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.
1,808
questions with no upvoted or accepted answers
4
votes
1
answer
251
views
How does a broadband dielectric Mirror work?
It is widely known that dielectric mirrors work with several layers of at least two materials which differ in refractive index that are layered, such that partially reflected waves interfere ...
- 139
3
votes
0
answers
44
views
Does conservation of Etendue mean focusing+filtering a larger led bulb into a point light in a way that casts shadows like a point light is impossible
I unfortunately never took a class on photonics but this law of Etendue seems to be very relevant to a project I am not even sure is possible. I am trying to create a lamp that does something like ...
- 213
3
votes
0
answers
21
views
Book recommendation: adaptive optics
Does anyone know any good books for adaptive optics? It should at least include decomposition into Zernike polynomials. It is for PhD level, but any level is welcome.
3
votes
0
answers
87
views
Numerical procedure for finding steady eigenstate for a non-Hermitian effective model
I am working with an effective model describing an exciton-polariton system. I need to solve the Schrödinger equation (eigenvalue problem). To describe the presence of losses the diagonal terms are ...
- 31
3
votes
0
answers
61
views
Why is sunset in mars blue?
This is the Martian sunset, as captured by the Spirit rover of NASA. Notice the colors are inverted, i.e. the direct rays blue and diffused rays red, which is exactly the opposite of what you would ...
- 12.5k
3
votes
0
answers
99
views
Out-of-focus color in reflective microscopy with Köhler EPI-illumination
It is well known that Köhler illuminator in optical microscopy is designed in a way to ensure uniform illumination of the field, often with adjustable apertures to allow as little light as possible to ...
- 2,424
3
votes
0
answers
102
views
What creates the orange hue when there is wildfire smoke?
I find a variety of opposing arguments on the internet:
That this is due to Rayleigh scattering, which "removes" the blue light from reaching our eyes. This is similar to how the sunset ...
- 131
3
votes
1
answer
124
views
Can you observe Rayleigh scattering of water waves?
I understand roughly that Rayleigh scattering occurs when white light encounters particles smaller than the wavelength of visible light, and short wavelengths are preferentially scattered.
I'm ...
- 151
3
votes
0
answers
45
views
What is a stochastic electromagnetic wave?
In statistical optics we always talking about stochastic electromagnetic wave but I am not able to understand how this wave is different from electromagnetic wave
- 31
3
votes
0
answers
752
views
Difference between Poincaré and Bloch sphere for single photons
The Bloch sphere is a geometrical representation of a two-levels quantum system, for example we can use it to represent the spin of a single qubit in the basis $\{\lvert H \rangle, \lvert V \rangle\}$....
- 735
3
votes
0
answers
37
views
Changing the apparent focal distance of an object
I'm not completely confident this is the write SE site to post this on, but it seems like the most relevant one.
I want to make an object (with negligible thickness) that is around one to five ...
- 31
3
votes
0
answers
47
views
Composition of free space propagation and Huygens' principle
With paraxial approximation, the free space propagation operator with distance $d$ boils down to
\begin{align}
(\mathcal{R}_df)(x,y)= \frac{e^{jkd}}{j\lambda d}\iint e^{-j\frac{k}{2d}((x-x')^2+(y-y')^...
- 131
3
votes
0
answers
204
views
Why do we get rings in the Spontaneous Parametric Down conversion (SPDC) process?
In the SPDC process, the phase-matching conditions between the o-rays and/or e-rays have to hold for the down-conversion process to take place. Say we have a non-collinear phase-matching at the plane ...
- 195
3
votes
0
answers
121
views
How does the quality of the reflected light compare to the emitted light? And how do I manage this (reflected) light quality well?
I am designing an interferometer for an experiment. The setup consists of (1) the laser source, (2) the interferometer itself (consisting of optical components and photodetector(s)), and (3) the ...
- 899
3
votes
1
answer
37
views
What is the diffraction limit of "atom lasers"
Due to De Broglie wavelength's behaving differently from photons, the theoretical limit, i.e: not limited by system imperfections, is not clear.
- 441