OPTICS IN 3D

Physics 236
Winter 2016

Buenos Aires skyline viewed through water

droplets on a specular surface.

Introduction

Geometrical Optics is the treatment of the passage of light through lenses, prisms, etc. by
representing the light as rays. As we have seen in Optics in 2D, a light ray from a source goes in
a straight line through the air, but when it encounters the boundary of a lens, prism, or mirror it
bends or changes direction. Likewise, when the ray exits a lens or a prism, it changes direction.
The formulas and rules deduced in Optics in 2D, tell how much the change in direction will
be for a ray passing through, into, or out of a medium (lens, prism, etc). With these rules and a
little geometry, one can construct the whole path of a ray, hence the name Geometrical Optics.
The method of geometrical optics will not solve all problems that involve light. There are
problems in which the light must be treated as a wave with polarization or interference effects; this
is called Physical Optics. Many situations can be treated by either method, but where there is a
choice, geometrical optics is usually simpler. Our objective in this experiment is to help you become
acquainted with a few phenomena which can be described by the geometrical optics method. Unlike
the experiments in Optics in 2D, which were two-dimensional in nature, you will now be working
with more realistic lenses and in three dimensions. Essentially, it will be as if you took the lenses
studied in Optics Part I and rotated them about a central axis. While you can now see full images,
it will be difficult to see any individual rays, so you may need to review the results of Optics in
2D, as you make your observations.
In this lab, we will examine converging (Section 4) and diverging (Section 5) lenses, observing
real and virtual images, respectively. In addition, we will use a combination lens to characterize
a the focal length of a diverging lens (Section 6). Continuing on from Optics I, we will examine
chromatic aberration (Section 7) and dispersion (Section 8) in more detail.
By the end of this lab, you should know how to find the focal length for converging and diverging
lenses. You should understand what is meant by a real or virtual image and what basic
configurations will give these different types of images. You should also know what chromatic
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aberration is and how it affects images.

Theory

Before starting this lab, you should be familiar with the following physical concepts. If you need
to review them, or if you havent yet discussed them in your lecture course, they are dicscussed in
Cutnell & Johnson, Physics, 26.6-14.
Focal length
Real versus virtual images
Magnification
Chromatic aberration

2.1

Review of Optics I

Bending of rays: A light ray passing through a glass lens is bent as shown in Figures 1 and 2.
The angle between the new and old directions depends on the angle between the surfaces of the
glass at the place where the light goes through. is proportional to .
Focus: A focus exists when rays start from a given point on an object, go through various parts
of the lens, and converge at the same point to form an image. Light from every point on the object
goes to a corresponding point on the image. Figures 1 and 2 show rays from two points on an object
focused onto corresponding points on the image. In this case, a screen could be placed at the image
position and a real image could be seen. In some cases, the rays only appear to converge at the
image but do not actually pass through it; this is called a virtual image and is treated in Section 5.
Focal length and object-image distances: O is the distance from the object to the lens on
one side, and I is the distance from the lens to the image. They are related by the lens formula,
1 1 1
+ = ,
O I f

(1)

where f is the focal length. From the lens formula, f is equal to the image distance when the object
is at infinity (where 1/O = 1/ = 0). For example, the image of the sun will be at a distance f
from the lens.

Equipment
1.5 meter triangular optical bench and scale
Locating pin and mount; clear-glass filament lamp (or similar) for use as an object
Set of thin glass lenses (color-coded on edges); lens holders; glass prism
Set of colored filters (red, blue, green, yellow); white viewing screen
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f
Focal point

Object

Image

Figure 1: Ray diagram for a converging lens.

Object
Second ray

Central ray
Image
O

Figure 2: Object (O) and image (I) distance definitions.

Experiment: Measuring the Focal Length of Converging

Lenses
In this experiment, you will measure the focal length of thin lenses in two ways:
1. The lenses are identified by colored tape or paint. Select either your red, yellow, or green lens.
Attach the lens to the optical bench using a lens mount, and position it in front of the lamp
that is already mounted on the bench. (If there is a screen on your optical bench, remove it
for now.) Turn the lamp on and make sure the filament of the bulb is visible from the optical
bench the covering on the bulb may need to be adjusted. Note the bulb and covering
may be hot! Use the lens to project a sharp image of the lamp on the wall across the room.
(The room lights should be off.) To focus your image, simply slide the lens back and forth
Image distance

Object distance

Light

Lens

Figure 3: Optical bench.

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Screen (image)

along the bench. Form the sharpest possible image and carefully measure the distance from
the lens to the lamp. This is the focal length of the lens. Repeat for the other two converging
lenses.
2. Set up your bench as shown in Figure 3 (you have to add the screen to the assembly). Again,
use the lamp as your object. Get a sharp image on the screen by adjusting the position
of the lens and screen. Start with the screen as far from the light as possible. For the
green lens, the image may be off the end of the bench. Use a meterstick to extend the scale
when measuring the image distance if necessary. Use the measured image (I) and object (O)
distances to compute the focal length for the red, yellow and green lenses by using Equation 1
(see Section 2.1).
For each lens, compare the focal lengths found using the two methods. For each lens, calculate
the difference (in percentage) between Method 1 and Method 2. To do this, using the following
formula:
Lamp-Lens Dist. Focal Length
(2)
% diff =
Focal Length
where "Lamp-Lens Dist." refers to the results of Method 1 and "Focal Length" refers to the results
of Method 2. Which method is a more reliable way to measure the focal length of a converging
lens?

Experiment: Virtual Images and Diverging Lenses

As seen earlier, a diverging lens bends rays outward, away from the axis of the lens. Its focal
length f is negative and is equal to the distance to the virtual image when the incoming rays come
from infinity (i.e., are parallel). Thus, for a diverging lens (or a converging lens with the object
closer than f to the lens) there will be no real image which can be seen on a screen. However, by
extending the diverging rays backwards, a virtual image is found; it can be seen through the lens
and is on the same side of the lens as the object. In this case, I is negative in the lens formula,
Equation 1.
Though the image cannot be focused on a screen, your eye can see the image. You believe you
are looking at an object in the position of the virtual image. There is a procedure that can be used
to locate a virtual image using the magnification. The magnification of a lens is the ratio of the
image size to object size; i.e., M = (imagesize)/(objectsize). It is easy to show that the magnification
is also equal to (imagedistance)/(objectdistance), or
M =

I
O

(3)

Use the blue (diverging) lens. First, verify that you cannot form an image of a distant object
as you did with the converging lenses. If you look through the lens at the screen (not the lamp) a
few centimeters away, you can see a virtual image of the screen that is demagnified (M < 1).
For the following, it is convenient to use the parallel, equally-spaced lines on the screen. Place
the blue lens in the lens holder on the bench approximately 10 cm from the screen. Stand about an
arms length from the lens, and look through it at the screen. Compare the spacing of the lines as
seen through the lens with the spacing you see when you look at the screen just outside the lens.
Adjust the spacing between the lens and the screen to give a magnification M = 0.5, as shown in
Figure 4. It will appear as if there are twice as many boxes viewed through the lens as around the
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Figure 4: Demagnified screen. Try to achieve a magnification of M = 0.5, as shown.

lens. Then, measure the distance between the screen and the lens, which is the object distance. Do
this several times to get an estimate of the uncertainty.
From Equation 3 above, if you know the magnification and the object distance, O, you can find
the image distance, I, and from this the focal length.
In this situation the image is erect (upside-right) so the magnification is +0.5. From Equation 3,
the image distance is I = M O = 0.5O. Substituting this in the lens formula, Equation 1, gives
1 1
1
1
1
1
= + =
= .
f
O I O (0.5O)
O

(4)

So, if the magnification is 50%, f is simply equal to O. (f < 0 implies that the lens is defocusing.)
Note: some glasses-wearers may have problems using this technique. Indicate on your worksheet if
you wear glasses/contacts or not.

Experiment: Compound Lens

As a check on the measurement of f for a diverging lens using the above method, a simple
technique is to put the diverging lens in contact with a stronger converging lens. For two thin
lenses in contact, the focal length of the combination f is given by
1
1
1
= + .
f
f1 f2

(5)

With the red lens and the blue lens very close together (preferably touching), use one of the methods
in Section 4 to find f for the combination. Note: one way of combining these lenses is to place
them together (taking care not to rub the lenses together as this will leave scratches) and wrap tape
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all the way around the edge, then place this compound lens into a single lens mount. Use the focal
length of the red lens measured previously and Equation 5 to calculate the focal length of the blue
lens.
How close (percentage wise) did your result from the previous section agree with your result from
this measurement for the focal length of the blue lens? Calculate it using the following equation,
where fCompound is the focal length found using this compound lens combination and f0.5 Mag is the
focal length from the previous section.
% diff =

fCompound f0.5 Mag

fCompound

(6)

Is using the technique of finding a magnification of 1/2 (Section 5) a reliable method to determine
the focal length of a diverging lens?

Experiment: Chromatic Aberration

Obtain a real image of the lamp on a screen. This works best with the yellow lens and approximately equal image and object distances. Use the red filter to determine the image distance for red
light. Repeat with the blue filter. Estimate and note the fractional or percentage shift in the focal
lengths (they will be small).
Without the filter, slide the screen back and forth along the optical bench (do not also move the
lens). Observe and note carefully how the colors of the border change as the screen passes through
the image plane. As you move the screen through the focal lengths for red and blue without a color
filter, you should notice the white light image has colored borders. The color of these borders will
change as you move from one colors focal length to the other. Explain why this is so.

Experiment: Dispersion

Use the arrangement in Figure 5 to get a spectrum on the screen. First, get a sharp image on
the screen without the prism Then, insert the prism and swing the screen around as indicated to
find the spectrum. Adjust the orientation of the prism and position of the screen to get the sharpest
spectrum.
Which color is deflected most by the prism with respect to the original direction of the light?
Which is bent the least? Based on this, which color has the largest index of refraction? Which has
the smallest?
Is the angle of deflection closest to 1 , 10 , or 50 ? Is the angular separation between red and
violet closest to 1 , 10 , or 50 ? You should be able to estimate these.

White light

Red
Violet

Prism

2f

2f

Screen w/o
prism

Prism
"Yellow lens"

Figure 5: Dispersion.

d (screen)