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A ray diagram for a plane mirror. The incident light rays from the object create an apparent mirror image for the observer. A plane mirror is made using some highly reflecting and polished surface such as a silver or aluminium surface in a process called silvering. [6] After silvering, a thin layer of red lead oxide is applied at the back of ...
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.
A convex mirror diagram showing the focus, focal length, centre of curvature, principal axis, etc. A convex mirror or diverging mirror is a curved mirror in which the reflective surface bulges towards the light source. [1] Convex mirrors reflect light outwards, therefore they are not used to focus light.
The image in a plane mirror is not magnified (that is, the image is the same size as the object) and appears to be as far behind the mirror as the object is in front of the mirror. A diverging lens (one that is thicker at the edges than the middle) or a concave mirror forms a virtual image. Such an image is reduced in size when compared to the ...
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 ...
The secondary mirror, however, is of a hyperbolic shape with one focus coinciding with that of the primary mirror and the other focus being at the back focal length . Thus, the classical Cassegrain has ideal focus for the chief ray (the center spot diagram is one point).
Mirrors with curved surfaces can be modelled by ray tracing and using the law of reflection at each point on the surface. For mirrors with parabolic surfaces, parallel rays incident on the mirror produce reflected rays that converge at a common focus. Other curved surfaces may also focus light, but with aberrations due to the diverging shape ...
A parabolic (or paraboloid or paraboloidal) reflector (or dish or mirror) is a reflective surface used to collect or project energy such as light, sound, or radio waves. Its shape is part of a circular paraboloid , that is, the surface generated by a parabola revolving around its axis.