Optics Definition and 999 Threads

I was watching this video by Don Lincoln, one of the senior researchers at FermiLab, on the the reason light slows down in transparent media (air, water, glass, plastic, etc...). He explains that the photons excite the electrons in the medium, which in turn add to the wave (or at least that's...

I am writing a review on snapshot spectral imaging techniques, and, being mainly interested in visible applications, I looked into spectral analysis with light field cameras, which have been rather popular in the previous years (see wikipedia): the main reference for these systems, at least for...

The transformation matrix for a beam splitter relates the four E-fields involved as follows: $$ \left(\begin{array}{c} E_{1}\\ E_{2} \end{array}\right)=\left(\begin{array}{cc} T & R\\ R & T \end{array}\right)\left(\begin{array}{c} E_{3}\\ E_{4} \end{array}\right) \tag{1}$$ Here, the amplitude...

Firstly, I don't know in which Picture this equation holds (if I hadn't missed some words in the previous text...). I think it may be the Heisenberg Picture. But if it is, the rest target is to prove $$\frac{i}{\hbar}[H_R+H_{FR},(a^\dagger) ^ma^nO_A]=\langle\frac{d}{dt}((a^\dagger)...

Hi all, I'm a mechanical engineer who has been dumped into optical metrology at work without anybody much more knowledgeable than myself to help me out. A previous mentor who left recently (who was our optical expert) always told me when measuring wavefront error of optics to "tilt-out the...

Spike Walker, whom I semi-regularly consult with about my Ultraphot III, recently told me about a really cool optical device: a 'Varicolor' filter, manufactured (and discontinued) by Cokin. I found one for $10 on eBay, received it yesterday, and I can't put it down. Here's a set of images of...

I am working with signals that look like the following. The curve has the same form in both frequency and time domain. I am trying to calculate the ratio of two distances: The distance between two adjacent red "x"s (known as the free spectral range (FSR)). The distance between two adjacent...

I hope someone here can explain this curious light effect! Some background: I have a table with a laptop on it, and a chair sitting at this table that has a mesh back on it that has a pattern of ~2mm holes cut into black material in a regular pattern. I happened to notice one day that I could...

In the 2016 Michigan vs Ohio State Football Game, the referee spotted the ball after 4th down with seconds to go in the game with what appeared to be a "bad spot." If not for this, Michigan would have won the game. On the next play, Ohio State scored a touchdown that won the game. Would it...

Hi everyone, this is sort of a soft question which I need to ask to make sure my understanding is correct, it relates to a little project I'm doing on measurement resolution. The first question is to clear up a general concept, the second is based on the first and is the actual question...

I have been revisiting my notes from my 2nd and 3rd year physics degree - especially the ones covering Fourier Optics, and other classical wave optics - and it is quite rewarding to revisit the historical / exploratory aspect of the series of discoveries, that built the foundations of this...

Homework Statement [/B] Design an afocal Keplerian telescope to imagine an object of ##L = 5\, mm## with a resolution of ##R = 2\, \mu m## and a magnification of ##M=-2##; assume that the wavelength is ##\lambda = 500\, nm##. Don't use lenses faster than ##F/1##. Using the optical invariant...

When monochromatic light is incident on a plano convex lens(as shown in the picture), these dark rings are produced which are observed with the help of a traveling microscope. The procedure requires us to measure the diameter of each ring (We need to measure the diameter of at least 10...

Fermat's Principle states that light always travels the path of least time. In Classical Physics, other than the above, is there a separate "Principle of Lease Action" for light? Thanks in advance.

I've been exposed to this notion in multiple classes (namely math and physics) but can't find any details about how one would actually calculate something using this principle: Diffraction in optics is closely related to Fourier transforms and finding the Fraunhofer diffraction of an aperture...

In a lithography process I have a hard mask which is opaque. I have to make a wafer alignment, however I use optical techniques to align my wafer (lasers etc.) . How can I align my wafer through an opaque layer?

Hi, Is coupling light from a laser into a single-mode fiber (transverse electric) more difficult than coupling to a multi-mode fiber? If so, is it due to the geometry? Does the laser light have multiple modes to begin with or it can be designed to have just one mode? Thanks

What Is a wavefront? How can we interpret it?

Hello. I started to work on pedrotti optics book (2nd edition) and i got confused about what is relativistic mass and why we use it rather than kinetic energy (1/2mc^2)? Also in the beginning of these explanations there is one equation i barely understand nothing out of it. Could you please...

I know its something related to the asymmentry in the i-d curve but its still not clear.

Homework Statement A hyperopic eye has a near point of 1.10 m. Calculate the focal length of the spectacle lens required to correct the hyperopia (assume that the near point of the normal eye is 25.0 cm.) Homework Equations 1/f=1/p+1/q The Attempt at a Solution I just used .25 m as p and...

Homework Statement In the Fizeau's Experiment to determine the speed of light, let the gear have N teeth, the frequency of the rotating gear being f, the distance traveled by the light beam/ray L (distance b/w the gear and the mirror) and let there be n eclipses(blocking of the light beam)...

Hello, i just wanted to ask if you can explain to me what thermal lens effect is? I am supposed to answer why laser beam passing through ink or soy sauce creates this effect and i can't find any information on what actually this thermal lens is. I know of course that it is a lens, but why does...

Hello everyone, I have calculated the received power for free space optic (FSO) using the equation: Lsystem (system loss) is set to 8dB. PTotal can be calculated as: where Ntx (number of receiver) = 1 and PTx (transmitted power) =7.78 dBm. LGeo can be calculated as: where d2R (receiver...

Hi, I am new to the forum so apologies if I placed this in the wrong subforum though I think the subject is classical enough to be here. I was hoping to get a concise answer to what is meant by spectral and spatial shaping of a laser. My intuition says that we are modifying the amplitude of the...

Hi everyone. This isn't for a class but more for lab work. I'm confused on how to read optics diagrams to understand this Glan-Taylor prism, specifically the up and down arrow vs the dot. Does the arrow pointing up and down mean that it is vertically polarized. Is the dot horizontally polarized...

I am looking for an optical piece that can act as a mirror when the angle of incidence is close to normal (90 degrees) but acts as a see-through glass when the angle of incidence is less than 60 degrees? Alternatively it can be a filter placed in front of a mirror that passes a lot of light at...

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/273269952_A_Simple_Unidirectional_Optical_Invisibility_Cloak_Made_of_Water Why did the authors of this cloak not choose a system with only three refractions for each light ray, so that the cloaked area would be a parallelogram? Is this impossible, or...

Hello Physics People, i was on bus 59 lately and i noticed a typical optical effect. There is a monitor/screen in the front of the bus that lists the current and coming stops and updates when you pass one. Its colour scheme is was blue/lightblue/white (see first picture). But when i looked at...

Let there be a sphere whose inner surface consists of a perfectly reflecting surface. It has a hole on it which allows a ray of light to enter. Give the angle made with the normal of the hole when the ray of light enters such that the probability that the ray comes out is the least?Assuming the...

The Attempt at a Solution The solution I keep coming up with is (G) , but the solution sheet says it is (C). I assumed it was (G) because since the slit width is halved the central maximum is bigger so I assumed that X would now be part of the central maximum. Therefore the intensity would be I_0.

Okay, so SPM (self-phase modulation) is an effect that happens when an ultrashort pulse travels through a medium and it leads to a change in that pulse's frequency spectrum. It is explained that it occurs because an ultrashort pulse somehow induces a varying change of refractive index and this...

I can't see how the textbook produces the following relationships between angles: $$ \theta = \phi + \alpha \qquad (1)$$ $$ 2\theta = \alpha + \alpha ' \qquad (2)$$ My thinking is that the exterior angle theorem for triangles was used to create expression ##(1)##, but I am unsure as to how...

Hi I want to make a infrared nonimaging concentrator, but since crystals needed for lenses are difficult to work with for an amateur, want to use liquids. I am interested in the 1-12 micron spectrum; what liquids could i use?

Homework Statement Laser probes are being used to examine the states of atoms and molecules at high temporal resolution. A laser operating at a wavelength of 400 nm produces a 1 femtosecond pulse. Compute the mean frequency and frequency spread, ∆ν, of this laser pulse. Homework Equations c =...

Hello. Let's suppose that we have a Michelson interferometer to study interference patterns of light. This time we use plane waves. If we set the whole thing up so that the two separated beams have a phase difference of π when they superpose, destructive interference ensues. Since we're...

Homework Statement A 2.0-cm-tall candle flame is 2.0 m from a wall. You happen to have a lens with a focal length of 32 cm. How many places can you put the lens to form a well-focused image of the candle flame on the wall? For each location, what are the height and orientation of the image...

We know that light of a specific colour has a specific frequency. Suppose we have a torch emitting white light, and we place a, say, red cellophane paper, in front of it. Now we would have red light. So does this mean the new beam we get has a new frequency? How?

I'm an undergraduate and there is a very good optical spectroscopy and nano-materials physics lab at my college. I have FULL access to all equipment and a professor in that field is offering me a ridiculous amount of co-research time during the school year. However, I'm really only interested...

I'm having a brain freeze right now and I need some help. :frown: I have a 50/50 beamsplitter (non-polarizing) with 5% tolerance. Test measurement (with a laser at a certain wavelength) gave that I'm transmitting 5.36 units and reflecting 4.6 units (49.5 transmitted; 42.6% reflected). Units...

I know the technical details of why light bends towards "the normal" when meeting a more refractive medium must be complicated. But I was thinking about it in a more lay fashion. I was thinking if the bending can be explained using Christiaan Huygens' principle in that a light front is made of...

Homework Statement Suppose light is prepared in a coherent superposition of linear horizontal polarization and linear vertical polarization. What is the resulting polarization according to Jones calculus if it passes through: a linear polarizer at a 45-degree angle (0 degrees would be...

For class I conducted a experiment where I made sugar solutions, poured them into a glass prism container and used a laser pointer to find the refractive index. However, while typing in my results I realized I found the angle of deviation instead of the minimum angle of deviation since I didn't...

i wear glasses to correct my out of focus vision. Without glasses everything is slightly out of focus. Quite by accident I looked through a tiny pinhole about the size of a pinprick without my glasses using one eye. To my amazement everything was perfectly sharply in focus. The same with...

In frustrated total internal reflection, is there refraction corresponding to the refractive index difference between the first and third medium or does the light continue in straight line as it is usually depicted in graphic representations of the frustrated total internal reflection?

Homework Statement A square aperture with a side of length 0.5 mm is illuminated with light of wavelength 550 nm. At what distance from the aperture would the Fraunhofer diffraction pattern have a central maximum with a width also equal to 0.5 mm? What can you say about the Fraunhofer condition...

What is the phase difference between the right circularly polarized and left circularly polarized light of the same amplitude? And how do you calculate it?

1. The problem statement, all variables and given/known date Homework Equations $$\delta v=\frac{c}{2nL} \:[1]$$ $$N=\frac{\Delta v}{\delta v}=\frac{2nL\Delta v}{c} \:[2]$$ The Attempt at a Solution I am having trouble with question 5, but have come to realize I think my cavity length is...

Assume you have the following scenario: Light begins traveling through a gel of index of refraction n=1.34 in a straight line along the x axis. It is then incident on a solid sphere(n=1.36) of radius R in 3-space. Upon transmittance, the light again travels through the gel(n=1.36) and finally...

Previously I made this post, and soon after realized how woefully unprepared I am to approach such a topic. As stated in the post, I think my best use of time would be to gain background knowledge on the topic before attempting a project, but now I think I've found a better focus as to what...