Optics Definition and 999 Threads

Homework Statement I have to find the ray transfer matrix for a Plano convex lens, with a 5 cm radius and refraction index n=1.8. I'm supposed to use the paraxial approximation. Attached a homemade picture of the lens. Homework Equations Refraction at a curved surface: \begin{pmatrix} 1 & 0\\...

Simple question about this: Say you have a wire diffraction grating. Does the incoming light excite the electrons in the metal, which scatter new light *or* does the incoming light simply pass through the "holes" in the mesh and get absorbed by the grating? I've seen it explained both ways, yet...

Hi, Apologies if this is a really basic question, but I'm not a physicist by training. I was wondering how two waves of plane-polarised light will interfere if they have equal intensity, are completely in phase, but their planes of oscillation are perpendicular to one another?

Its an often prøven fact that a convex lens focused rays parallel with the optical axis into the focal point of the lens, but what about rays that are parallel with each other and with a small angle to the optical axis? In ray diagrams with telescopes (such like the one below) one often draws...

I know that the refractive index is determined by a material's dielectric constant and magnetic permeability. It's also true that we can treat the refractive index as a complex function with the imaginary part giving you an absorption spectrum. You can then get the index of refraction from...

The energy of photon is $$E=\frac{hc}{\lambda}$$ Now if we have an isotropic point light source of power P, Number of photons $$N=\frac{P}{E} = \frac{P \lambda}{hc}$$ Hence one can find the change in momentum and hence the force exerted by a beam or light sources. But let's say we keep an...

If I have a parallel beam of light parallel to x-axis, with the speed of light varying from bottom to top. Let it decrease from bottom to top. (To get such a beam one can pass the beam through a glass slab normal to its surface, whose refractive index increases linearly from bottom to top). Now...

Homework Statement A rectangular slab of length l=20cm and thickness d=4cm is placed in left of a converging lens of focal length f=20cm. A screen is placed in the focal plane plane of lens (right side of lens).Refractive index of the material of slab increases linearly from u0 at the bottom by...

I was thinking about the situation given my text about a plano convex lens which was produced with a manufacturing defect. It's plane surface is tilted outwards by a small angle 'z'. In the text its written that when a parallel light beam enters the lens parallel to x-axis , it will still be...

i have recently made a hollow prism for my science exhibition in my school ... to find refractive indices of fluids. i made it using 3 rectangular pieces of glass (0.5cm) on a glass triangular base ..with obviously a hollow part in the middle it worked perfectly fine with water i got n=1.33...

Homework Statement Show that the real and imaginary parts of the following susceptibility function satisfy the K-K relationships. Use the residue theorem. $$ \chi(\omega) = \frac{\omega_{p}^2}{(\omega_0^2-\omega^2)+i\gamma\omega} $$ Homework Equations The Kramers-Kronig relations are $$...

I noticed that the ray diagram for the "how the compound microscope works" and "how the telescope works" is wrong in my government sanctioned physics textbook(and countless other books and websites!) The diagram printed was this- Name: Physics Standard XI Printed by: Maharastra State Board of...

Dear forum colleagues, I'm looking for universities which have a good research lab in the field of nonlinear optics, located in Canada. Can you please give me some hints or contacts? PS: If anyone need information about Brazil and Portugal, please don't hesitate and just ask! ;) Luis

Homework Statement A goldfish in a spherical fish bowl of radius R is at the level of the center of the bowl and at distance R/2 from the glass. What magnification of the fish is produced by the water of the bowl for a viewer looking along a line that includes the fish and the center, from the...

I have an online homework question and my classmate told me the answer but I would really like someone to explain to me how that answer was determined. I do not understand. Q: Consider the electric field observed at a point O that is far from the two slits, say at a distance r from the midpoint...

Hi Everyone, I am about to finish my PhD in underwater acoustics. I am thinking of postdoc positions and research areas which might cover: oceanography and optics with acoustics. I still have to learn a lot before generating any ideas on my individual research career. But was wondering if...

someone purchased cube beam splitter years ago, it was wrapped around in tracing paper, really delicately. I un-wrapped it , and used it for my experiment. Now, my experiment is done, and I don't know how to store it safely. If I leave it on the shelf carelessly, the beamsplitter will get...

Hi all, I have to estimate a photocurrent produced in the following simulation setup. Photodiode (detector) and LED (spaced 2cm) lie on one axis, oriented toward a wall (radiometer film) which is parallel to the axis and at a distance of about 10cm from the axis. How much photocurrent would an...

Dear all, In textbooks about optics in magneto-optic materials, we often come across a Hermitian permittivity tensor with off-diagonal imaginary components. These components are relevant to the Faraday rotation of plane of polarization of light through the material. Now my question is: Is the...

The force in the Casimir effect can be "explained" by two causes, see, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casimir_effect#Possible_causes In some optics experiments we must account for the fluctuations of the quantum vacuum to get the right experimental results. See, Vacuum noise...

Hi there, I am making a beam splitter for an FTIR, but I do not know the anatomy of a beamsplitter of this type, does anybody have information on the design of these? I plan to order KBr crystal windows and apply the Ge coating myself using physical vapor deposition and assuring quality with a...

Homework Statement [/B] Two parallel mirrors that face each other are placed along and perpendicular to the x-axis at x = +7.40 m and x = -7.40 m. Assume that a point source of light is placed on the axis at x = +3.30 m. In principle, there will be an infinite number of images generated...

Hi, Recently I did an experiment to try and discover what some objects look like microscopically, using a laser and looking at their diffraction patterns. We used the fact that the intensity profile you obtain is the Fourier transform of the object you're shining it through, so we can recover...

Homework Statement Given a system composed of a convergent lens and divergent lens (separation d between), how do I best calculate the focal length of the divergent lens? What is the best way to set up the system (converging lens first? diverging lens first?). There is plenty of documentation...

Homework Statement A beam of polarized light of intensity 43.0 W/m2 is sent through a system of two polarizing sheets. Relative to the polarization direction of that incident light, the polarizing directions of the sheets are at angles θ for the first sheet and 90 degrees for the second...

I'm serching around the web to find the best laser poiter (with real safety class). the below one is the only thing that I could find: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00NQCF35G/?tag=pfamazon01-20 Do you know any other brands suitable for educational goals? we need to use laser pointer for some...

I was trying to determine the best oxide thickness and material for maximising the contrast of one atom thick material layer on top of silicon chip. Using Fresnel equations I was able to do plot the contrast with respect to oxide thickness and wavelength, but alas, contrast seems to be sometimes...

I am an undergraduate Physics major in my third year, and I'd like to concentrate in Astronomy or Astrophysics when I obtain my Masters and PhD. What kinds of physics classes should I take in preparation for this? I've already taken all explicitly-astronomy courses at my school. I was thinking...

I am studying Photonics and currently I am on my third semester of undergraduate studies. I am interested in ultrafast optics and mostly in attosecond optics to study electron's in atoms and other fundamental quantum mechanical phenomena. As my course is more engineering oriented than I would...

Does anybody know what is this device name and its application: (It's in our optics laboratory)

Homework Statement ZnSe is a II-VI semiconductor and a very useful optical material used in various applications such as optical windows (especially high power laser windows), lenses, and prisms. It transmits over 0.50-19 μm. Refractive index, n in the 1-11 μm range is described by a Cauchy...

In the morning I wake up and there is a amazing light effect that is caused by the sunlight and the chandelier in my living room. However when I use a flashlight to try to duplicate this process I am left with a pathetic duplication. The colors and size in my duplication are non vibrant and...

I will be graduating with a BA in physics and BS in Electrical Engineering in May. I want an optics PhD. I attended an info session on Sandia National Labs at my university, and the recruiters made me think about a PhD program through a national lab. If someone has experience with the National...

Homework Statement A concave mirror forms an image on a screen twice as large as an object. Both object and mirror are then moved such that the new image is 3x the size of the object. If the screen is moved 75cm, how far did the object move? Homework Equations m = image distance / object...

When you collimate a point source using an off-axis parabolic mirror (OAP) with a circular shape, the beam area of the collimated light becomes more and more elliptical (x-dir. is smaller than y-dir.) as the off-axis angle is increased. Is there a reason why this happens? And is there a way to...

This is an original research project. Any ideas or guidance in the overlap of the two fields (i don't know much about the overlap).

I'm searching for a week from now and can't find out difference between optical and geometrical length in optical path. Can anyone explain or give me idea or how can I find it out?

Homework Statement https://us-mg5.mail.yahoo.com/neo/launch?.rand=768lpb97vo87e#4636076903 The picture displayed shows three graphs and in each problem the objective is to find the phase constant. I'm having an issue attempting any form of strategy to solve these problems. Any help would be...

Hello colleagues So I've been trying to make head and tail of a paper concerning coherence holography. As I see it, it involves a sound understanding of the Van Cittrt Zernicke theorem I have linked the paper below, and I was wondering if someone could explain the physics going on behind and...

I'm a beginner in quantum optics. I always become confusing when the material's refractive index is complex. This time is about the photonic density of states. We know that if the material is not absorbing or dissipative, meaning the refractive index is a real number, the local photonic density...

I am interested in ultrafast optical spectroscopy of solid state materials. The unique measurements and especially the process of developing new measurement tools for the optical measurement of quantities that are hard to measure in other ways, and the learning of transferrable skills, make this...

Homework Statement There is a small shiny object in a big aquarium, which is formed like a cuboid and filled with water. The plan site of a plano-convex lens with a focal length f is put on the wall of the aquarium from outside. The object is located on the optical axis of the lens. The...

Homework Statement My personal question: What does a Michelson interferometer tell us? The actual problem: A Michelson interferometer is used to precisely measure distances of the order of 1 mm using a laser of wavelength 632.8 nm. a) If the motion of one mirror is 1 mm, what is the...

Homework Statement An optical telescope with a 12mm eyepiece makes the Moon appear to have an angular diameter of 30 degrees. What is the focal length of the telescope's objective? Homework Equations magnification=focal length of objective/focal length of eyepiece The Attempt at a...

Hey all, I'm having some unique challenges on an optical system I've created, where I'm arraying several LEDs under 1 optic/reflector. We're beginning to see major degradation of the metallic coating that is applied to the part, and I'm tyring to quanitfy the temperature (converted from radiant...

It is very well known that the sky scattering of visible light decrease with the wavelength, it is bigger in the blue portion of the spectrum( the reason why the sky is blue ) and is lower on the red portion of the spectrum, this scattering is even lower on the infrared section and lower still...

Hi all, I am wondering in the 3D optical transfer function as shown below: http://www.purplebark.net/mra/research/votf/otf-sliced-volume.png The m and n axes represent support of lateral spatial frequencies and the s axes axial. If we were talking about a microscope then it has what's called...

Diverging lens has focal length 6mm and image magnification 0.5. What is the distance between object and lens? I used the fact that distance image to lens/distance object to lens = 0.5 and the lens maker formula with f=-6 and combined the two formula but this gives distance = 18mm, when answer...

A window of a submarine is 30 cm thick, and is underwater. The index of refraction of the window is 1.65. The index of refraction fo th eocean is 1.35. The index of refraction inside the submarine is 1.00. A scuba diver is 1 meter away from thw window. Where does his image form?I used n1/d_o...

Hi I have been trying to work these out over the last few days and can get part way through but not get to the final answer. So some help would be appreciated http://www.thephysicsforum.com/images/smilies/smile.png 1. An unpolarised light beam of 2mm diameter carrying 4mW of power passes...