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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:
The principal ray or chief ray (sometimes known as the b ray) in an optical system is the meridional ray that starts at an edge of an object and passes through the center of the aperture stop. [5] [8] [7] The distance between the chief ray (or an extension of it for a virtual image) and the optical axis at an image location defines the size of ...
A ray of light is characterized by the direction normal to the wave front (wave normal). When a ray encounters a surface, the angle that the wave normal makes with respect to the surface normal is called the angle of incidence and the plane defined by both directions is the plane of incidence. Reflection of the incident ray also occurs in the ...
Some of these project chosen geometry onto the image plane, as is done with rasterization today. Others determine what geometry is visible along a given ray, as is done with ray tracing. [6] [7] Using a computer for ray tracing to generate shaded pictures was first accomplished by Arthur Appel in 1968. [8]
An external ray is a curve that runs from infinity toward a Julia or Mandelbrot set. [1] Although this curve is only rarely a half-line (ray) it is called a ray because it is an image of a ray. External rays are used in complex analysis , particularly in complex dynamics and geometric function theory .
The image of the function is the set of all output values it may produce, that is, the image of . The preimage of f {\displaystyle f} , that is, the preimage of Y {\displaystyle Y} under f {\displaystyle f} , always equals X {\displaystyle X} (the domain of f {\displaystyle f} ); therefore, the former notion is rarely used.
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Examples of real images include the image produced on a detector in the rear of a camera, and the image produced on an eyeball retina (the camera and eye focus light through an internal convex lens). In ray diagrams (such as the images on the right), real rays of light are always represented by full, solid lines; perceived or extrapolated rays ...