, obtained by choosing a curve that is perpendicular to the wavefronts of the actual light, and that points in the direction of energy flow. [1] [2] Rays are used to model the propagation of light through an optical system, by dividing the real light ...
This relates the ray vectors at the input and output planes by the ray transfer matrix (RTM) M, which represents the optical component or system present between the two reference planes. A thermodynamics argument based on the blackbody radiation [ citation needed ] can be used to show that the determinant of a RTM is the ratio of the indices of ...
Optics is the branch of physics that studies the behaviour and properties of light, including its interactions with matter and the construction of instruments that use or detect it. [1] Optics usually describes the behaviour of visible, ultraviolet, and infrared light. Light is a type of electromagnetic radiation, and other forms of ...
Fermat's principle, also known as the principle of least time, is the link between ray optics and wave optics. Fermat's principle states that the path taken by a ray between two given points is the path that can be traveled in the least time. First proposed by the French mathematician Pierre de Fermat in 1662, as a means of explaining the ...
The classical eikonal equation in geometric optics is a differential equation of the form. (1) where lies in an open subset of , is a positive function, denotes the gradient, and is the Euclidean norm. The function is given and one seeks solutions . In the context of geometric optics, the function is the refractive index of the medium.
Propagation of a ray through a layer. The transfer-matrix method is a method used in optics and acoustics to analyze the propagation of electromagnetic or acoustic waves through a stratified medium; a stack of thin films. [1] [2] This is, for example, relevant for the design of anti-reflective coatings and dielectric mirrors .
Snell's law. Refraction of light at the interface between two media of different refractive indices, with n 2 > n 1. Since the velocity is lower in the second medium (v 2 < v 1 ), the angle of refraction θ 2 is less than the angle of incidence θ 1; that is, the ray in the higher-index medium is closer to the normal.