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Optical glass refers to a quality of glass suitable for the manufacture of optical systems such as optical lenses, prisms or mirrors.Unlike window glass or crystal, whose formula is adapted to the desired aesthetic effect, optical glass contains additives designed to modify certain optical or mechanical properties of the glass: refractive index, dispersion, transmittance, thermal expansion and ...
A familiar dispersive prism. An optical prism is a transparent optical element with flat, polished surfaces that are designed to refract light. At least one surface must be angled — elements with two parallel surfaces are not prisms. The most familiar type of optical prism is the triangular prism, which has a triangular base and rectangular ...
An artist's rendition of a dispersive prism is seen on the cover of Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon, one of the best-selling albums of all time. Somewhat unrealistically, the iconic graphic shows a divergent ray of white light passing the prism, separating into its spectrum only after leaving the prism's rear facet.
The borosilicate glass Schott BK7 (glass code 517642) is an extremely common crown glass, used in precision lenses. Borosilicates contain about 10% boric oxide, have good optical and mechanical characteristics, and are resistant to chemical and environmental damage.
Reflection coefficients of surfaces can be reduced to less than 0.2%, producing an antireflection (AR) coating. Conversely, the reflectivity can be increased to greater than 99.99%, producing a high-reflector (HR) coating. The level of reflectivity can also be tuned to any particular value, for instance to produce a mirror that reflects 90% and ...
The blue colour of the sky is a direct result of Rayleigh scattering which redirects higher frequency (blue) sunlight back into the field of view of the observer. Because blue light is scattered more easily than red light, the sun takes on a reddish hue when it is observed through a thick atmosphere, as during a sunrise or sunset. Additional ...
An extended hemispherical lens is a special type of plano-convex lens, in which the lens's curved surface is a full hemisphere and the lens is much thicker than the radius of curvature. Another extreme case of a thick convex lens is a ball lens, whose shape is completely round. When used in novelty photography it is often called a "lensball".
If there is refraction at a collective spherical surface, or through a thin positive lens, O'2 will lie in front of O'1 so long as the angle u2 is greater than u1 (under correction); and conversely with a dispersive surface or lenses (over correction). The caustic, in the first case, resembles the sign > (greater than); in the second < (less than).