Introductory Physics II

Geometric Optics - Chapter 32 and 33

Reflection and refraction – review
Mirrors and lenses

Lecture 20 – March 30
Outline
• Review – reflection and refraction of light
• Law of reflection
• Law of refraction (Snell’s law)
• Plane mirrors
• Spherical mirrors
• Lenses

New concepts/quantities
• Object and image (and respective distances)
• Focal length
• Real and virtual images
• Sign convention
 Nature of light and geometric optics

• Light is an electromagnetic wave.

• It is composed of variable electric and magnetic fields
propagating from a source.
• It does not need a medium to propagate, the fields can exist in
empty space (vacuum).
• The speed of propagation depends on the medium.
• The geometrical optics – considers the light propagating as
“rays” whose nature is not essential in understanding the laws
of the phenomena studied.
• The reflection and refraction happens when there is an
interface between two media.
Reflection and Refraction
• When a light wave strikes a smooth
interface separating two transparent
materials (such as air and glass or
water and glass), the wave is in
general partly reflected and partly
refracted (transmitted) into the
second material.
• Both phenomena happens at the
same time even though we will
study them separately, for
simplicity.
 Diffuse and Specular Reflection
• specular reflection - from a very
smooth surface such as highly
polished glass or metal (mirrors).
• diffuse reflection - from a rough
surface
• The vast majority of objects in our
environment are visible because they
reflect light in a diffuse manner.
 The Law of Reflection
The angle of reflection is equal to the angle of incidence for all
wavelengths and for any pair of materials.

𝜃𝑟 = 𝜃𝑎
normal

Note that all angles are measured from the normal.

Index of Refraction
In vacuum the speed of light is a universal constant:
c=3x108 m/s

In any (transparent) medium the speed of light is less than c.

Index of refraction of an optical material (also called the refractive
index), denoted by n:
𝑐
𝑛=
𝑣

Examples: water – 1.33 glass - 1.5 diamond – 2.4 air – 1 (very close)
The Law of Refraction

𝑛𝑎 sin 𝜃𝑎 = 𝑛𝑏 sin(𝜃𝑏 )

This result is also called Snell’s law, after the Dutch scientist Willebrord Snell
(1591–1626).

Notes:
• Each side of the equations contains quantities referring to one side of the
interface.
• Larger index of refraction means smaller angle.
• At normal incidence all angles are zero.
Images produced by mirrors and
lenses
The main “qualities” of images produced by any optical
device (mirror, lens, optical systems)

1. Real versus virtual

Real – can be projected on a screen
2. Size (larger or smaller than the object)
3. Orientation (upright or inverted)

upright, larger upright, smaller inverted,

about the same size
 Reflection at a Plane Surface – image of the object in a
mirror
• Light rays from the object
at point P are reflected
from a plane mirror.
• The reflected rays entering
the eye look as though they
had come from image point
Pʹ.

• In order to figure out the position of the image of a point we

need to trace the paths for only two rays of light.
• Stigmatic system – image of a point-like source is a point.
 Image Formation by a Plane Mirror
• There are no real rays
coming from point P’
• This means that the
image is virtual.
Virtual image of P

• The two pink triangles

are equal
• |s|=|s’|
• s’ is negative so we
have s=-s’.

In what follows, we will use the following notation:

𝑠 ≡ 𝑑𝑜 - distance between the object and the mirror or lens
𝑠′ ≡ 𝑑𝑖 - distance of the image from the mirror or lens
 Sign Rules
• Object distance (do) – distance of the object from the mirror or lens.
• Image distance (di) – distance of the image from the mirror or lens.

• Incoming rays – from the object to the mirror or lens

• Outgoing rays – after reflection (mirror) or refraction (lens).

do > 0 IF object on the side of incoming rays

di> 0 IF image on the side of outgoing rays

(plane mirror)
𝑑𝑜 = −𝑑𝑖

𝑑𝑜 𝑑𝑖
 The Image of an “object” from a Plane Mirror

A A’
ho hi
𝑑𝑜 𝑑𝑖
B B’

The image produced by a plane mirror is:

1.Virtual (di<0)
2. Upright (hi>0)
3. Same size as the object (ho=|hi|)
 Magnification
ℎ𝑖 The magnification can be positive or negative, larger or less than 1.
𝑚=
ℎ𝑜

|m| > 1 – image is larger than the object

|m| < 1 – image is smaller than the object
m > 0 – image is erect
m < 0 – image is inverted (upside down)

These are general properties, valid for any optical system.

For plane mirrors, m=1

The Image Is “Reversed”
Spherical Mirror with a Point Object - concave

New elements:

• Center of curvature (C)

• Radius (R)
• Optic axis
• Vertex

The image of a point on the

optical axis is on the optical axis
too.
𝑑𝑖
𝑑𝑜

Concave mirror (convergent mirror) do, di - both positive

R is positive
Spherical Mirror with a Point Object -convex

𝑑𝑜 𝑑𝑖

Convex mirror (divergent mirror) do – positive

di – negative
R - negative
 Additional Sign Conventions
do > 0 IF object on the side of incoming rays Already introduced in
slide 13 - Sign rules”
di> 0 IF image on the side of outgoing rays

Additional rules:

• If the center of curvature C is

on the same side as the
reflected light, then R is
positive.
• If the image is erect the image
size (y’) is positive.
 Spherical mirrors formula
1 1 2
+ =
𝑑𝑜 𝑑𝑖 𝑅

• Only approximately valid, for small values of the angles.

• This is called paraxial approximation.
• do, di, and R should be taken with the appropriate signs (see
sign rules)
Focal Point and Focal Length

• A beam of incident parallel

rays converges, after reflection
from the mirror, to a focal
point, point F. 𝑑𝑜
• With the object (source of
𝑑𝑖
light) at the focal point, the
reflected rays are parallel to the
optic axis.
• The distance from the vertex to
the focal point, denoted by f, is
called the focal length.

𝑑𝑖
𝑑𝑜
 Focal Length and Radius
𝑅
𝑓= For spherical mirrors
2

The sign convention for radius

applies to the focal length too:
• f > 0 – concave mirror
• f < 0 – convex mirror
𝑑𝑖

1 1 1 𝑑𝑜
+ =
𝑑𝑜 𝑑𝑖 𝑓
Graphical Method of Locating Images

Q’
Graphical Method of Locating Images
Graphical Method of Locating Images
summary
Magnification for spherical mirrors

𝑑𝑖
𝑚=−
𝑑𝑜

• If do,di are both positive m is negative

• The image is inverted
• do > di so |m| <1
• The image is smaller than the object.