Questions tagged [optics]
Optics is the study of light, and its interaction with matter. It includes topics such as imaging systems, fiber optics, lasers, quantum optics, and more.
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Exit Pupil, Objective Aperture, Magnification, and Brightness
Why is it that for two pairs of binoculars, with equal aperture, the one with smaller magnification has larger exit pupil and results in brighter images? If I understand correctly, the aperture ...
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Using multiple sources in Zemax mixed mode
In Ansys Zemax OpticStudio [I'm using 2023 R1.00 Pro (11)] sequential mode, the Multi-Configuration Editor can be used to make multiple paths for rays to trace through after the rays depart from a ...
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Can the laser light, in principle, take any wavelength in the EM spectrum?
Can the laser light, in principle, take any wavelength in the EM spectrum? I don't think there is what prevent this in principle, right?
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Assessing the quality of wavefront correction in adaptive optics systems: the case of single and multiple radiation sources
Generalized diagram of an adaptive optical system is as follows:
Wavefront from the observation object passes through the atmosphere and is distorted. It is then reflected from the deformable mirror ...
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When light hits an interface between air and glass, different refraction results ensue if it is a prism or a window. Why? [duplicate]
If light hits a window it bends and comes out parallel, but if it hits a prism it breaks into a rainbow. How does it know the shape of the glass it is entering?
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Average polarization of photons and lasers
Sunlight is made up of photons polarized in many directions, so it is derived that sunlight has a 50% chance of passing through a polarizing filter at any angle.
My question is, if you know 50% of ...
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Is there an actual difference between the scattering and absorption/emission of a photon?
Consider a photon incident upon a atom. Dependent on the electronic makeup of the atom, the frequency of the light, and/or group velocity of incident photon, we might see:
Various elastic/inelastic ...
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Generalized Hong-Ou-Mandel effect for multi-photon states
The Hong-Ou-Mandel (HOM) effect in quantum optics consists, in a nutshell, in sending two identical photons through different input ports of a beam-splitter, to see that they bunch together at one of ...
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Why do gaps in my blinds create multiple lines?
Multiple lines appear on my floor every morning from the gaps in my blinds.
Why does this happen and does it have to do with light being a wave, like in the double slit experiment? If so could it be ...
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Confused about the principle Of Michelson Interferometer
Consider the figure that I found from an answer here:
Michelson interferometer circular fringes
Now the path difference in the image in clearly
$$\Delta d= 2d cos\theta$$
and I know a phase ...
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Can the rainbow illustrate the colors we can’t see? [duplicate]
Seen as how we’re only able to see a relatively small portion of the electromagnetic spectrum, does the rainbow “keep going” in the frequencies we cannot see?
In other words; if we were able to see ...
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How to really detect optical rectification?
I am studying the non-linear optics. And there is a topic about optical rectification. So the mechanism is basically to let light pass through a $\chi^{2}$ medium. The optical rectification is to ...
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