THIN LENSES

P R E PA R E D B Y:
J E N N O S . L A N TAYA , O D
 WHAT IS THIN LENS?

• a lens is considered to be thin when its thickness is small and

has a negligible effect on the power.
• All refraction is considered to take place in one plane centered
between the two surfaces.
 WHAT IS A LENS?

• is merely a carefully ground or molded piece of transparent

material that refracts light rays in such as way as to form
an image.

• Lenses can be thought of as a series of tiny refracting

prisms, each of which refracts light to produce their own
image.

• When these prisms act together, they produce a bright

image focused at a point.
 USES OF LENS

• Used in a magnifying glass.

• Prosthetics for the correction of visual impairments.
• Attenuate light.
• In imaging systems.
• Radar systems.
 TYPES OF LENSES

• 1. SIMPLE LENS
• is a single piece of magnifying material 
• Optical aberrations are sometimes found
in simple lenses 

• 2. COMPOUND LENS
• Consists of a number of simple lenses
arranged along a common axis
• No optical aberrations
• advantage of the compound lens is that
the magnification of the lens can be
adjusted as per the user’s requirements.
TYPES OF SIMPLE LENSES
ACCORDING TO THE SHAPE AND PURPOSE
OF THE LENS, THEY ARE CLASSIFIED INTO
TWO TYPES

• 1. CONCAVE LENS
• 2. CONVEX LENS
 CONCAVE LENS

• is a type of lens with at least one side

curved inwards.
• A concave lens with both sides curved
inward is known as a biconcave lens.
• Concave lenses are diverging lenses, that is,
they spread out light rays that have been
refracted through it.
• They have the ability to diverge a parallel
beam of light.
• For a concave lens, the edges are wider
than the centre or the centre is thinner than
the edges.
• Concave lenses are used in goggles in order
to overcome myopia or short-sightedness.
 THE IMAGE FORMED IN A CONCAVE LENS
HAS THE FOLLOWING CHARACTERISTICS:

• Located on the object-side of the lens

• A virtual image
• An upright image
• Small in size (i.e., smaller than the object)
• The image formed in a concave lens is always in between the
focal point and the optical centre. The location of the object
doesn’t affect the characteristics of the image formed.
 CONVEX LENS
• is a lens with an outward curve.
• Unlike the concave lens, the
thickness at the centre of a convex
lens is more than the thickness at the
edges of the lens.
• Convex lenses are converging lenses.
• They have the ability to converge a
parallel beam of light into a point.
• This point is called the focal point of
the convex lens and the distance
from the optical centre to the focal
point is called the focal length.
• The focal point is on the opposite
side of the lens from which the light
rays originate.
• A convex lens with one side flat is called a Plano-convex lens.
• The lens found in the human eye is a prime example of a
convex lens.
• Another common example of a convex lens is the magnifying
glass that is used to correct Hypermetropia or long-
sightedness.
• Convex lenses are used in cameras as they focus the light and
produce a clear image.
• Convex lenses are also used in compound lenses which are
employed in magnifying devices such as microscopes and
telescopes.
 RELATED TERMS

• Optical axis - a line connecting the two radii of curvature. In

the case of a planoconcave or plano-convex lens, the optical
axis is a line that runs through the center of curvature (of the
curved surface) and is perpendicular to the flat surface.
• 2. Vertex (A) - the points where the lens surfaces and the
optical axis intersect. A thin lens has one common vertex at the
intersection of a plane through the center of the lens and the
optical axis.
• 3. Optical center (OC) - the axial point through which the
chief ray passes. For the single refracting surface, the optical
center is the center of curvature; for a thin lens, it is the center
of the lens (the common vertex).
• 4. Object space - the region in front of (to the left of) the lens.
• 5. Image space - the region behind (to the right of) the lens.*
• 6. Surrounding medium - the medium surrounding the lens.
This medium fills both object space and image space (i.e.,
both regions have the same index of refraction, which is
usually lower than the index of the lens). In most cases, the
surrounding medium is air.
• 7. Geometric center - the physical center of the surface (i.e.,
if a lens has an overall size of 60 mm in diameter, the
geometrical center is located 30 mm from the edge).
• 8. Chief ray - a ray that follows a path such that the incident
ray and the emergent ray are parallel to each other (i.e., the
rays make the same angle with the optical axis).
• This ray is considered to be the undeviated ray. For the single
refracting surface, the chief ray passes through the center of
curvature. For the thin lens, the ray passes through the center
of the lens (common vertex and optical center).
SURFACE POWER OF A LENS
(1 & 2 SIDE/SURFACE)
• Each surface of a thin lens is a
single refracting surface and
therefore has surface power.

• The surface power may be

determined using the techniques
and equations described for
curved single refracting surfaces.

• In the equations developed, n

represents the index before
refraction (left of the surface) and
n' represents the index after
refraction (right of the surface).
• The power of the first
refracting surface (F1),
shown in Figure 5-3 (top) is
• The power of the second
refracting surface (F2) is
calculated by redefining the
indices and using the radius for
the back surface (Figure 5-3,
bottom):
• The dioptric power (F) of a thin lens is is simply the sum of
the two surface powers:
F= F1+F2
 EXAMPLE

• A plastic biconcave lens (n = 1.49) has surface radii of 40 cm

and 20 cm. Calculate the surface and lens powers.
Given:
• n(L)= 1.49
• n(s)= 1.0
• r1= 40cm or 0.40m (-)
• r2= 20cm or 0.20m (+)
• F1=?
• F2=?
• F=?
 SOLUTION:
• (1) F1 =
=
=
F1 = -1.23 D (surface power of 1st refracting surface)

• (2) F2 =
=
=
F2= -2.45 D (surface power of 2nd refracting surface)

• (3) F= F1+f2
= -1.23 + (-2.45)
F= -3.68 D ( total power of the biconcave lens)
 PREMISE

• as the index of the surrounding medium increases, the

surface and total powers of the lens decrease
 LENS EQUATION

• Used to determine the position, nature and the size of the

image produce on spherical lenses (concave and convex)

FOCAL LENGTH LENS

+ POSITIVE CONVEX
- NEGATIVE CONCAVE
 FORMULA
• SIZE OF IMAGE FORMULA
=+ M=
Where: M= =
f= focal length
p= object distance
Where:
q=image distance
M= magnification
o=object size
i= image size
 EXAMPLE

• A 4.00-cm tall light bulb is placed a distance of 45 cm from a double convex

lens having a focal length of 15 cm. Determine the image distance and the
image size.
Given:
f= 15 cm (positive since convex lens is a converging lens)
o= 4cm
p= 45cm • M= =
q=? ==
i=? ==
Solution: i= -2cm (image size)
• =+
• =+
• q
• 3q= q+45 • The negative values for image height indicate that the
• 3q-q= 45 image is an inverted image. 
• =
• q= 22.5cm
• The negative values for image height indicate that the image is
an inverted image.