Optical Review

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Outline

 Refraction and dispersion of light

 Light optical microscope

 Resolution

 Depth of field

 Aberrations in optical systems

(1) Chromatic aberration
(2) Monochromatic aberration

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Outline

 Refraction and dispersion of light

 Light optical microscope

 Resolution

 Depth of field

 Aberrations in optical systems

(1) Chromatic aberration
(2) Monochromatic aberration

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Refraction of light
Refraction: [noun] Deflection from a straight path

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Refraction of light

• Physical basis for many optical phenomena.

• Refraction is the change in direction of light as it

passes into another material of different density.

• Refractive index (n) in light optics is defined as

𝑐𝑐 𝑐𝑐: speed of light in vacuum
𝑛𝑛 =
𝑣𝑣 𝑣𝑣: speed of light in the substance

• The n of vacuum is defined as 1.0 (i.e., maximum

speed in vacuum); n of all other materials exceeds 1.0.

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Refractive index (n)
Refractive Index of
Selected Media
• For most practical purposes, the
Refractive
refractive index (1.0003) of air is so Material
Index
close to that of vacuum; can be used Air 1.0003
to calculate refractive indices (n) of Water 1.333
unknown materials. Glycerin 1.473
Immersion
1.515
Oil

• Materials with higher refractive Glass 1.520

indices slow down the speed of light
Diamond 2.417
to a great degree than those with Lead
lower refractive indices. 3.910
Sulfide

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Snell’s law

• Snell's Law describes the relationship between the

angles (with respect to the normal) of the two light
waves and the refractive indices of the two materials.

• The normal is defined as a line perpendicular

to the interface between two substances.

(higher index
of refraction)

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Snell’s law
• If a light wave passes from a medium of lower
refractive index to one of higher refractive index, it is
bent toward the normal.
• However, if the wave travels from a medium of higher
refractive index to a medium of lower refractive index,
it is bent away from the normal.
Snell’s law

or

When the light is monochromatic,

𝑣𝑣: phase velocity of light in the respective medium

λ: wavelength of light in the respective medium
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Effect of refraction in lenses
• Because the “refracted” angle depends on the
“incident” angle, a convex lens can be used to focus
light to a point at a specified distance from the lens.

Focused

Incident Refracted

• Focal point: the point at which rays meet after refraction

• Focal length: a measure of how strongly the optical
system converges (or diverges) light 9
Dispersion

• Light with different wavelength refracts differently.

• Violet light (λ ~ 400 nm) refracts more than red light (λ

~ 700 nm).
Refraction occurs at the
“glass/air” boundary bending
the rays away from the normal
as they speed up again.
Refraction occurs at the
“air/glass” boundary
bending the rays towards the
normal as they slow down.

Each color refracted to a

Red light bends
different degree by the
less because it is
glass – the color disperse
refracted less.
into a spectrum of light.

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