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The optical path difference between the paths taken by two identical waves can then be used to find the phase change. Finally, using the phase change, the interference between the two waves can be calculated. Fermat's principle states that the path light takes between two points is the path that has the minimum optical path length.
A simple example of an afocal optical system is an optical telescope imaging a star, the light entering the system is from the star at infinity (to the left) and the image it forms is at infinity (to the right), i.e., the collimated light is collimated by the afocal system. [2]
Fig. 1: Fermat's principle in the case of refraction of light at a flat surface between (say) air and water. Given an object-point A in the air, and an observation point B in the water, the refraction point P is that which minimizes the time taken by the light to travel the path APB.
Afocal photography works with any system that can produce a virtual image of parallel light, for example telescopes and microscopes. Afocal photographic setups work because the imaging device's eyepiece produces collimated light and with the camera's lens focused at infinity, creating an afocal system with no net convergence or divergence in the light path between the two devices. [2]
Optical path (OP) is the trajectory that a light ray follows as it propagates through an optical medium. The geometrical optical-path length or simply geometrical path length ( GPD ) is the length of a segment in a given OP, i.e., the Euclidean distance integrated along a ray between any two points. [ 1 ]
This image demonstrates a simple but typical Michelson interferometer. The bright yellow line indicates the path of light. The Michelson interferometer is a common configuration for optical interferometry and was invented by the 19/20th-century American physicist Albert Abraham Michelson. Using a beam splitter, a light source is split into two ...
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Diagram of a lamp reflector, showing path that light typically takes from a light source. Umbrella - studio flash. Similar to a domestic lampshade , these reflectors are fixed to an artificial light source (for example, a filament bulb or flash tube) to direct and shape the otherwise scattered light, reflecting it off their concave inner ...