Lenses and Imaging (Part I)

Why is imaging necessary: Huygens principle Spherical & parallel ray bundles, points at infinity Refraction at spherical surfaces (paraxial approximation) Optical power and imaging condition Matrix formulation of geometrical optics The thin lens Surfaces of positive/negative power Real and virtual images
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Parabloid mirror: perfect focusing

(e.g. satellite dish) s(x) x f: focal length

x2 s(x ) = 4f

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Lens: main instrument for image formation

air glass air

optical axis

Point source (object)

Point image

The curved surface makes the rays bend proportionally to their distance from the optical axis, according to Snells law. Therefore, the divergent wavefront becomes convergent at the right-hand (output) side.
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Why are focusing instruments necessary?

Ray bundles: spherical waves and plane waves Point sources and point images Huygens principle and why we can see around us The role of classical imaging systems

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Ray bundles
point source
wave-front rays

spherical wave (diverging)

point source very-very far away

wave-front rays

plane wave

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Huygens principle
Each point on the wavefront acts as a secondary light source emitting a spherical wave The wavefront after a short propagation distance is the result of superimposing all these spherical wavelets

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optical wavefronts

Why are focusing instruments necessary?

incident light ... is scattered by the object

object
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Why are focusing instruments necessary?

incident light ... is scattered by the object

object
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need optics to undo the effects of scattering, i.e. focus the light

image

Ideal lens
air glass air

optical axis

Point sources (object)

Point images

Each point source from the object plane focuses onto a point image at the image plane; plane NOTE the image inversion
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Summary:
Why are imaging systems needed?
Each point in an object scatters the incident illumination into a spherical wave, according to the Huygens principle. A few microns away from the object surface, the rays emanating from all object points become entangled, delocalizing object details. To relocalize object details, a method must be found to reassign (focus) all the rays that emanated from a single point object into another point in space (the image.) The latter function is the topic of the discipline of Optical Imaging.

?
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The ideal optical imaging system

optical elements

object Ideal imaging system: each point in the object is mapped onto a single point in the image Real imaging systems introduce blur ...
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image

Focus, defocus and blur

Perfect focus Defocus

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Focus, defocus and blur

Perfect focus Imperfect focus
spherical aberration

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Why optical systems do not focus perfectly

Diffraction Aberrations However, in the paraxial approximation to Geometrical Optics that we are about to embark upon, optical systems do focus perfectly To deal with aberrations, we need non-paraxial Geometrical Optics (higher order approximations) To deal with diffraction, we need Wave Optics
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Ideal lens
air glass air

optical axis

Point sources (object)

Point images

Each point source from the object plane focuses onto a point image at the image plane
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Refraction at single spherical surface

for each ray, must calculate point of intersection with sphere angle between ray and normal to surface apply Snells law to find direction of propagation of refracted ray

R: radius of spherical surface

D01

D12

R center of spherical surface

medium 1 index n, e.g. air n=1

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medium 2 index n, e.g. glass n=1.5

Paraxial approximation /1
In paraxial optics, we make heavy use of the following approximate (1st order Taylor) expressions:

sin tan
1 1+ 1+ 2

cos 1

where is the angle between a ray and the optical axis, and is a small number ( 1 rad). The range of validity of this approximation typically extends up to ~10-30 degrees, depending on the desired degree of accuracy. This regime is also known as Gaussian optics or paraxial optics. Note the assumption of existence of an optical axis (i.e., perfect alignment!)
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Paraxial approximation /2
Ignore the distance between the location of the axial ray intersection and the actual off-axis ray intersection Apply Snells law as if ray bending occurred at the intersection of the axial ray with the lens
ay r s xi a f of

Valid for small curvatures & thin optical elements

axial ray
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Refraction at spherical surface

Refraction at positive spherical surface: x: ray height : ray direction R: radius of curvature

= x1 x1 n (n n ) 1 = 1 x1 n nR
Power

1
n
ray s i -ax f f o

x1

x1

n
optical axis

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Propagation in uniform space

Propagation through distance D: x: ray height : ray direction
ray s i x a off-

= x1 + D1 x1 1 = 1

1
x1
D

x1

optical axis

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Paraxial ray-tracing
air glass air

Free-space propagation Refraction at air-glass interface

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Free-space propagation Free-space propagation Refraction at glass-air interface

Example: one spherical surface, translation+refraction+translation

R: radius of spherical surface R

Paraxial rays (approximation valid)

D01

D12

Non-paraxial ray (approximation gives large error)

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medium 1 index n, e.g. air n=1

medium 2 index n, e.g. glass n=1.5

center of spherical surface

Translation+refraction+translation /1
0 = 1
x0 D01

n n
x1 x1

1 = 2
x2 D12

Starting ray: location x0 direction 0 Translation through distance D01 (+ direction):

x1 = x0 + D01 0 1 = 0

Refraction at positive spherical surface:

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= x1 x1 n (n n ) 1 = 1 x1 n nR

Translation+refraction+translation /2
0 = 1
x0 D01

n n
x1 x1

1 = 2
x2 D12

Translation through distance D12 (+ direction): Put together:

x2 = x1 + D121 2 = 1

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Translation+refraction+translation /3
0 = 1
x0 D01

n n
x1 x1

1 = 2
x2 D12

nD12 (n n)D01 D12 (n n)D12 0 x2 = + 1 x0 + D01 + + n nR nR

n (n n)D01 n n x0 + + 2 = 0 nR nR n

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Sign conventions for refraction

Light travels from left to right A radius of curvature is positive if the surface is convex towards the left Longitudinal distances are positive if pointing to the right Lateral distances are positive if pointing up Ray angles are positive if the ray direction is obtained by rotating the +z axis counterclockwise through an acute angle

optical axis +z

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On-axis image formation

Point object

Point image

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On-axis image formation

n n

2
x2

x0 = 0

0
D01 D12

All rays emanating at x0 arrive at x2 irrespective of departure angle 0

x2 =0 0

nD12 (n n )D01 D12 0 x2 = ["] x0 + D01 + n nR

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On-axis image formation

n n

2
x2

x0 = 0

0
D01 D12

All rays emanating at x0 arrive at x2 irrespective of departure angle 0

x2 =0 0

n n n n + = D12 D01 R
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Power of the spherical surface [units: diopters, diopters 1D=1 m -1 ]

Off-axis image formation

Point object (off-axis) optical axis Point image

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Magnification: lateral (off-axis), angle

0
0
n n

x0 = 0

2
D12

D01

x2

Lateral

mx =

x2 n n D12 n D12 = + 1 = ..... = x0 R n' n D01 m = D 2 = 01 0 D12

Angle
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Object-image transformation
0
0
n n

x0 = 0

2
D12

D01

x2

x2 = mx x0
1 2 = x0 + m 0 f

Ray-tracing transformation (paraxial) between object and image points

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Image of point object at infinity

Point image

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Image of point object at infinity

object at
x0 D01 =

0 = 0

n n
x0

2
image
x2 = 0 D12

n n n nR = D12 = f : image focal length D12 R n n

Note:

f = n

R n n

R n n
1/Power

ambient refractive index at space of point image

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Point object imaged at infinity

Point object

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Point object imaged at infinity

0
object
x0 = 0 D01 D12 =

n n

2 = 0
x2

image at

n n n nR = D01 = f : object focal length D01 R n n

Note:

f = n

R n n

R n n
1/Power

ambient refractive index at space of point object

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Image / object focal lengths

Point image Point object

Object at

Image at

f = n

R n n 1 = n Power

R f = n n n 1 = n Power

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Matrix formulation /1
x1 = x0 + D01 0 1 = 0
translation by distance D01

= x1 x1 n (n n) 1 = 1 + x1 n nR
refraction by surface with radius of curvature R

x2 = mx x0
1 2 = x0 + m 0 f
ray-tracing object-image transformation

out = M 11 in + M 12 xin xout = M 21 in + M 22 xin

form common to all
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Matrix formulation /2
out = M 11 in + M 12 xin xout = M 21 in + M 22 xin
nout out M 11 = x out M 21 M 12 n in M 22 xin
Power

Refraction by spherical surface

= x1 x1 n (n n) 1 = 1 + x1 n nR

n1 1 = x 1 0
1 n 1 D01 = x 1 n

n n R 1

n 1 x 1

Translation through uniform medium

x1 = x0 + D01 0 1 = 0
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0 n 0 1 x 0

Translation+refraction+translation
0 = 1
x0 D01

n n
x1
x1

1 = 2
x2 D12

n 2 translation refraction translation n 0 by r.curv. R by D = x x by D 01 12 2 0

result

(n n )D 01 n n n 2 = x + n + 0 R R

0
0

(n n )D 01 D 12 nD 12 (n n )D 12 + 1 x 0 + D 01 + + x2 = n R n n R
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Thin lens in air

n=1
in x in

n=1 n
( ) R
out x out

out ? ? in ? ? x = x in out
Objective: Objective specify input-output relationship
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Thin lens in air

n=1
R

n=1

( ) R

Model: refraction from first (positive) surface + refraction from second (negative) surface Ignore space in-between (thin lens approx.)
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Thin lens in air

n=1
in x in

R n

n=1

1 x 1

n 1 x 1

out x out

( ) R

n 1 n1 1 in = R x x 1 0 1 in
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1 n n out 1 1 = R x x out 0 1 1

Thin lens in air

n=1
in x in

n=1 n
( ) R
out x out

1 n out 1 = R x out 0 1 x = out 0

n 1 1 R 1 0 R 1

in x in

1 1 out 1 (n 1) in
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R x in

Thin lens in air

n=1
in x in

n=1 n
( ) R
out x out

Power of the first surface

n 1 P= R

1 n Power of the P = R second surface

in x in

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1 1 out 1 (n 1) = R R x out 0 1

Thin lens in air

n=1
in x in

n=1 n
P
out x out

out 1 Pthin lens 0 x = 1 out

Pthin lens
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in x in

n 1 1 n 1 1 Lens-makers = P + P = + = (n 1) formula R R R R

Thin lens in air

n=1
in x in

n=1 n
P
out x out

out 1 Pthin lens 0 x = 1 out

in x in

out = in Pthin lens xin

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xout = xin

Ray bending is proportional to the distance from the axis

The power of surfaces

Positive power bends rays inwards
1 n R>0 1 n R>0 1 1 n R>0 R<0
Bi-convex lens

Simple spherical refractor (positive)

Plano-convex lens

Negative power bends rays outwards

R<0 1 n R<0 1 n R<0 1 1 1 n R>0

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Bi-concave lens

Simple spherical refractor (negative)

Plano-concave lens