Chapter 9

Optics
Light waves
 Light generally refers to the narrow band of
EM waves that can be seen by human
beings.
 These are transverse waves.
 The frequencies range from 4×1014 to 7.5×1014
hertz.

2
Light waves, cont’d
 We typically express the wavelengths in
nanometers.
1 nanometer = 10−9 meter
= 0.000 000 001 meter
= 1 nm

 The wavelengths of visible light range from

750 nm (red light) to 400 nm (blue light).

3
Light waves, cont’d
 Keep in mind that:
 We perceive different frequencies of light as
different colors, and
 White light is typically a combination of all
frequencies of the visible spectrum.

4
Light waves, cont’d
 To describe various properties of light, we
use two different
methods:
 wavefronts, or
 light rays.

5
Reflection
 Specular reflection is reflection off of a very
smooth surface.
 Specular reflection
occurs when the
direction the light
wave is traveling
changes.

6
Reflection, cont’d
 To study reflection, we need some
terminology.
 The normal is an imaginary line drawn
perpendicular to
the mirror and
touching it at the
point where the
incident ray
strikes the
mirror.

7
Reflection, cont’d
 The angle of incident is the angle between
the incident ray and the normal.
 The angle of reflection is the angle between
the reflected ray
and the normal.

8
Reflection, cont’d
 The law of reflection states that the angle of
incidence equals the angle of reflection.

9
Reflection, cont’d
 Diffuse reflection occurs when light strikes a
surface that is not smooth and polished but
rough.
 The light rays
reflect off the
random bumps
and nicks in the
surface.

10
Reflection, cont’d
 Objects have color because the light actually
penetrates into the material.
 Some of the light is reflected and some is
absorbed.

11
Reflection, cont’d
 A white surface takes the color of whatever
light strikes the surface.
 Shining a red light onto a white piece of paper
makes the paper look red.

12
Reflection, cont’d
 A colored surface only reflects light of the
same “color” as the surface.
 A red surface looks red when you shine white
light on it.
 It appears somewhat black if you shine blue on it.

13
Diffraction
 Diffraction occurs when a wave passes
through a hole or a slit.
 It is only observable when the opening is not
too much
larger than the
wavelength of
the wave.

14
Diffraction, cont’d
 Since the wavelength of visible light is so
small, diffraction is not noticeable through a
window.
 You need a very narrow slight to see the
diffraction of light.
 This figure shows the
result of laser light after
passing through a slit
0.008 cm wide.
 The screen was
10 meters from the slit.

15
Interference
 Interference occurs when two waves overlap.
 Two waves are said to be “in phase” when
their peaks overlap.
 When two waves are in phase, their
amplitudes add.
 This is called constructive interference.

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Interference, cont’d
 Two waves are said to be “out of phase”
when the peaks of one wave overlap the
valleys of the other..
 When two waves are out of phase, their
amplitudes cancel.
 This is called destructive interference.

17
Interference, cont’d
 Here is a diagram illustrating a two-slit
interference experiment.
 Light is passed through two slits.
 The light strikes a screen behind the slits.
 An interference
pattern appears on
the slit.

18
Interference, cont’d
 Bright regions on the screen indicate
constructive interference.
 The light from each slit constructively interfere.
 Dark regions on the screen indicate
destructive
interference.
 The light from each
slit destructively
interferes.

19
Interference, cont’d
 Here is an actual photograph of two-slit
interference using a laser.

20
Interference, cont’d
 Thin-film interference occurs when light
passes through a thin layer of one substance
next to another substance.
 Here, light passes
from air, through a
thin layer of oil
floating on a
surface of water.

21
Interference, cont’d
 Some of the light is reflected off the top
surface of the oil.
 The rest of the light passes through the oil.
 Some of the
transmitted light
is eventually
reflected off the
water’s surface and
passes back into
the air.
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Interference, cont’d
 The ray that passes through the oil travels a
greater distance.
 If the two waves emerge in step, you have
constructive
interference.
 If the two waves
emerge out of step,
you have
destructive
interference.
23
Interference, cont’d
 Important factors that determine whether the
interference is constructive or destructive
include:
 The wavelength of the light,
 The thickness of the film, and
 The angle at which the light strikes the film.

 If a single wavelength of light is used, you

obtain bright and dark areas.
 If several wavelengths of light are used (white
light), you obtain different colors
24
Interference, cont’d
 Here are two examples of thin-film
interference using multi-wavelength light.

25
Polarization
 Imagine a rope attached at one end to a wall.
 The other end is free for you to move.
 If you move your hand from side-to-side, we
would say that the wave is horizontally
polarized.

26
Polarization, cont’d
 If you move your hand from up and down, we
would say that the wave is vertically
polarized.
 Polarization is only possible with transverse
waves.

27
Polarization, cont’d
 Since light is a transverse wave, it can be
polarized.
 A Polaroid filter, absorbs light passing
through it unless the light is polarized in a
particular direction.

28
Polarization, cont’d
 If vertically polarized light is passed through a
vertical polarizer, all the light passes.
 If light polarized to 45º from the vertical is
passed through a vertical polarized, only
some of the light passes.

29
Polarization, cont’d
 If horizontally polarized light is passed
through a vertical polarizer, none of the light
passes through the polarizer.

30
Polarization, cont’d
 Most light is unpolarized.
 It contains components with random
polarizations.
 If unpolarized light is passed through a
vertical polarizer, then
only those components
that were originally
vertically polarized
pass through the
filter.
31
Polarization, cont’d
 LCDs use
perpendicular
polarizers with a
liquid crystal to
either allow or block
light.
 The liquid crystal
changes the
polarization of the
light.
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Plane mirrors
 Most mirrors are plane mirrors.
 They are flat and almost perfect reflectors of
light.
 The reflection
appears to
originate from
behind the mirror.

33
One-way mirrors
 A “one-way mirror” is made by partially
coating glass so that it reflects some of the
light and allows the rest to pass through.
 This is called a
half-silvered mirror.

34
One-way mirrors, cont’d
 The one-way mirror acts as a mirror for the
side that is brightly lit.
 It acts as a window on the dimly lit side.
 If a bright light is turned on in the dimmer
room, the
“one-way” effect is
lost.

35
Curved mirrors
 A concave mirror is a mirror that curves
inward on the reflecting side.
 Parallel rays that reflect off the mirror are
focused at a point
called the focal point.

36
Curved mirrors, cont’d
 A concave mirror can be used to create an
image larger than that created by a plane
mirror.

37
Curved mirrors, cont’d
 A convex mirror is curved outward on the
reflecting side.
 It creates an image smaller than a plane
mirror.

38
Curved mirrors, cont’d
 An advantage of a convex mirror is that it has
a wide field of view.
 Images of things spread over a wide area can
be viewed in it.

39
Curved mirrors, cont’d
 Here is an example of
the image from a
convex mirror.

40
Astronomical mirrors
 Many large telescopes use curved mirrors.
 Here is a common design.
 The large, concave mirror focus the object on
the smaller, convex mirror, and then to the
eye.

41
Astronomical mirrors, cont’d
 A problem with large mirrors is spherical
aberration.
 This occurs when not
all of the rays focus at
the same point.
 This can be overcome
by using a parabolic
mirror instead of a
spherical mirror.

42
Astronomical mirrors, cont’d
 The Hubble telescope originally had an
aberration problem, as seen in these two
images.

43
Refraction
 Imagine a light ray passing through air as it
arrives at the surface of another transparent
substance, e.g., glass.
 The boundary between the air and the glass is
called an interface.

44
Refraction, cont’d
 Part of the ray passes into the glass while the
rest reflects.
 The reflected law obeys the law of reflection.
 The ray that passes into the glass obeys the
law of
refraction.

45
Refraction, cont’d
 The ray that passes into the glass is called
the refracted ray.
 The angle between the refracted ray and the
normal is the angle of refraction.

46
Refraction, cont’d
 The law of refraction states that:
 a light ray is bent toward the normal when it
enters a transparent medium in which light
travels slower.
 a light ray is bent away from the normal when
it enters a
transparent
medium in
which light
travels
faster.
47
Refraction, cont’d
 This figure illustrates the effect
as the light passes from the
glass into the air.
 Since light travels faster in air
than glass, the ray is bent
away from the normal.
 The principle of reversibility
states that the path of a light
ray through a refracting
surface is reversible.
48
Refraction, cont’d

49
Refraction, cont’d
 Why does light slow down when it passes into
a transparent medium?
 Recall that light is an electromagnetic wave.
 It is composed of oscillating electric and magnetic
fields.
 As this wave passes through the medium, it
interacts with the electrons.
 The electrons then begin to oscillate and
radiate EM waves.

50
Refraction, cont’d
 These emitted waves tend to lag behind the
incident waves.
 Because of the lag, the speed at which the
light propagates through the medium is
reduced.

51
Refraction, cont’d
 The reason a change in speed causes the
light to bend can be seen by examining the
wavefronts as they cross the interface.

52
Refraction, cont’d
 The wavefronts have to stay parallel after
they enter the glass.

53
Refraction, cont’d
 Since the light travels slower in the glass, the
wavefronts must point in a different direction
to remain aligned.

54
Refraction, cont’d
 This has the effect of reducing the
wavelength.
 The speed of light is determined by the type of
medium.
 The frequency must remain constant.
 If you shine red light into glass, it still looks like
red light.
 So our formula still holds.

v= fλ
55
Refraction, cont’d
 Here is a graph of the angle of incidence
passing
from air
into glass.

56
Example
Example 9.1
The figure depicts a light ray going from air into
glass with an angle of incidence of 60º. Find
the angle of refraction.

57
Example
Example 9.1
ANSWER:
Looking at Figure 9.34, we can find the
refracted angle
since we know
the incident
angle.
So the refracted
angle is 36º.

58
Total internal reflection
 Consider passing light from glass to air.
 The light passes from the glass into the air.
 As the angle of incidence increases, there
reaches a certain angle at which light no
longer passes out of the glass.
 This means all the light is reflected back into
the glass.

59
Total internal reflection, cont’d
 This phenomenon is called total internal
reflection.
 The angle at which total internal reflection
begins is called the critical angle.

60
Total internal reflection, cont’d
 At an angle of
43º, the angle of
refraction equals
90º.
 So, the critical
angle is 43º.
 This could be
seen from
Table 9.34.

61
Example
Example 9.2
A homeowner wishes to mount a floodlight on a
wall of a swimming pool under water so as to
provide the maximum illumination of the
surface of the pool for use at night. At what
angle with respect to the wall would the light
be pointed?

62
Example
Example 9.2
ANSWER:
To illuminate the surface, we want the light to
be refracted so that the angle of refraction is
along the surface.
This corresponds to total internal reflection.

So we need the critical angle for water into air.

63
Example
Example 9.2
ANSWER:
Table 9.1 gives the critical angle as 48.6º.

64
Fiber optics
 Optical fibers use total internal reflection.
 They are flexible, coated strands of glass
through which you can pass light.
 With total internal reflection, the light passes
down the strand without passing out the
sides.
 So most of the light exits the strand.

65
Lenses and images
 A lens is a piece of glass (or other material)
specially ground to alter the paths of light
rays.
 Imagine a block of glass round so that one
end takes the shape of a segment of a
sphere.

66
Lenses and images, cont’d
 The optical axis is the symmetry line.
 Assume that parallel rays are striking the
convex side of the glass.
 The incident rays are refracted.
 Above the optical axis are refracted down, those below
are refract up.

67
Lenses and images, cont’d
 The overall effect is that the light is focused at
a point, called the focal point.
 One can work this out from the law of refraction by
considering each ray.
 So a convex surface serves to converge
incoming light.

68
Lenses and images, cont’d
 Next, shine light on a concave surface of
glass.
 The rays diverge as the light passes into the
light.

69
Lenses and images, cont’d
 But they diverge as if they originated at a
point outside of the glass.

 So a concave surface serves to diverge

incoming light.

70
Lenses and images, cont’d
 A converging lens causes parallel light rays to
converge to a point, called the focal point.
 The distance from the center of the lens to
the focal point is
called the focal
length.
 If a source is placed
at the focal length,
the rays will emerge
parallel to each other.

71
Lenses and images, cont’d
 A diverging lens causes parallel light rays to
diverge, appearing to originate from a point
called the focal point.

72
Lenses and images, cont’d
 For both types of lenses, there are two focal
points.
 One on each side.
 As a rule, converging lenses are thicker at the
center than at the ends.

73
Image formation
 The main use of lenses is to form images.
 We can draw a model of image formation
using just three rays.
 The particular rays we use are chosen
because they satisfy the law of refraction in a
straightforward manner.

74
Image formation, cont’d
 The rays are:
 A ray initially parallel to the optical axis passes
through the focal point on the other side of the
lens.
 A ray that passes through the focal point (on
the same side as the object) emerges parallel
to the optical axis on the other side.
 A ray that passes exactly through the optical
axis emerges along the optical axis on the
other side.
75
Image formation, cont’d
 Here is a diagram of these three rays.
 Where the rays intersect on the opposite side
of the lens defines the image.

76
Image formation, cont’d
 The distance from the lens to the object is
called the object distance.
 Denoted by the symbol s.
 The distance from the lens to the image is
called the image distance.
 Denoted by the symbol p.

77
Image formation, cont’d
 If we know the object focal length and object
distance, the image distance is
sf
p= ( lens formula )
s− f

78
Example
Example 9.3
In a slide projector, a slide is positioned 0.102
meters from a converging lens that has a
focal length of 0.1 meter. At what distance
from the lens must the screen be placed so
that the image of the slide will be in focus?

79
Example
Example 9.3
ANSWER:
The problem gives us:
s = 0.102 m
f = 0.1 m
From the lens formula:

p=
sf
=
( 0.102 m ) ( 0.1 m )
s− f 0.102 m − 0.1 m
= 5.1 m. 80
Image formation, cont’d
 A real image is an image that can be
projected onto a screen.
 You can see the image on the opposite side of
the lens.
 The image from a magnifying glass.
 A virtual image is an image that cannot be
projected onto a screen.
 You see the image by looking into the lens.
 Similar to the “mirror image” seen looking into a
plane mirror.
81
Image formation, cont’d
 These figures
demonstrate the
difference
between real &
virtual images.

82
Example
Example 9.4
A converging lens with focal length
10 centimeters is used as a magnifying glass.
When the object is a page of fine print
8 centimeters from the lens, where is the
image?

83
Example
Example 9.4
ANSWER:
The problem gives us:
s = 8 cm
f = 10 cm
From the lens formula:

p=
sf
=
( 8 cm ) ( 10 cm )
s− f 8 cm − 10 cm
= −40 cm. 84
Example
Example 9.4
DISCUSSION:
The negative sign indicates that the image is on
the same side of the lens as the object.
Therefore, it is a virtual image and must be
viewed through the lens.

85
Image magnification
 Typically, a lens produces an image that is
not the same height as the object.
 The magnification, M, of a lens is the ratio of
the image height to the object height:

image height
M=
object height

86
Image magnification, cont’d
 The magnification of an object also depends
on the object distance.
 An alternative expression for magnification is:
−p
M=
s
 If p is positive (image is to the right of the lens
and real), M is negative — image is inverted.
 If p is negative (image is to the left of the lens
and virtual), M is positive — image is upright.

87
Example
Example 9.5
Compute the magnification for the slide
projector in Example 9.3 and for the
magnifying glass in Example 9.4.

Example 9.3 Example 9.4

s = 0.102 m s = 8 cm
f = 0.1 m f = 10 cm
p = 5.1 m p = -40 cm

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Example
Example 9.5
ANSWER:
− p −5.1 m
For the projector: M= =
s 0.102 m
= −50
− p − ( −40 cm )
For the glass: M= =
s 8 cm
= +5
89
Example
Example 9.5
DISCUSSION:
The projector image is 50 times as large as the
slide and is inverted (since M is negative).

The magnifying glass image is 5 times larger

and upright (since M is positive).

90
Aberration
 Recall that spherical aberration is the effect
that rays that pass through different part of
the lens are focused at different locations.

91
Aberration, cont’d
 Chromatic aberration occurs when a lens
illuminated with white light focuses the
various colors at different locations.
 This effect is due to dispersion (more later).

92
The human eye
 Light passes through the opening in the iris
and forms and image on the retina.
 The cornea and lens acts as a single
converging lens.
 The eye muscles
change the
thickness of the
lens to change
the focal length.

93
The human eye, cont’d
 The eye muscles change the thickness of the
lens to change the focal length.
 A thinner lens is used for near objects.
 A thicker lens
is used for
farther
objects.

94
The human eye, cont’d
 Myopia (nearsightedness) causes the lens to
focus distant objects in front of the retina.
 A diverging
lens corrects
the problem.

95
The human eye, cont’d
 Hyperopia (farsightedness) causes the lens
to focus distant objects behind of the retina.
 A converging
lens corrects
the problem.

96
Dispersion and color
 Dispersion is a phenomenon in which the
speed of light through a medium depends on
the frequency of the light.
 Dispersion is why passing a
white light through a prism
causes the individual colors
to be separated.
 The different frequencies
are refracted at differing
angles.

97
Dispersion and color, cont’d
 The different frequencies are refracted at
different angles.
 Shorter wavelengths are refracted more than longer
wavelengths.

98
Dispersion and color, cont’d
 This is because (in most materials), violet
light travels slower through the material than
red light.
 In common glass, the speed of violet light is
1.95×108 m/s while for red light it is 1.97×108 m/s.
 This difference in speed is only about 1%.

 In diamond, the difference in speeds is closer to

2%.
 This explains the “brilliance” of diamond.

99
Atmospheric Optics
 A rainbow occurs because of the dispersion
of sunlight through water droplets in the
atmosphere.
 Some general observations are:
 Rainbows are arcs of colored light, with red on
the outside of the box and violet on the inside.
 Rainbows are always seen against a
background of water droplets, typically with
the Sun toward your back.

100
Atmospheric Optics, cont’d
 A secondary rainbow results from a similar
process.

101
Atmospheric Optics, cont’d
 A halo is a circular arc of
light surrounding the Sun
or full Moon in winter.
 When the temperature in
the upper atmosphere
drops below freezing,
ice crystals form.

102
Atmospheric Optics, cont’d
 The blueness of the sky is caused by air
molecules scattering sunlight in all directions.
 The oscillating electric field of an EM wave
passing through the air causes the electrons
of air molecules to oscillate.
 As discussed, these electrons emit EM
radiation.
 This emitted light travels outward in all
directions — thus the term scattered.

103
Atmospheric Optics, cont’d
 The reason the sky is blue is because the air
molecules are more efficient at absorbing and
radiating higher frequencies of light.
 The amount of radiant energy scattered per
second can be expressed as
Escattered 1
∝ 4
t λ
 λ is the wavelength of the scattered light.

104
Atmospheric Optics, cont’d
 The wavelength of blue light is about 0.7
times that of red light.
 So there is about 4.2 (= 1/0.7^4) times as
much blue in scattered sunlight as there is
red.

105