GEOMETRIC OPTICS

REFLECTION AND
REFRACTION OF LIGHT
 What is Geometrical optics?
• The use of Light rays to determine the path
of light when it strikes an object.
 Geometrical optics
• In describing the propagation
of light as a wave we need to
understand:
wave fronts: a surface
passing through points of a wave
that have the same phase and
amplitude.
rays: a ray describes the
direction of wave propagation. A
ray is a vector perpendicular to
the wave front.
 What is Light?
• Light is an electromagnetic radiation that
can produce a visual sensation, which is
used in many ways like fraction, reflection
and polarization of it.
 Plane Mirror
• Mirror – metal coating on a glass.
• The metal what does the reflection, so when the light ray
comes in and hits the mirror and bounce off.
• Why did that happen?
• It happened because we knew that light is made up of
electric field and magnetic field and when those electric
and magnetic fields hit the metal, the little chargers in the
metal starts to vibrate it vibrates at the same frequency
reradiate itself out into another ray at the same
frequency.
• Metal cause the reflection. The purpose of the glass is to
keep the metal flat.
What is Refraction?
What is total Internal Reflection?
 Focal Length
• The focal length f is the distance from the
surface of the mirror to the focal point. It
can be shown that the focal length is half
the radius of curvature of the mirror.
• Sign Convention: the focal length is
negative if the focal point is behind the
mirror. For a concave mirror, f = ½R
For a convex mirror, f = −½R
(R is always positive)