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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:
In Euclidean geometry two rays with a common endpoint form an angle. [14] The definition of a ray depends upon the notion of betweenness for points on a line. It follows that rays exist only for geometries for which this notion exists, typically Euclidean geometry or affine geometry over an ordered field.
Half-line (geometry) or ray, half of a line split at an initial point Directed half-line or ray, half of a directed or oriented line split at an initial point; Ray (graph theory), an infinite sequence of vertices such that each vertex appears at most once in the sequence and each two consecutive vertices in the sequence are the two endpoints of an edge in the graph
A meridional ray is a ray that passes through the axis of an optical fiber. A skew ray is a ray that travels in a non-planar zig-zag path and never crosses the axis of an optical fiber. A guided ray, bound ray, or trapped ray is a ray in a multi-mode optical fiber, which is confined by the core.
In Euclidean geometry, an angle or plane angle is the figure formed by two rays, called the sides of the angle, sharing a common endpoint, called the vertex of the angle. [1] Two intersecting curves may also define an angle, which is the angle of the rays lying tangent to the respective curves at
A vertex of an angle is the endpoint where two lines or rays come together. In geometry, a vertex (pl.: vertices or vertexes) is a point where two or more curves, lines, or edges meet or intersect. As a consequence of this definition, the point where two lines meet to form an angle and the corners of polygons and polyhedra are vertices. [1] [2] [3]
All of these words are associated with a noun that has different meanings (hint: one definition of the noun refers to a flat-bodied fish with a long, whip-like tail).
In geometrical optics, a caustic is the envelope of a family of light rays. In this picture there is an arc of a circle. The light rays (shown in blue) are coming from a source at infinity, and so arrive parallel. When they hit the circular arc the light rays are scattered in different directions according to the law of reflection.