THE UNIVERSITY OF CENTRAL FLORIDA Geometrical Optics and Image Science (OSE 5203)

Radiometry and Photometry

FALL Semester 2010

James E. Harvey, Instructor

Comments about Radiometry

Radiometry deals with the study and measurement of electromagnetic
radiation and its transfer from one surface to another. In particular, it is concerned with how much source radiant power is transmitted through an optical system and collected at the detector surface.

We will briefly review a few radiometric concepts, and some terminology and
definitions required to perform radiometric calculations for imaging systems.

The subject of radiometry is somewhat of a neglected stepchild in the field of

physics (most physicists incorrectly refer to radiant power density on a surface as intensity rather than irradiance).

Electrical engineers are even less familiar with radiometric concepts and
quantities. It may thus be somewhat of a revelation that diffracted radiance (not irradiance or intensity) is the fundamental quantity predicted by scalar diffraction theory.*

For a more thorough discussion of the subject, I refer the reader to SPIE
Tutorial Text Volume TT29 entitled Introduction to Radiometry by W. L. Wolfe. Other excellent references are texts by Boyd, and by Dereniak and Boreman.

J. E. Harvey, et. al., Diffracted Radiance: A Fundamental Quantity in Non-paraxial Scalar Diffraction Theory, Appl. Opt. 38 (1 Nov 1999).

4.2

Outline
Radiometric and Photometric Definitions and Terminology The Lagrange Invariant The Solid Angle, Projected Area The Inverse Square Law The Fundamental Theorem of Radiometry Lamberts Cosine Law The Bidirectional Reflectance Distribution Function (BRDF, BSDF) Radiometry of Imaging Systems The Brightness Theorem (Conservation of radiance) Cosine-fourth Illumination Fall-off Radiometer and Detector Optics
4.3

(Definitions and Terminology)

Let us first review the definitions of the main radiometric quantities of interest.

Radiometry

Irradiance E = P Ac

(watts/are a) (watts/are a)
(1)

Radiant Exitance M = P As Radiant Intensity I = P c Radiance L = 2P cAs coss

(watts/ste radian) (watts/ste radian projected area)

There is an analogous set of quantities based upon the number of photons/sec rather than radiant power. This alternate set of units is useful when considering a detector that responds directly to photon events, rather than to thermal energy. Conversion between the two sets of units is easily done using the following relationship for the amount of energy per photon, = hc/ (Joule/photon). Note that the conversion factor depends upon the wavelength!
4.4

Getting Intense about Intensity*

Jim Palmer has stated that: The term intensity is probably the most misused and abused word in the technical literature today. It can be found to be used in at least six (6) contexts: (1) watts per steradian, (2) watts per unit area, (3) watts per unit area per steradian, (4) just plain watts, and most bizarre (5) cm-1/molecule-cm-2, and finally (6) cm-2-amagat-1. These last two are used to describe spectral line strengths.

Intensity is an International System of Units (SI) Base Quantity!

As an SI Base Quantity, it has the same stature as the other six SI Base Quantities: length (meter), mass (kilogram), time (second), electric current (ampere), thermodynamic temperature (Kelvin), and amount of substance (mole), and finally, intensity carries the units of watts per steradian! All other physical quantities are derived from these seven SI Base Quantities. Intensity is properly used when describing the radiation emanating from a point source, or a source small compared to the distance between the source and the collector. For extended sources, one must use the radiometric quantity radiance.

And most diffracting apertures should be considered to be extended sources!

James M. Palmer, Getting Intense about Intensity, Optics & Photonics News, (Feb 1995).

4.5

Photometry
Photometry is a special case of radiometry concerned with measurement of the visible part of the electromagnetic spectrum, whereas radiometry considers the whole spectrum. In the case of photometry, the wavelength sensitivity of the human eye is taken into account as a weighting factor. The official name for this sensitivity function is spectral luminous efficiency, and is shown here for normal daylight conditions. The inverse of this curve gives the number of watts of radiant power at any given wavelength that is required to produce a constant sensation of brightness. In photometry the unit of luminous power is the lumen. The lumen (watt) is the only fundamental unit in photometry (radiometry), in the sense that all other units are are defined in terms of lumens (watts), areas, and solid angles: Luminous (Radiant) Intensity Luminous (Radiant) Exitance Illuminance (Irradiance) Luminance or Brightness (Radiance)
4.6

The Lagrange Invariant

We have previously discussed marginal and chief rays. Recall that a ray originating at an axial object point and grazing the edge of the entrance pupil is called the marginal ray. A ray originating at the edge of the object field and passing through the center of the entrance pupil is called a chief ray. Thereafter, every time the marginal ray crosses the optical axis, we have an image plane; and every time the chief ray crosses the optical axis, we have a pupil plane.
Ray Chief

u y y

Margin al Ray

Optical Axis u Pupil Plane Image Plane

The marginal ray height (y ) and angle (u) in any arbitrary plane will be distinguished from the chief ray height (y )and angle (u) by placing a bar over the chief ray parameters. The Lagrange Invariant

H = y(nu ) y(nu)

(2)

is an invariant quantity throughout the entire system, not just at conjugate planes. In the special case of conjugate planes, the Lagrange invariant reduces to the Helmholtz Invariant. 4.7

The Solid Angle

(Steradians)

4.8

Projected Area
The solid angle, , subtended by an arbitrary surface area, A (not on the surface of a sphere) as seen by a point P, is defined as the ratio of the projected area, A, upon a sphere divided by the square of the radius of that sphere.

= A r2

If the area, A, is tilted at an angle (measured from the surface normal to the line of sight), its solid angular subtense is reduced by a factor of cos from what it would be if it were not tilted. For the special case of a small plane area A (such as a detector element) inclined at an angle from the line-of-sight from a point P, the solid angle subtended by the detector is given by The quantity A cos is referred to as a projected area.
4.9

The Inverse Square Law

The Inverse Square Law, which is usually stated as the illumination (irradiance) on a surface is inversely proportional to the square of the distance from a point source, follows almost intuitively from the definition of radiant intensity from a point source and the law of conservation of energy. It can be readily verified with any small source and a photographic exposure meter. Clearly the irradiance on a sphere centered upon a luminous point source is given by:

E= P 2 4 r
Likewise, it is true in general that, Light doth decrease in duplicate proportion to its distance of propagation from the luminous body. Robert Hooke (1635-1703).

E 12

i.e., radiant power density (irradiance) is inversely proportional to the square of the distance from the source to the surface of interest. 4.10

The Fundamental Theorem of Radiometry

d 2 P = L dA1 cos1 dA2 cos2 r2

(3)

1
dA1
r

dA2

Assuming small angles, we can group the r 2 with either the source or the receiver projected area and obtain two equivalent expressions

d 2 P = L d1 dA2 cos2 = L dA1 cos1 d2

Dropping the differentials, the radiant power transmitted to the collector from the source is given by the product of the source radiance and either of the two projected area, solid angle Ap products.

P = L 1 A2 cos2 = L A1 cos1 2
A1

A2
4.11

Either Ap product can be used. This is often a convenient flexibility in making calculations.

Johann Heinrich Lambert (1728-1777)

Johann Heinrich Lambert was born the son of a tailor in Mulhasen, Sundgau, Switzerland (now Mulhouse, Alsace, France) in 1728. At the age of 12 he was taken out of school in a spurious effort to teach him a tailors skills. Instead his younger brother became a tailor and Johann used his spare time to acquire knowledge in an autodidactic manner, studying literature, the Latin and French languages, calculus and elementary sciences. He also became interested in astronomy and began observing the night sky. In 1743 be was employed as a bookkeeper for an ironworks company. He observed the comet of 1744 and tried to calculate its orbit. In 1745 he became Secretary to Professor Iselin, the editor of a newspaper at Basel, who three years later recommended him as a private tutor to the family of Count A. von Salis of Coire. Coming thus into virtual possession of a good library, Lambert had peculiar opportunities for improving himself in his literary and scientific studies. He eventually became a member of the Berlin Academy of Sciences by Fredrich II, the King of Prussia. He died of consumption in 1777 in Berlin at the age of 49. He was honored during his life by a number of academic memberships, and is now remembered in the names of several physical laws and units.

The photometrical unit "Lambert" for luminosity density (1 la = 0.3183099 candela / cm2). The Lambert-Beer law for extinction of light in solutions. Lambert's law of illumination density, Lamberts Cosine Law The Bouguer-Lambert law of exponential decrement (e.g. of radiation in opaque media). Lambertian Surface: Ideally white surface which reflects all light in diffuse manner.

Perhaps best known for being the first to prove that is an irrational number.

Lamberts Cosine Law (1760)

In optics, Lambert's cosine law says that the radiant intensity observed from a "Lambertian" surface is directly proportional to the cosine of the angle between the observer's line of sight and the surface normal. The law is also known as the cosine emission law or Lambert's emission law. It is named after Johann Heinrich Lambert, from his Photometria, published in 1760.
Io

Lo=Io/dA
Io cos

L=

I cos I = o = Lo dA cos dA cos

L = Lo

cos = Lo cos

An important consequence of Lambert's cosine law is that when a Lambertian surface is viewed from any angle, it has the same apparent radiance. This means, for example, that to the human eye it has the same apparent brightness (or luminance). It has the same radiance because, although the emitted power from a given area element is reduced by the cosine of the emission angle, the size of the observed area is decreased by a corresponding amount. Therefore, its radiance (power per unit solid angle per unit projected source area) is the same.

Lamberts Cosine Law and Lambertian Sources

Many extended sources of radiation (most thermal sources, for example) obey, approximately at least, Lamberts Cosine Law, which can be stated as: the radiant intensity emitted from a Lambertian source decreases with the cosine of the angle from the normal to the surface

I ( ) = Io cos

(4)

Hence, although the emitted radiation per stradian (intensity) falls off with cosine in accordance with Lamberts Law, the projected area falls off at exactly the same rate. The result is that the radiance of a Lambertian surface is constant with respect to . This is readily observable by noting that the brightness of a Lambertian source (or reflecting surface) is the same regardless of the angle from which it is viewed. It should be noted here that there are many diffusely reflecting (no specular reflection) surfaces. However, a Lambertian surface is an ideal or perfectly diffuse surface that strictly obeys Lamberts Cosine Law. There are also, of course, partially diffuse surfaces whose reflected radiation consists of both a specular component and a diffuse (or scattered) component. The bi-directional reflectance distribution function (BRDF) is a very general function used by the radiometric community for describing these situations. 4.12

Radiation into a Hemisphere

For a perfectly diffuse (Lambertian) source radiating into a hemisphere, the following relationships exist between the radiant exitance (M), radiant intensity (I ), radiance (L), and the source area (A):

M = L = I/A,

I = MA/ = LA

L = M/ = I/A

M
R2

M Geometry of a Lambertian source radiating into a hemisphere.

M=L

(5)

Note that the relationship between radiance and radiant exitance is L = M / , a consequence of Lamberts cosine law, and not L = M /2 (as we might reason from the fact that there are 2 steradians in a hemisphere). 4.13

Bidirectional Reflectance Distribution Function

(Scattered Radiance)
The bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF) is a fundamental quantity that completely describes the scattering properties of a surface. It is defined as the reflected radiance (radiant power per unit solid angle per unit projected area) in a given direction divided by the incident irradiance (radiant power per unit area)

dLr ( r ,r ;i ,i ) BRDF = f ( r ,r ;i ,i ) = dEi (i ,i )

(6)

The BRDF is a function of the angles of reflectance, (r , r), and the angles of incidence, (i,i), as well as the wavelength of the incident radiation and the state of polarization of both the incident and reflected waves. The angles used in the above definition are illustrated here for a narrow beam at a fixed angle of incidence, we can drop the differentials and approximate the resulting quantity as

BRDFi ,i =

Lr ( r ,r ;i ,i ) dP( r ,r ) / d A cos( ) = Ei (i ,i ) Po / A

(7)
4.14

Radiometry of Imaging Systems

Assuming axial symmetry (i.e., a circular object and a circular aperture stop), we can sketch a marginal ray and a chief ray in both object space and image space Object Space Image Space

From the fundamental theorem of radiometry, the power collected by the entrance pupil is given by

yo2 ye2 Pe = L to2

2

(8)
4.15

The Brightness Theorem

L = L = const. n2 n2

(9)

Note that the Lagrange invariant can be readily evaluated in the object plane, the entrance pupil plane, the exit pupil plane, and the image plane

= nyou = nyeu = nyeu = nyou

4.16

Image Irradiance
The quantity referred to as the throughput or etendue of the system is also proportional to an Area-solid angle product
2 yo ye2 = Aoe 2 to2 2 2 2 2 = n 2 Aoe = n 2 Aeo = n2 Aeo = n2 Aoe
Object Plane Entrance Pupil Exit Pupil Image Plane

Now, from the brightness theorem we know that the radiance of the exit pupil is the same as the radiance of the source (if n = n ), and from the above expression for the square of the Lagrange invariant in the image plane, we can write the irradiance in the image plane as the radiant power collected by the entrance pupil divided by the area of the image

2L E = Pe Ao =

Ao n2
(10)

E = L e

Therefore, the irradiance in the final image plane is given by the radiance of the source times the solid angle subtended by the exit pupil at the image. 4.17

Equivalence of Solid Angle, F#, and Lagrange Invariant

Recall that the front effective F# is a measure of the marginal ray angle in object space

tan u =

# 2 F front eff

# F front eff =

d Den

Hence, for paraxial angles the solid angle subtended by the entrance pupil at the object is related to the front effective F#

e = u 2 =

4F

front eff

#2

and the solid angle subtended by the exit pupil at the image is related to the rear effective F#

e = u 2 =

4 F #2

rear eff

Hence, we have

= n 2 Aoe = n 2 Aeo = n2 Aeo = n2 Aoe =

2 2 2 2
Object Plane Entrance Pupil Exit Pupil Image Plane

n 2 Ao 4 F
#

n 2 Ao 4 F
#

front eff

rear eff

4.18

Cosine-Fourth Illumination Fall-Off

When imaging an extended object plane of uniform radiance, the off-axis image points will exhibit a cosine-to-the-fourth illumination fall-off. This is readily shown by applying the fundamental theorem of radiometry, first to the on-axis image point A, then to the off-axis image point H.

O
Exit Pupil

Image Plane

The illumination at an image point is proportional to the solid angle subtended by the exit pupil at the image point. We get a factor of cos 2 because the distance OH is greater than the distance OA by a factor of 1/cos . The exit pupil is viewed obliquely from the point H and the projected area is reduced by the factor cos. Thus the illumination at point H is reduced by a factor of cos 3 . This is, however, true for illumination on a plane normal to the line OH (indicated by the dashed line in the figure). We want the illumination on the plane AH, which is reduced by another factor of cos because the illumination on the dashed plane is spread out over a larger area on the AH plane. This results in a cosine-fourth fall-off which can be quite a severe reduction of some wide-angle cameras. 4.19

Radiometer and Detector Optics

A radiometer is a device or instrument for measuring the radiation from a source. In simple form, it may consist of an objective lens (or mirror) which collects the radiation from the source and images it upon the detector. In many applications of radiometers, the following characteristics are desired:
Objective Lens Detector u D

In order to collect a large quantity of radiant power from the source, the diameter, D, should be as large as possible. In order to increase the signal-to-noise ratio, the size of the detector, s, should be as small as possible. In order to cover a practical field-of-view, the field angle, , should be of reasonable size (and often as large as possible). Since the F # cannot exceed 0.5 and sin u cannot exceed 1.0, the objective diameter, half field angle, and detector size are related by

f
The semi field-of-view is given by

= s , hence D = Ds =
2f 2f NA = N sin u = D s

s 2F #

The numerical aperture is thus given by

D < 1.0 s

(11)

This relationship could also be derived from the Lagrange invariant with no assumptions about the system between the object and the detector. 4.20

Application of an Immersion Lens

An immersion lens is a means of increasing the numerical aperture of an optical system by a factor of the index N of the immersion lens, usually without modifying the characteristics of the system. Another way of considering the immersion lens is to think of it as a magnifier which enlarges the apparent size of the detector. The most frequently utilized form of immersion lens is a hemispherical element in optical contact with the detector as illustrated below.

Objective Lens

Immersion Lens

Index N
4.21

Application of Field Lenses in Radiometers

It is not unusual that one wants to use an objective of relatively large F# with a small detector, and still cover a large field-of-view. This is readily accomplished by using a field lens. The field lens is located at (or more frequently, near) the image plane of the objective lens and redirects the rays at the edge of the field toward the detector as shown below. The field lens actually images the objective lens (aperture stop) onto the detector. The optimum condition is when this exit pupil is the same size as the detector. This arrangement not only makes a larger field angle possible, but it also provides uniform illumination over a large portion of the detector surface.

Most detectors vary in sensitivity from point to point over the their surface. When the exit pupil is imaged onto the detector, the same area of the detector is illuminated regardless of where the source is located in the field-of-view.

4.22

Homework Assignment #6
1. Compare the radiance of a one (1) milliwatt laser beam with a cross-sectional area of one (1) square mm and a divergence angle of one (1) milliradian, with that of a 100 watt incandescent lamp with a (spherical) filament one (1) square millimeter of area (i.e., a filament that radiates equally in all directions).

4.23