Abstract
Ray optics (or geometrical optics) describes light propagation in terms of rectilinear paths in homogeneous media. The simple concepts of ray optics are very powerful in explaining image formation by mirrors, lenses, and the eye and in a multitude of optical instruments. The design of photographic objectives, which may consist of a dozen lenses to optimize image quality, is done within the framework of ray optics. However, we know that ray optics does not account for all phenomena in the propagation of light. Diffraction and interference cannot be understood without taking into account the wave nature of light.
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Notes
- 1.
George B. Airy (1801–1892), English astronomer.
- 2.
The two Keck telescopes, the mirrors of which are each 10 m in diameter, are installed on the peak of the 4,200-m dormant volcano Mauna Kea on the island of Hawaii.
- 3.
Shack’s implementation goes back to the shadow masks with which the astrophysicist Johannes Hartmann checked and improved the objective lens of the large Potsdam refracting telescope in 1900.
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Frits Zernike (1888–1966), Dutch physicist, received the 1953 Nobel Prize for the development of the phase-contrast microscope. He introduced the classification according to orthogonal circle polynomials into the mathematical description of optical system aberrations.
- 5.
Ernst Abbe 1840–1905. Creator of the concepts of modern optics, such as the theory of the diffraction-limited microscope. He was one of the founders of the German optical industry, a social reformer, and the founder of the Carl-Zeiss foundation (1889).
- 6.
Stimulated emission depletion.
- 7.
Jean B. Fourier (1768–1830), French mathematician. His turbulent life, during and after the French Revolution, is documented on Wikipedia.
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© 2013 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
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Flammer, J., Mozaffarieh, M., Bebie, H. (2013). If You Are Interested in More …. In: Basic Sciences in Ophthalmology. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-32261-7_19
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-32261-7_19
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