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Introduction to Optics:
The branch of physics which deals with light and other electromagnetic waves is called
Optics.
Electromagnetic radiation with wavelength in the range about 4,000 to 7,000 to which
human eye is sensitive is called visible region.
Geometrical optics: A light beam can be treated as a ray whose propagation is governed
by simple geometrical rules. The part of optics that deals with such phenomena is known
as geometrical optics.
Physical optics: The treatment of light by considering the wave property of light is known
as physical optics.
The object distance is shown by u and image distance by v
There are two types of images, real and virtual. An image which can be captured on a
screen is called real image whereas the later cant.
The nature of light was first explained by Sir Isaac Newton by considering the
corpuscular nature of light.
In this theory, light was considered as composition of small and tiny particles called
corpuscular.
The colour of light varies with size of the particle.
And it was considered that light will have highest speed in solids and lowest speed in
gaseous media.
Corpuscular theory explained reflection and refraction of light successfully and failed to
explain other phenomena.
Huygens explained different properties of light like reflection, refraction, interference and
diffraction by considering the Wave nature of light.
He introduced a concept of wavefrontwhich is a source of secondary waves.
Later the electromagnetic nature of light was introduced which confirms that light is an
electromagnetic radiation.
The velocity of light (EM waves) is maximum in vacuum wiz 3X108 m/s.
Light exhibits a property called Polarization which concludes that light is a transverse
wave.
Other than visible region, we have different electromagnetic waves like -rays, X-rays,
Ultra Violet rays, infrared rays, micro and radio waves which have different applications
in the modern world.
Reflection of Light
When waves of any type strike the interface between two optical materials, the waves will
bounce back. This phenomenon is known as reflection.
Angle of incidence: The angle between the normal drawn to the surface and incident ray
is called as angle of incidence.
Angle of reflection: The angle between the normal drawn to the surface and reflected ray
is called as angle of incidence.
Laws of reflection:
1. The incident angle and reflected angle are always equal.
2. Incident ray, reflected ray and normal lie on the same plane.
Q1. A point source of light S placed at a distance L in front of the centre of a mirror of
width d, hangs vertically on a wall. A man walks in front of the mirror along a line parallel to
the mirror at a distance of 2L from it as shown. What is the greatest distance over which he can
see image of the light source in the mirror?
Here
HI = AB = d
DS = CD =
AH = 2AD
GH = 2CD = 2 = d
Similarly
IJ = d
Hence
GJ = GH+HI+IJ
= d+d+d = 3d
Hence the man can see the image of light source for a range of distance 3d.
if
360
is even
360
if
360
is odd
Solution:
Let the angle of incidence of ray 1 is . From the laws of reflection, the angle of reflection also .
Hence = 900 .
Therefore angle between M2 and reflected ray is . Similarly at M1 also makes an angle .
Hence we have a triangle in which
60o
180o
Spherical Mirrors
A curved mirror is a mirror with a curved reflecting surface. The surface may be
either convex (bulging outward) or concave(bulging inward). Most curved mirrors have surfaces
that are shaped like part of a sphere
Sign convention:
To solve the problems related to image formation, correct distance measurements with proper
sign will give correct solutions. Usually,
Object will be placed left side of the mirror, which implies light moves from left to right.
The distances parallel to the principal axis are measured from the pole of the mirror.
All the distances measured to the right of the origin (along + x-axis) are taken as positive
while those measured to the left of the origin (along x-axis) are taken as negative.
Distances measured perpendicular to and above the principal axis (along + y-axis) are
taken as positive while below the principal axis (along y-axis) are taken as negative.
The ray diagrams of refection from spherical surface are shown below.
2. A ray which is passing through the focal point, will pass parallel to axis, after the
reflection.
3. A ray which is passing through the centre of curvature of a mirror, will bounce back
into the same direction.
4. A ray incident obliquely to the principal axis, towards a point P (pole of the mirror),
on the concave mirror or a convex mirror is reflected obliquely. The incident and
reflected rays follow the laws of reflection.
Mirror Formula:
The image formation by a spherical mirror is governed by the mirror formula given by.
1
R 3.00
1.5m
2
2
1 1 1
v f u
1
1
1
1
1
6.50
7.50
1.15m
6.50
Magnification:
Magnification is a numerical quantity which gives the size of the image relative to the object. It is
expressed as the ratio of height of the image to the height of the object.
i.e., m is defined as
m=
and mathematically,
m=
= =
m=
= =
1.15
0.23
5.00
Q6. A mirror forms the image of an object with unity magnification. The mirror has a focal length
of 20 cm. Find the image distance. ( Take the concept of real image)
Solution: The magnification is unity provided both object and image are at same distances from
the mirror.
Let u=v= x and f = 20cm.
From the mirror formula.
1
1
1
1
=
+
20
On solving x = 40 cm.
Note: The image will have unit magnification, if the object is placed at a distance of 2f.
Q7. Find the distance of objective from a concave mirror of focal length 10 cm so that image size
is four times the size of the object.
Solution: Concave mirror can form real as well as virtual image. Here nature of image is not
given in the question. So we will consider two possible cases.
v= - 4x and f = - 10 cm.
1
1
1
=
+
10 4
1
5
=
10 4
Hence x = 12.5cm
Case 2. When the image virtual. In case of a mirror image is virtual when it is formed behind
the mirror. i.e., u and f are negative while v is positive.
Let u = -y then v = +4y and f = -10cm.
From mirror formula:
1
We have
1
1
1
=
+
10 4
1
3
=
10 4
Or
y= 7.5 cm.
Q8.A ray of light is incident on a plane mirror along a vector i j k . The normal on incidence
point is along i j . Find a unit vector along the reflected ray.
Solution: Reflection of a ray is just like an elastic collision of a ball with a horizontal ground.
Component of incident rat along the inside normal gets reversed while the component
R i j k
Therefore a unit vector along the reflected ray will be,
R i j k
r
R
3
1
r
i jk
3
Refraction of Light:
When the light travels from one medium to another medium, a part of it, reflects back and the
other part will enter into the second medium. When it passes into the second medium, it will bent
slightly from its actual path. This bending of light when the medium is changed is called
refraction of light.
The angle made by the incident ray with the normal drawn to the boundary of two media
is called angle of incidence (i).
The angle made by the light ray with normal after the refraction is called angle of
refraction(r).
This constant is called as refractive index of the medium and this principle is called Snells
law.
The refractive index of a medium is also defined as the ratio of velocity of light in
vacuum to the velocity of light in that medium.
i.e., refractive index () =
As this is the ratio between same physical parameters, there is no units for refractive
index.
As the velocity of light in vacuum is always greater than the velocity of light in
medium, the refractive index is always greater than 1.
Velocity of light in vacuum = 3 X 108 m/sec.
For example, the velocity of light in glass is 2 X 108 m/sec. Hence, the refractive index
of glass is 1.5.
During refraction, the medium with greater refractive index is called as Denser
medium while the medium with lower refractive index is called as Rarer medium
Laws of refraction:
1. Snells law: The ratio of sine of the angle of incidence to the sine of the angle of
refraction is a constant and is equal to the ratio of refractive indices of second medium to
the first.
= 2/1
2. The incident ray, reflected ray and refracted ray all will lie in the same plane.
At point O the ray move towards normal and at O the ray move away from the
normal.
If the wavelengths of light are 1 and 2 in the media 1 and 2 and if the speed of light
is v1 and v2 respectively. Then
v1 1 1
v2 2 2
ir
v2 v1
2 1
2 1
ir
v2 v1
2 1
2 1
Refraction at a single surface:
When the refraction, occurs at single surface, the observed length/height of an object will vary
according to the formula
d apparent
d actual
1
shift 1 t
Where t thickness of the glass slab.
Q9. Refractive index of glass with respect to water is 9/8. Refractive index of glass with respect
to air is 3/2. Find the refractive index of water with respect to air.
Solution:
Given:
g 9 / 8 and a g 3 / 2
We have
g g w w a 1 .
c 3 108
=
1.94 108 m / s
1.5
Q11. What is the wavelength of the light given in the above question, in the given medium.
Solution:
By definition.
medium
air 780
503nm
1.55
Q12. An observer measures the depth of a water tank is 12m., filled with water. What is the
deviation from the true depth of the tank?
Solution: The original depth and the apparent depth are related as:
d apparent
d actual
d original d apparent
d original 1.33 12 15.96metres
The deviation from the true value is given by
d measured d original
d original
100
12 15.96
100
15.96
24.81%
Here the - sign indicates that there is a lesser measurement from the original.
Total Internal reflection:
Consider the refraction of light from a denser medium to rarer medium. In this case,
the light moves away from the normal.
If the angle of incidence increased constantly, at a particular angle of incidence (called
as critical angle), the light will pass through the boundary of the two media.
Further, if the angle of incidence increased (i.e., i>critical angle), then the light will
reflect back completely to the same medium. This phenomenon is called as Total
Internal Reflection.
D sin i R sin r
For critical angle, r=900
D sin c R sin 90
Hence
sin c R
D
Q13. Find the critical angle for air and glass system.
Solution:
Given media Glass: Refractive index 1.5
Air: Refractive index 1
Critical angle exists when the light travels from Denser medium (glass) to rarer
medium(air)
Hence
sin c
R
D
sin c
1
1.5
c sin 1 0.6667
There are two types of spherical surfaces mainly, convex and concave.
Both are used in many applications to obtain images of different size, shape and
nature.
A lens, either a convex lens or a concave lens, has two spherical surfaces. Each of
these surfaces forms a part of a sphere. The centres of these spheres are called centres
of curvature of the lens.
The centre of curvature of a lens is usually represented by the letter C.
Central point of a lens is its optical centre. It is usually represented by the letter O.
A ray of light through the optical centre of a lens passes without suffering any
deviation.
The effective diameter of the circular outline of a spherical lens is called its aperture.
Such lenses are called diverging lenses. A double concave lens is simply called a concave lens.
A ray of light passing through a principal focus, after refraction from a convex lens,
will emerge parallel to the principal axis. A ray of light appearing to meet at the
principal focus of a concave lens, after refraction, will emerge parallel to the principal
axis.
A ray of light passing through the optical centre of a lens will emerge without any
deviation.
1 1 1
v u f
This formula can be used for all spherical lenses with proper sign convention.
Magnification:
The magnification produced by a spherical mirror is defined as the ratio of height of the image to
the height of the object.
=
The object and image distance can also be related with magnification given by
h' v
h u
Q14. A concave lens has focal length of 15 cm. At what distance should the object from the lens
be placed so that it forms an image at 10 cm from the lens? Also, find the magnification produced
by the lens.
Solution: A concave lens always forms a virtual, erect image on the same side of the object.
Image distance v = - 10 cm
Focal length f = - 15 cm
Object distance u=?
Since
1 1 1
v u f
or
1 1 1
u v f
1
1
1
u 10 15
1 1 1
u 10 15
1 3 2 1
u
30
30
Or
u = -30 cm.
Thus object should be placed at 30cm from the lens.
Magnification m=v/u
10
0.33
Therefore m
30
The positive sign shows that the image is erect and virtual. The image is one-third of the size of
the object.
Q15. A 2.0 cm tall object is placed perpendicular to the principal axis of a convex lens of focal
length 10 cm. The distance of the object from the lens is 15 cm. Find the nature, position and size
of the image.
Solution:
The positive sign of v shows that the image is formed at a distance of 30 cm on the other side of
the optical center. The image is real and inverted.
Power of a Lens:
Power of a lens gives how effectively the lens can bent the light rays. A lens with high power will
bend the rays more than a lens with lesser power. Power of a lens is defined as the reciprocal of
its focal length taken in meters.
=
(
100
=
(
)
)
The SI unit of power of a lens is diopter. It is denoted by the letter D.If f is expressed in meters,
then, power is expressed in diopters. Thus,1diopter is the power of a lens whose focal length is 1
metre. 1D = 1m1.
If there is a combination of lenses with powers P1, P2, P3.. then,
The resultant power is given by P P1 P2 P3 ......
The power of a convex lens is positive and that of a concave lens is negative.
If y1, y2 are the two waves acting on a medium, the resultant amplitude is the algebraic sum of two
components. i.e,
and
y y1 y2
y y1 y2
The same principle can be extended for n waves acting simultaneously on a particle.
Coherence: When two waves are having same amplitude, same frequency and zero or constant
phase difference, then the two waves are said to be coherent waves and the phenomenonis said to
be coherence.
Destructive interference occurs when the path difference between the two interfering