Chapter2Lightrays
Takingaselfierequiresthatthephonecameraispoiowardsyou。It’sobviousthatthisisnecessaryifyouaretobeiure。Butthissimplefadiethingaboutthe:toseeanimageofaherehasthtliheobjethiscaseyou)andthes。Thisisusuallycalledthe‘li’。Thuslightissomethingthatpropagatesinastraightliheobjecttotheviewer。Ihisiswhatwemightexpeeoftypesoflightsource。Eye-gvisualefecertsaregeedusinglasers,illumiageandtheperformerswithchtbeams。Laserpointersareoalksorlephasizeimagesorwordsohebeamproducedbythesetlightsourcesishighlyfocused,hardlydivergingatallevenacrossabighall。Itgoesinastraightline-youpoihedirewhereyouwaogo,anditdoesso。
Belightdoesnotobviouslyexhibitthischaracteristic,itrequiredsomethinkihatthepropagationoflightinastraightlilywhatwasouandwhydistasappearedtobesmallerthannearerowasknownthattheywere,ihesamesizephysically。
5。Eustruofraysshowingwhyobjeesizelooksmallerwhehera>
&thattheceptht-liiohisefectisattributedtoEuclid,wreearound300bce。Hisidea,fromobooksonoptics,isillustratedinFigure5。Imagiwoli’scallthemrays-ohetopoftheobject(apillarinthiscase)totheobserver’seye,aiomoftheobjecttotheeye。Theaheseisrelatedtotheappareheimageofthisobjectthatweperceive。Amoredistantpillar,thesamephysicalsizeasthefirst,producestworayswhoseaerseattheobserverissmaller-hehepillarappearssmaller。Thisisetheimage。
Whatisthestufthattraversestherays?Euclid(buildingonearlierideas)thoughtthatitartitoutfromtheeyeitself(fromanimaginaryinterillumiaedbacktotheobserver。Butthissuggeststhatwewouldbeabletoseethiitwasdarkoutside。heideaofstufmovingaloweeandobserverremainedapowerfulcept。
ItwasmodifiedbyAl-HazehthatweisareilluminatedbyraysfromtheSuernalfire)aeredtowardstheobserver。Thereareseveralstoriesabouthowhecametothisidea-ingdoiwhelyattheSuermihepaiionheexperiencedwouldbethereallthetimeifthe‘internalfire’wereburnihus,heargued,thesourceofthelightogeheimagewasexternal。
&us,forthesakeumewhatmovesalongtheseraysareparticlesoflight:callthemphotohebeamisrelatedtothetherayinoneseordertouandhowanimageofaisformed,we’llosiderenswhehesephotoedofamirroredsurface,aswellasehiswillleadtothe‘lawsofoptics’thatareusedfningveryplexoptistrumentssuchassurgicalmicrosdcathetersfor‘keyhery,asticaltelescopesplaorbitabovetheEarthfdistaheimpactoftheseisonourlifeandoftheworldisimmense。
Whatsortofpropertiesdotheseparticlesoflightpossess?Theusualsortsofattributesassigoaparticleareitsposition,itsdireoftravel,anditsspeed。Fornow,assumethatitmovesatthe‘speedoflight’,withoutgoiailaboutwhatthatactuallyis。Thepositionofaphotonmightthehestartingpositionofthe‘ray’aioon’smotiohedireoftheray。Thephotonheadsoffromitsstartingpointinthisdireatthespeedoflightuersthesurfaceoftheobject。
&ion
&stheobject,thelightisreflected。ensisthatthephotohesurfagingitsdire,butnotitspositiononthesurface。Thesituationisshownihemannerinwhichthedireisgedisspecifiedbythe‘lawofrefle’,discoveredbyHeroofAlexandriaiury。Itstatesthattheangleofiis,theaheiningraydiredthedireperpendiculartothesurfaceatthepointofince)isequaltotheaion(thatis,theaheoutgoingraydiredthedireperpendiculartothesurfaceatthepointofiherearescesofthisceptuallysimplearemelypo>
6。Raysofa。aflatmirrorandb。andc。acurvedmirror。
ThisbeexplaiirelybyHero’slawofrefle。Figure7showsheesareflewithoppositehaheclockwise-pointingarrowistheobject。Raysfromeatonthearrowrefleirrorandarerearrathearrowseeninthemirrorispointinganticlockwise。Youusethesamestrutoshoointingarrowisseeninthemirrht-pointingarrowaanup-pointingarroointingup,andadown-pointingarrowpointsdowion。
Imagingusiio
If,insteadoflookingatyouropposite-handedselfinaflatbathroommirror,youseeyourrefleapolishedspoon,theortedforme:maguresrounds。Thetsurfaceofthespooheobjedthevexbacksurfaifiesit。
7。Thegeofhandednessofobjectsrefleamirror。
Whyisthis?Siionofimagesisperhapsthemostimportantappliofoptistruments-rangingfromtasesforvisioospacetelescopesforstificdiscovery-it’swexactlyho>
Uptonow,I‘vesideredonlyasinglerayoflightfromoo。Infact,raysusuallysalldireeachobjet。sidera‘bundle’ofsuchraysallasio,fadtheinalray。Thiseofraysdivergesasitmovesawayfromtheobject,asshowniherayshitthecurvedmirrorsurfaceatdiferentpointsandthereforealslesofiheyrefledifereions,eaestillsatisfyingHero’slawofrefle。
8。Imageformationbyaraybundleusingacurvedmirror。Theraysfromooatointheimage。
Infaagdeventuallyallmeetatasihisisthe‘image’pointi。
Animageaswenormallysideritismadeupofmultiplesuchimagepfromdiferes。Thesizeoftheimageisdetermiafromthemirrorandthefogpowerofthemirror,specifiedbytheradiusofcurvature。amoreirrorhasasmallerradiusofsurfacecurvature)。Theimagebebiggerthaheobjectisirrorthaheratioofimagetoobjectsizeiscalledthemagnifi。
Theimage-magureofacurvedmirrorwasusedbyodesignatelescope,showninFigure9。Hisdesignhasaremarkableproperty:itfesofdistaarethesamesizeforeverycolour(saidtobefreefrom‘aticaberratiooncleverlyusedthepropertythattheangleofareflectedrayforafixedaheirayisthesamehecolourofthelight。Theimageofeachcolouristhereforeformedinthesameplace-allthecisterperfectly,guaranteedbyphysics。
&telesabledimageswithoutaticaberration。
&ion
&ohisibecausethetelescopesusedbyporarypioneerssuchasGalileoGalileiandJohannesKeplersuferedseriouslyfromaticaberration。Theimagesformedbytheirtelescopesalwayshadablurredcolouredhaloarouheobject。Thereasonforthisisthattheyweredesignedusiprhtrays-refra:thephelightraysbeheygofromoramediumtoanother。
Itistherefraoflightthatproducesthe‘kink’observediiallyimmersedinabowlofwater。ThisisdescribedbythelawofrefraonlyknownasSnell’slaw,afterDutWillebrordSh-turypropohislawsaysthattheaingraymakeserpendiculartothesurfaceisrelatedtotheaheiningraybythepropertiesofthetwomediathatformtheinterfaplethesurfaceofthewater。Thisisillustratediheparticularpropertyofthemediathatisrelevahe‘refradex’。Therefradexbethoughtofasbeingameasureoftheoptiess’ofthemediumasexperiencedbyalightray。Solighttravelsmoreslowlyihalargerrefradexbecausethemoleediumareslightlymoreresistanttohaviomsarohelight。Itislikerunninginapoolofwater。Ifthedepthisverysmall,ysmoveeasilyandyoufast。Ifthetoyourk’sharder,becauseyouhavetaiaer。Infact,thelawofrefrabederivedfromthisanalogy。PierredeFermatshowedthatwhenlightgoesfromapoioapointinaseeksaraythattraversesashortertimeihhighrefradexaimeihalowerrefradex。Thisrequiresthelightraytobendatthisiweewomedia,a’spriurnsouttobeehesameasSnell’slaw。
10。Refraofarayattheiweenairand>
Imagingusinglenses
Now,justasacurvedreflegsurfaageofa,soacurvedtrasurface。HoensisshowninFigure11。Abundleofraysfromapoiarebroughttofocusattheimage。hatdoesthis-ithasthesamecrossseasalentil。Thisistheinoftheword‘lens’。