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An electromagnetic wave propagating along a path C has the phase shift over C as if it was propagating a path in a vacuum, length of which, is equal to the optical path length of C. Thus, if a wave is traveling through several different media, then the optical path length of each medium can be added to find the total optical path length. The ...
The optical path length from the light source is used to compute the phase. The derivative of the position of the ray in the focal region on the source position is used to obtain the width of the ray, and from that the amplitude of the plane wave. The result is the point spread function, whose Fourier transform is the optical transfer function.
Each optical element (surface, interface, mirror, or beam travel) is described by a 2 × 2 ray transfer matrix which operates on a vector describing an incoming light ray to calculate the outgoing ray. Multiplication of the successive matrices thus yields a concise ray transfer matrix describing the entire optical system.
Image distance in a spherical mirror + = () Subscripts 1 and 2 refer to initial and final optical media respectively. These ratios are sometimes also used, following simply from other definitions of refractive index, wave phase velocity, and the luminal speed equation:
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 ]
Fabry–Pérot interferometer, using a pair of partially reflective, slightly wedged optical flats. The wedge angle is highly exaggerated in this illustration; only a fraction of a degree is actually necessary to avoid ghost fringes. Low-finesse versus high-finesse images correspond to mirror reflectivities of 4% (bare glass) and 95%.
The air mass coefficient defines the direct optical path length through the Earth's atmosphere, expressed as a ratio relative to the path length vertically upwards, i.e. at the zenith. The air mass coefficient can be used to help characterize the solar spectrum after solar radiation has traveled through the atmosphere.
By knowing the molar absorptivity of the material and varying the path length, absorption can be plotted as a function of path length. See sample plot to the right: See sample plot to the right: By taking a linear regression of the linear plot above an expression relating Absorbance, A, slope, m, pathlength and concentration can be derived.