Concave lens

Lens that possesses at least one surface that curves inwards. It is a diverging lens, spreading out those light rays that have been refracted through it. A concave lens is thinner at its centre than at its edges, and is used to correct short-sightedness (myopia).

After light rays have passed through the lens, they appear to come from a point called the principal focus. The distance between the principle focus and the lens is the focal length. A more curved lens will have a smaller focal length and will be a more powerful lens. The image formed by a concave lens is virtual, upright, and smaller than the object, and it cannot be projected onto a screen. The lens formula is used to work out the position and nature of an image formed by a lens: 1/u + 1/v = 1/f, where u and v are the distances of the object and image from the lens, respectively, and f is the focal length of the lens.

Concave Mirrors
If the light is reflected from a curve mirror what happens dependents on where the object is on the axis. The point C is the centre of curvature of the mirror. The point F is the focus of the mirror. This is the point at which the rays of light parallel to the axis converge after being reflected.

Figure 2. Reflection from a concave spherical mirror. The flash animation shows a curved mirror with a circular curvature of radius 300 mm. As object placed at the center of the mirror can be moved along the optical axis. The resulting image from the mirror is also shown. When the mouse button is pressed two rays are drawn. One ray is parallel with the optical axis to the mirror; this ray is reflected through the focus F. A second ray from the top of the object passes through the focus, F and is reflected along the optical axis. Where the two rays coincide the image will be formed. The height and orientation of the image depends on the position of the object in relation to the center of curvature and focus. OBJECT BEYOND C

Figure 3. Reflection from a concave mirror.

For an object positioned beyond the center of curvature, C, the resulting image will be inverted and reduced. When the object is placed at the centre of curvature, the image will be the same height as the object but will still be inverted. OBJECT BETWEEN C AND F

Figure 4. Reflection from a concave mirror. When the object is positioned in between C and F the image is inverted and appears smaller than the object. The magnification factor is less than 1.

Figure 5. Reflection from a concave mirror. As the object moves toward the focal point F the image size increase and until at F the image is infinite in height.

OBJECT BEYOND F Beyond F the image becomes virtual that is it cannot be projected. The image is also no longer inverted but is magnified. As the object moves closer to the mirror's surface the magnification of the virtual image decreases. Wide Aperture Mirrors We have talked about mirrors with a circular curvature as converging a single point but this is only true if the radius of curvature C is large compared to the aperture of the mirror. If the aperture of the mirror is close to the size of the radius of curvature then the rays converge at different points with distance from the optical axis. The line of point produced by each set of rays is known as a caustic curve

Convex Mirror
A convex mirror is a spherical reflecting surface (or any reflecting surface fashioned into a portion of a sphere) in which its bulging side faces the source of light. Automobile enthusiasts often call it a fish eye mirror while other physics texts refer to it as a diverging mirror. The term diverging mirror is based on this mirrors behavior of making rays diverge upon reflection. So when you direct a beam of light on a convex mirror, the mirror will allow the initially parallel rays that make up the beam to diverge after striking the reflective surface.

Since convex mirrors have wider fields of view than other reflective surfaces, such as plane mirrors or concave mirrors, they are commonly used in automobile side mirrors. Having a fish eye on your automobile will allow you to see more of your rear. A convex mirror is also a good security device. Store owners, for instance, install a number of them inside their stores and orient them in such a way that a single security personnel can see large portions of the store even while monitoring from a single location. They are the large disk-like reflective surfaces that you see near the ceilings of grocery or convenience shops.

The same kind of security devices are installed on automated teller machines to give the person withdrawing a good view of what is happening behind him. Some cell phones are also equipped with these mirrors to aid users when performing a self portrait shot. Unlike images formed by concave mirrors, an image formed by a convex mirror cannot be projected on a screen. Such an image is called a virtual image. If one is to visualize the location of such a virtual image, then the image is found behind the surface of the mirror. The complete description of an image formed by a convex mirror is: virtual, diminished in size, and upright. When we say upright, we mean that if you position an arrow in front of this kind of reflecting surface, then the arrowhead of the reflection will point to the same direction as that of the object (the real arrow) itself. Want to see an object that is both a convex and a concave mirror? Take out a metallic spoon the inner side is a concave mirror while the outer side is a convex mirror. Notice how your reflection is diminished in size. You may compare that with your reflection on a typical wall-mounted mirror.

Convex Lens
The most commonly-seen type of lens is the convex lens. This type of lens is often used for close examination of small objects, such as rare stamps or coins. Children often use such a lens to concentrate sunlight to burn small pinholes in pieces of paper. That result by itself shows the power of concentrated light from the sun. But there must be more to it than that. Let's see if we can define the behavior of lenses a bit more specifically.

The figure to the right shows a double convex lens with several rays of light approaching from its left. We show each ray as a different color here, simply to more easily follow each ray's progress. We will assume that the lens is made of glass with a nominal index of refraction of 1.50. The rays are parallel as they approach the lens. As each ray reaches the glass surface, it refracts according to the effective angle of incidence at that point of the lens. (See the pages on refraction for the definitions and descriptions of these terms.) Since the surface is curved, different rays of light will refract to different degrees; the outermost rays will refract the most. As the light rays exit the glass, they once again encounter a curved surface, and refract again. This further bends the rays of light towards the centerline of the lens (which coincides with the green light ray in the figure).