CHAPTER 1

GEOMETRICAL
OPTICS
PHY250
Geometrical Optics
By: M.Najib Harif
1.1. Model of Light: Rays and Waves
There are two historical models for the nature
of light.
The speed of light has been measured in many
ways.
Before the beginning of the nineteenth century,
light was considered to be a stream of particles.
The particles were either emitted by the object
being viewed or emanated from the eyes of the
viewer.
Nature of Light Alternative View
Christian Huygens argued that light
might be some sort of a wave motion.
Thomas Young (in 1801) provided the
first clear demonstration of the wave nature
of light.
He showed that light rays interfere with
each other.
Such behavior could not be explained
by particles.
Confirmation of Wave Nature
During the nineteenth century, other
developments led to the general acceptance of the
wave theory of light.
Thomas Young provided evidence that light rays
interfere with one another according to the principle
of superposition.
This behavior could not be explained by a
particle theory.
Maxwell asserted that light was a form of high-
frequency electromagnetic wave.
Hertz confirmed Maxwells predictions.
Ray model and wave model
We can use rays to explain reflection and refraction
of light.
Light waves spread out
Light rays travels in
straight lines
Both the ray model and wave model can explain
phenomena of light.
straight wavefronts parallel beam
Beam = a set of rays
Light beam and light rays
Ray = straight line + arrow
(indicating travelling direction)
convergent beams
parallel beams
divergent beams
Types of beams:
Ray Approximation
The rays are straight
lines perpendicular to
the wave fronts.
With the ray
approximation, we
assume that a wave
moving through a
medium travels in a
straight line in the
direction of its rays.
1.2. Reflection
reflected ray
incident ray
normal
mirror
angle of
incidence
angle of
reflection
Useful words to describe the reflection of
light
normal
incident ray
reflected ray
mirror
Laws of reflection
1. The incident ray, reflected ray and the normal
all lie in the same plane.
normal
incident ray
reflected ray
mirror
2. Angle of incidence = Angle of reflection
Laws of reflection
Specular Reflection
Specular reflection is
reflection from a
smooth surface.
The reflected rays are
parallel to each other.
All reflection in this
text is assumed to be
specular.
Diffuse Reflection
Diffuse reflection is
reflection from a rough
surface.
The reflected rays travel in
a variety of directions.
A surface behaves as a
smooth surface as long as
the surface variations are
much smaller than the
wavelength of the light.
Example
The angle between an incident ray and
the mirror is 20.
The angles of incidence and reflection are
____ and ____.
The mirror turns the ray by ____ .
20
(a) When hunting a fish under water, you should
aim your spear directly at the fish.
Do you agree?
Yes, of course.
No, because the fish is actually located
somewhere else.
No, because size of objects changes when they
are put under water.
1.3. Refraction of Light
(b) When sunlight falls on the water surface,
which of the following occur(s)?
It is reflected back to the air.
It refracts into the water.
It is absorbed by water and
turned into heat.
Refraction is the bending of light when the
light passes from one medium to another.
air
glass
Introduction
Useful words to describe refraction of light:
air
glass
normal
angle of refraction
angle of incidence
e.g. from air to glass
Light is bent towards the normal.
air
glass
normal
(a) From a less dense to a denser medium
(b) From a denser to a less dense medium
e.g. from water to air
Light is bent away from the normal.
air
water
normal
Index of refraction
The index of refraction defines the
velocity of light in the optically
denser medium c /n.
v
c
n =
Speed of light in
vacuum (air)
Speed of light in a
medium (e.g.
water)
Index of refraction
sin i is directly proportional to sin r.
Relation between angle of incidence and angle of
refraction
sin i
sin r
O
i = angle of incidence
r = angle of refraction
straight line passing through the origin
air
glass
normal
The incident ray, the refracted ray and the normal
all lie in the same plane.
Law of refraction
i.e.
sin i
sin r
= constant
The ratio of the sin i to sin r is constant.
This is called Snells law.
Law of refraction
In general,
n
1
sin u
1
= n
2
sin u
2
Material Refractive index
Glass 1.5 1.7
Water 1.33
Perspex 1.5
Diamond 2.42
Refractive indices of some materials
Frequency Between Media
As light travels from one
medium to another, its
frequency does not change.
oBoth the wave speed
and the wavelength do
change.
oThe wavefronts do not
pile up, nor are they
created or destroyed at
the boundary, so
must stay the same.
Index of Refraction Extended
The frequency stays the same as the wave travels from
one medium to the other.
v =

1
=
2
but v
1
= v
2
so
1
=
2
The ratio of the indices of refraction of the two media can
be expressed as various ratios.



The index of refraction is inversely proportional to the
wave speed.
o As the wave speed decreases, the index of refraction
increases.
o The higher the index of refraction, the more it slows
downs the light wave speed.

1 1 2 1
2 2 1
2
c
v n n
c
v n
n
= = =
More About Index of Refraction
The previous relationship can be
simplified to compare wavelengths and
indices:
1
n
1
=
2
n
2
In air, n
1
= 1 and the index of refraction
of the material can be defined in terms of
the wavelengths.


in vacuum
ina medium
n

n

| |
=
|
\ .
Examples of refraction of light
(a) Bent chopstick
The chopstick appears bent because of
refraction
(b) Shallower in water
The depth that the object is actually at
is called the real depth (d).
O
I
real
depth
|
|
.
|

\
|
=
1
2
'
n
n
d d
d = apparent
depth
d = real depth
Light traveling in air
strikes a flat piece of
uniformly thick glass at an
incident angle of 60, as
shown. If the index of
refraction of the glass is
1.50, (a) what is the angle
of refraction
A
in the
glass; (b) what is the angle

B
at which the ray
emerges from the glass?
Example 1
Solution:
Example 2
A searchlight on a yacht is being used at night
to illuminate a sunken chest as in figure. At
what angle of incidence,
i
should the light be
aimed?

Solution:
Example 3
Apparent depth of a pool
A swimmer has dropped her goggles to the bottom
of a pool at the shallow end, marked as 1.0 m
deep. But the goggles dont look that deep. How
deep do the goggles appear to be when you look
straight down into the water?
Solution:
If light passes into a medium with a smaller index of
refraction, the angle of refraction is larger. There is an angle
of incidence for which the angle of refraction will be 90; this
is called the critical angle:
incident ray
reflected ray
air
glass
C
C
refracted ray
sin 90
o

sin C
n =
1
sin C
n =
C = sin
1

or
1
n
( )
1.4. Total Internal Reflection
If the angle of incidence is larger than this,
no transmission occurs. This is called total
internal reflection.
Conditions for total internal reflection
to occur are:
Light must be refracted from a denser
medium to a less dense medium.
The angle of incidence must be
greater than the critical angle,
i
>
c

Example of total internal reflection
Mirage
Hurray!
On a hot day, you may see a pool of
water at a distance in a desert.
Sorry! What you see is

just a MIRAGE.
It happens due to total internal reflections.
layers of air near the ground
hot
less dense than upper air
lower refractive indices
light refracted more and more towards the
horizontal
When light meets a layer of air near the
ground at an angle greater than C,
Total internal reflections occurs.
Image of
the sky
For a given material, the index of
refraction varies with the wavelength of the
light passing through the material.
This dependence of n on is called
dispersion.
Snells law indicates light of different
wavelengths is bent at different angles when
incident on a refracting material.
1.5. Dispersion