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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.
Convex mirror lets motorists see around a corner. Detail of the convex mirror in the Arnolfini Portrait. The passenger-side mirror on a car is typically a convex mirror. In some countries, these are labeled with the safety warning "Objects in mirror are closer than they appear", to warn the driver of the convex mirror's distorting effects on distance perception.
For optics like convex lenses, the converging point of the light exiting the lens is on the input side of the focal plane, and is positive in optical power. For concave lenses, the focal point is on the back side of the lens, or the output side of the focal plane, and is negative in power.
Instead, the angular aperture of a lens (or an imaging mirror) is expressed by the f-number, written f /N, where N is the f-number given by the ratio of the focal length f to the diameter of the entrance pupil D: =. This ratio is related to the image-space numerical aperture when the lens is focused at infinity. [3]
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:
The focal point F and focal length f of a positive (convex) lens, a negative (concave) lens, a concave mirror, and a convex mirror.. The focal length of an optical system is a measure of how strongly the system converges or diverges light; it is the inverse of the system's optical power.
For a thin lens or a curved mirror, + =, where u is the distance from the object to the center of the lens or mirror, v is the distance from the lens or mirror to the image, and f is the focal length of the lens or mirror.
Thin lenses produce focal points on either side that can be modeled using the lensmaker's equation. [5] In general, two types of lenses exist: convex lenses, which cause parallel light rays to converge, and concave lenses, which cause parallel light rays to diverge. The detailed prediction of how images are produced by these lenses can be made ...