Optics Overview

MIT 2.71/2.710
Review Lecture p-1
 What is light?

• Light is a form of electromagnetic energy – detected through its

effects, e.g. heating of illuminated objects, conversion of light to
current, mechanical pressure (“Maxwell force”) etc.

• Light energy is conveyed through particles: “photons”

– ballistic behavior, e.g. shadows

• Light energy is conveyed through waves

– wave behavior, e.g. interference, diffraction

• Quantum mechanics reconciles the two points of view, through the

“wave/particle duality” assertion

MIT 2.71/2.710
Review Lecture p-2
 Particle properties of light

Photon=elementary light particle

Mass=0
Speed c=3×108 m/sec

According to Special Relativity, a mass-less particle travelling

travelling

at light speed can still carry momentum!

momentum!

Energy E=hν relates the dual particle & wave

nature of light;
h=Planck’s constant
ν is the temporal oscillation
=6.6262×10-34 J sec frequency of the light waves
MIT 2.71/2.710
Review Lecture p-3
 Wave properties of light

λ: wavelength 1/ν λ
(spatial period)

k=2π/λ
wavenumber

ν: temporal
frequency

ω=2πν
angular frequency

E: electric
field

MIT 2.71/2.710
Review Lecture p-4
 Wave/particle duality for light

Photon=elementary light particle

Mass=0
Speed c=3×108 m/sec

Energy E=hν
c=λν
h=Planck’s constant
“Dispersion relation”

=6.6262×10-34 J sec
(holds in vacuum only)
ν=frequency (sec-1)
λ=wavelength (m)
MIT 2.71/2.710
Review Lecture p-5
 Light in matter

light in vacuum
light in matter
Speed c=3×108 m/sec Speed c/n
n : refractive index
(or index of refraction)

Absorption coefficient 0 Absorption coefficient α

energy decay coefficient,
after distance L : e–2αL
E.g. vacuum n=1, air n ≈ 1;
glass n≈1.5; glass fiber has α ≈0.25dB/km=0.0288/km

MIT 2.71/2.710
Review Lecture p-6
 Materials classification

• Dielectrics
– typically electrical isolators (e.g. glass, plastics)
– low absorption coefficient
– arbitrary refractive index
• Metals
– conductivity ⇒ large absorption coefficient
• Lots of exceptions and special cases (e.g. “artificial dielectrics”)
• Absorption and refractive index are related through the Kramers–
Kronig relationship (imposed by causality)
absorption
ν

refractive index

MIT 2.71/2.710
Review Lecture p-7
 Overview of light sources

non-Laser Laser
Thermal: polychromatic, Continuous wave (or cw):

spatially incoherent strictly monochromatic,

(e.g. light bulb) spatially coherent
(e.g. HeNe, Ar+, laser diodes)
Gas discharge: monochromatic,
spatially incoherent Pulsed: quasi-monochromatic,
(e.g. Na lamp) spatially coherent
(e.g. Q-switched, mode-locked)

Light emitting diodes (LEDs):

~nsec ~psec to few fsec

monochromatic, spatially
incoherent pulse duration

mono/poly-chromatic = single/multi color

MIT 2.71/2.710
Review Lecture p-8
 Monochromatic, spatially coherent

light
1/ν • nice, regular sinusoid
λ
• λ, ν well defined
• stabilized HeNe laser
good approximation
• most other cw lasers
rough approximation
• pulsed lasers & non-
laser sources need
more complicated
description

Incoherent: random, irregular waveform

MIT 2.71/2.710
Review Lecture p-9
 The concept of a monochromatic

“ray”

t=0 z
(frozen)
λ
direction of
energy propagation:
light ray

wavefronts

In homogeneous media,

light propagates in rectilinear paths

MIT 2.71/2.710
Review Lecture p-10
 The concept of a monochromatic

“ray”

t=∆t z
(advanced)
λ
direction of
energy propagation:
light ray

wavefronts

In homogeneous media,

light propagates in rectilinear paths

MIT 2.71/2.710
Review Lecture p-11
 The concept of a polychromatic “ray”

t=0 z

(frozen)

energy from
pretty much
all wavelengths
propagates along
the ray
wavefronts

In homogeneous media,

light propagates in rectilinear paths

MIT 2.71/2.710
Review Lecture p-12
 Fermat principle

P’

light
ray
Γ

P
Γ is chosen to minimize this
∫ n( x, y, z ) dl
Γ
“path” integral, compared to
alternative paths
(aka minimum path principle)

Consequences: law of reflection, law of refraction

MIT 2.71/2.710
Review Lecture p-13
 The law of reflection

P’ a) Consider virtual source P”

instead of P
O′′ b) Alternative path P”O”P’ is
θ longer than P”OP’
O c) Therefore, light follows the
θ symmetric path POP’.

P P′′
mirror
MIT 2.71/2.710
Review Lecture p-14
 The law of refraction

reflected
refracted
θ
θ′

θ
n n′
incident

n sin θ = n′ sin θ ′ Snell’s Law of Refraction

MIT 2.71/2.710
Review Lecture p-15
 Optical waveguide

n≈1.00 n=1.51
TIR
n=1.5105

TIR
n=1.51

• Planar version: integrated optics

• Cylindrically symmetric version: fiber optics
• Permit the creation of “light chips” and “light cables,” respectively, where
light is guided around with few restrictions
• Materials research has yielded glasses with very low losses (<0.25dB/km)
• Basis for optical telecommunications and some imaging (e.g. endoscopes)
and sensing (e.g. pressure) systems
MIT 2.71/2.710
Review Lecture p-16
 Refraction at a spherical surface

point
source

MIT 2.71/2.710
Review Lecture p-17
 Imaging a point source

point
source

point
image

Lens

MIT 2.71/2.710
Review Lecture p-18
 Model for a thin lens

point object
at 1st FP

1st FP

focal length f
plane wave (or parallel ray bundle);
image at infinity

MIT 2.71/2.710
Review Lecture p-19
 Model for a thin lens

point image
at 2nd FP

focal length f
plane wave (or parallel ray bundle);
object at infinity

MIT 2.71/2.710
Review Lecture p-20
 Huygens principle

Each point on the wavefront

acts as a secondary light source
emitting a spherical wave

The wavefront after a short

propagation distance is the
result of superimposing all
these spherical wavelets

optical
MIT 2.71/2.710
wavefronts
Review Lecture p-22
 Why imaging systems are needed

• Each point in an object scatters the incident illumination into a spherical wave,
according to the Huygens principle.
• A few microns away from the object surface, the rays emanating from all
object points become entangled, delocalizing object details.
• To relocalize object details, a method must be found to reassign (“focus”) all
the rays that emanated from a single point object into another point in space
(the “image.”)
• The latter function is the topic of the discipline of Optical Imaging.

MIT 2.71/2.710
Review Lecture p-23
 Imaging condition: ray-tracing

thin lens (+)

image
(real)
2nd FP
1st FP
chief
ray
object

• Image point is located at the common intersection of all rays which

emanate from the corresponding object point
• The two rays passing through the two focal points and the chief ray
can be ray-traced directly
• The real image is inverted and can be magnified or demagnified
MIT 2.71/2.710
Review Lecture p-24
 Imaging condition: ray-tracing

thin lens (+)

xo image
2nd FP
1st FP
chief
object
ray xi

so si
Lateral Angular Energy
Lens Law
magnification magnification conservation
1 1 1 xi so si
+
= M
x = =− M
a = − M xM a = 1
so si
f xo si so
MIT 2.71/2.710
Review Lecture p-25
 Imaging condition: ray-tracing

thin lens (+)

image
(virtual)
2nd FP
1st FP
object

ch
ief
ray
• The ray bundle emanating from the system is divergent; the virtual
image is located at the intersection of the backwards-extended rays
• The virtual image is erect and is magnified
• When using a negative lens, the image is always virtual, erect, and
demagnified
MIT 2.71/2.710
Review Lecture p-26
 Tilted object:

the Scheimpflug condition

The object plane and the image plane

intersect at the plane of the thin lens.

MIT 2.71/2.710
Review Lecture p-27
 Lens-based imaging

• Human eye
• Photographic camera

• Magnifier
• Microscope
• Telescope

MIT 2.71/2.710
Review Lecture p-28
 The human eye

Remote object (unaccommodated eye)

Near object (accommodated eye)

MIT 2.71/2.710
Review Lecture p-29
 The photographic camera

meniscus
lens
or (nowadays)
zoom lens
Film
or
“digital imaging” detector array (CCD or CMOS)

MIT 2.71/2.710
Review Lecture p-31
 The pinhole camera

opaque
screen image

pin-
hole

object

• The pinhole camera blocks all but one ray per object point from reaching the
image space ⇒ an image is formed (i.e., each point in image space corresponds to
a single point from the object space).
• Unfortunately, most of the light is wasted in this instrument.
• Besides, light diffracts if it has to go through small pinholes as we will see later;
diffraction introduces undesirable artifacts in the image.
MIT 2.71/2.710
Review Lecture p-35
 Field of View (FoV)

FoV=angle that the chief ray from an object can subtend

towards the imaging system

MIT 2.71/2.710
Review Lecture p-36
 Numerical Aperture

medium of
refr. index n

Numerical Aperture
θ: half-angle subtended by (NA) = n sinθ
the imaging system from
an axial object Speed (f/#)=1/2(NA)
pronounced f-number, e.g.
f/8 means (f/#)=8.
MIT 2.71/2.710
Review Lecture p-37
 Resolution

?
δx

How far can two distinct point objects be

before their images cease to be distinguishable?

MIT 2.71/2.710
Review Lecture p-38
 Factors limiting resolution in an

imaging system

• Diffraction
Intricately related; assessment of image
quality depends on the degree that the “inverse
• Aberrations
problem” is solvable (i.e. its condition)
• Noise 2.717 sp02 for details

– electronic noise (thermal, Poisson) in cameras

– multiplicative noise in photographic film
– stray light
– speckle noise (coherent imaging systems only)
• Sampling at the image plane
– camera pixel size
– photographic film grain size
MIT 2.71/2.710
Review Lecture p-39
 Point-Spread Function

Light distribution (rotationally

near the Gaussian = PSF symmetric
(geometric) focus wrt optical axis)

Point source 1.22λ

(ideal)
∆x ~
NA

2λ
∆z ~
NA 2

The finite extent of the PSF causes blur in the image

MIT 2.71/2.710
Review Lecture p-40
 Diffraction limited resolution

light intensity (arbitrary units)

object
spacing
δx

lateral coordinate at image plane (arbitrary units)

Point objects “just 1.22λ Rayleigh resolution

δx ≈
resolvable” when (NA) criterion

MIT 2.71/2.710
Review Lecture p-41
 Wave nature of light

• Diffraction

broadening of
point images

diffraction grating
• Inteference
?
?

Fabry-Perot interferometer Interference filter

? (or dielectric mirror)
Michelson interferometer

• Polarization: polaroids, dichroics, liquid crystals, ...

MIT 2.71/2.710
Review Lecture p-42
 Diffraction grating

…
incident
Λ
Grating spatial frequency: 1/Λ
plane
Angular separation between diffracted orders: ∆θ ≈1/Λ
Λ
wave

m=3
m=2
m=1
Λ “straight-through” order or DC term
m=0

m=–1

m=–2 Condition for constructive interference:

m=–3 Λ
2π = 2πm (m integer)
λ

λ
⇔ sin θ = m
Λ
MIT 2.71/2.710 diffraction order
Review Lecture p-43
 Grating dispersion

Anomalous
(or negative)
dispersion

polychromatic

(white)
Glass prism:
light
normal dispersion

MIT 2.71/2.710
Review Lecture p-44
 Fresnel diffraction formulae

x x´
y y´

z
g in ( x, y ) g out ( x′, y′)

1  z  ( x′ − x )2 + ( y′ − y )2 
g out (
x′, y′
;
z )
= expi 2π  ∫
g in (x, y ) exp iπ dxdy
iλz  λ 
λz 

x x´
y y´

z
Gin (u, v ) Gout (u , v)

 z
{ (
Gout (u , v; z ) = exp i 2π Gin (u, v ) exp - iπλz u 2 + v 2 )}

λ 

MIT 2.71/2.710
Review Lecture p-45
 Fresnel diffraction

as a linear, shift-invariant system

Thin transparency 1  z  x2 + y2 
h ( x, y ) = expi 2π  expiπ 
t ( x, y ) iλz  λ
  λ z 
output
amplitude
g1 ( x, y ) impulse response
g 2 ( x, y ) = g 3 (x′, y ′) =
= g1 ( x, y )t ( x, y ) convolution = g 2 ( x, y ) ∗ h ( x, y )

Fourier Fourier
transform transform

(≡plane wave transfer function G3 (u , v) =

spectrum) G2 (u , v )
multiplication = G2 (u , v) H (u , v)
z

{ ( )}
H (u , v ) = expi 2π  exp − iπλ u 2 + v 2 z
λ

MIT 2.71/2.710
Review Lecture p-46