LENSES

Lens is a portion of transparent refracting medium bound by two spherical surfaces or one
spherical surface and the other plane surface.
Lenses are divided into two classes:
Convex or Convergent Lens
Convex lens are thin at the edges and thick at the centre
A lens which is thicker in the middle and thinner at the edges is called a convex lens.
In a convex lens at least one of its surfaces is bulging out at the middle. According to their shapes
the convex lenses are classified as
bi-convex or double convex lens
plano-convex lens
concavo-convex lens

Concave or Divergent Lens

Concave lens are thick at the edge and thin at the centre

A lens which is thinner at the middle and thicker at the edges is called a concave lens.
Like convex lenses these lenses are also classified as
bi-concave
plano-concave
convexo-concave

Important Terms
Optical Centre:
It is the centre of a lens. It is denoted by the letter O. A ray of light passing through the
optical centre of a lens does not suffer any deviation. It is also referred to as optic centre.
Principal Axis:
Principal axis is the straight line joining the centres of curvatures of the two curved surfaces of a
lens.
Principal Foci:
Rays of light can pass through the lens in any direction and hence there will be two principal foci
on either side of the lens and they are referred to as the first principal focus and the second
principal focus of a lens.
First Principal Focus (F1)
It is a point on the principal axis of the lens such that the rays of light starting from it (convex
lens) or appearing to meet at the point (concave lens) after refraction from the two surfaces of the
lens become parallel to the principal axis of the lens.

 
The distance from the optic centre to the first focus is called the first focal length (f1) of
the lens.
Second Principal Focus (F2)
It is a point on the principal axis of the lens such that the rays of light parallel to the principal axis
of the lens after refraction from both the surfaces of the lens pass through this point (convex lens)
or appear to be coming from this point (concave lens).

The distance from the optic centre to the second principal focus is called the second focal length
(f2) of the lens.
If the medium on both sides of the lens is same then the first and the second focal lengths will be
equal.
Focus of a convex lens is real whereas that of the concave lens is virtual.
The focal length of a convex lens is always positive and that of a concave lens in always negative.
Ray diagrams for convex lens showing the formation and nature of image for different positions of
the object
When the Object is Placed Between F1 and O:

 The image is –
Formed behind the object
virtual
erect
magnified
 
When the Object is placed at 2F1:

The image is -
formed at 2F2
real
inverted
same size as the object
 
When the Object is Placed Between F1 and 2F1:
The image is
formed beyond 2F2
real
inverted
magnified
 
When the Object is placed at F1:

The image is -
formed at infinity
real
inverted
magnified
 
When the Object is Placed Beyond 2F1:

The image is -
formed between F2 and 2F2
real
inverted
diminished
 
When the Object is placed at Infinity:
When the object is at infinity, the rays coming from it are parallel to each other.

The image is -
formed at F2
inverted
real
highly diminished
 
The table gives at a glance the position, size and nature of the image formed by a convex
lens corresponding to the different positions of the object and also its application.
Position
Position of Nature of Size of the
of the Application
the image the image image
object
Magnifying lens
On the
Between Erect and (simple microscope),
same side Magnified
O and F1 virtual eye piece of many
of the lens
instruments
Inverted
At 2F1 At 2F2 Same size Photocopying camera
and real
Photographic camera,
Between Beyond Inverted terrestrial telescopes,
Magnified Photocopier used for
F and 2F1 2F2 and real
replication
Inverted
At F1 At infinity Magnified Search lights
and real
Beyond Between F2 Inverted objective lens of a
Diminished telescope
2F1 and 2F2 and real
Inverted
At infinityAt F2 Diminished photographic camera
and real

Convex lens is also used in spectacles the correct the eye defect hypermetropia

Formation of Image by a Concave Lens

The following rays are considered while constructing ray diagrams for locating the images
formed by a concave lens for  various position of the object.
An incident ray of light coming from the object parallel to the principal axis of a concave lens
after refraction appears to come from its focus.
An incident ray of light passing through the optical centre comes out of the lens without
any deviation.

A concave lens always gives a virtual, erect and diminished image whatever may be the position
of the object. Let us now draw ray diagrams to show the position of the images when the object is
placed.
When the Object is at Infinity:

The image is -
formed at F1
erect
virtual
diminished
When the Object is placed at any Position between O and infinity:

 
The image is -
formed between O and F1
erect
virtual
diminished

Uses of concave lens:

It is used
in spectacles for correcting myopia.
along with convex lens it is used to overcome defects like chromatic aberration and spherical
aberration (the failure of rays to converge at one focus because of a defect in a lens or mirror).

Power of a Lens:
Power of a lens is the ability of the lens to converge or diverge a beam of light falling on the lens.
The bending of light rays towards the principal axis is called convergence and bending of
light rays away from the principal axis is called divergence. The degree of convergence
or divergence of a lens is expressed in terms of its power. A lens of short focal length
deviates the rays more while a lens of large focal length deviates the rays less. Thus
power of a lens is mathematically defined as the reciprocal of its focal length in metres.

Unit of power is diopter

1 diopter = 1m-1

In the fields of the production and the market of eyeglasses, instead of focal length people prefer
speak of lens power, measured in diopters.

Q) Focal length of a concave lens is 25 cm. Calculate its power.

Simple Microscope or Magnifying Lens:

It consists of a converging lens of small focal length. By keeping the object close to the lens, a
virtual, erect and magnified image is obtained as shown
 Virtual Image Formation

A virtual image is formed at the position where

the paths of the principal rays cross when
projected backward from their paths beyond the
lens. Although a virtual image does not form a
visible projection on a screen, it is no sense
"imaginary", i.e., it has a definite position and
size and can be "seen" or imaged by the eye,
camera, or other optical instrument.

A reduced virtual image if formed by a single

concave lens regardless of the object position.
An enlarged virtual image can be formed by a
convex lens by placing the object inside the
principal focal point.

Q)

A) i) Concave lens as the image is virtual (upright) & diminished

ii) Images are always virtual, upright & diminished.

Q) Draw the diagram showing use of an auxiliary mirror to determine focal length of a convex
lens.
A) The distance between the object & the lens is adjusted so that image is obtained at the same
position as the object. In such a case the distance between the object & lens is equal to focal
length.