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2 votes
2 answers
133 views

What does the optical Hamiltonian mean?

So I was trying to demonstrate Snell's law with Hamilton's equations, and when I got the Hamiltonian: $$H = -\sqrt{n^2-p_{1}^2-p_{2}^2}.$$ I had a question about what this Hamiltonian indicates. I ...
gordunox's user avatar
0 votes
0 answers
24 views

How to Calculate Focal Length when in another medium?

How do you calculate the focal length of a lens when it is placed into another medium, if I only have the focal length of a lens in the air? I understand that the lensmaker's equation should be used, ...
Astrovis's user avatar
  • 187
0 votes
1 answer
41 views

What is a convex-concave lens?

I came across this term while studying for optics, and I'm unsure as to what this means. My thinking is that it might be a meniscus lens, but the text separately give two different models for each ...
Astrovis's user avatar
  • 187
0 votes
0 answers
32 views

Behaviour of light in non-Newtonian fluids

So if a ray of light is passed through a cuboidal glass tub, and refraction occurs for the first time and if force is applied on the the fluid laterally, the viscosity would vary and so would it's ...
Goutham's user avatar
1 vote
2 answers
70 views

Why total reflection happens at only 1 angle?

The critical angle can be intuitively understood by Snell's law.If the incident medium has a bigger diffraction index than the refracted medium then according to Snell's law the refracted ray will be ...
Root Groves's user avatar
5 votes
4 answers
1k views

How do parallel reflected rays meet to form image at infinity? If they never meet then how is image formed?

In my textbooks it is written that when an object is kept at focus, its image is formed at infinity and is real. But how is this possible because parallel lines never meet and it is necessary for rays ...
Shivam Gogia's user avatar
0 votes
0 answers
21 views

Lens maker’s formula from parabolic approximation

I’m attempting to derive the lens maker’s formula for a thin or thick lens using the parabolic approximation. I’m familiar with the other proof using the law of refraction and different angles. The ...
TheorVHP's user avatar
0 votes
2 answers
71 views

Is there a way to calculate the angle between the refracted and reflected rays given the refractive index?

Is there a way to calculate the refracted and reflected rays? I know we use Snell's law to calculate the refracted rays, but is there a formula to calculate the angle of the reflected rays, or does it ...
Astrovis's user avatar
  • 187
2 votes
0 answers
35 views

Apparent position of object in bowl of water

Say you have a bowl of water and you keep an object in it. What would the apparent position of an object inside the bowl from the position of an outside observer? Will the curvature of the spherical ...
Astrovis's user avatar
  • 187
5 votes
1 answer
406 views

Difference between deviation of ray and wavefront

This is a reference to the question posted by Govind Prajapat Refraction of light through a slab of variable refractive index A monochromatic light wave is incident normally on a glass slab of ...
soccerer's user avatar
0 votes
0 answers
68 views

Finding the limiting refractive index of a rainbow

Give the limiting refractive index of a rainbow. The raindrops are modelled as spherical droplets, with refractive index $n$, with parallel rays from the Sun incident on it. I have a very limited ...
Developer's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
200 views

Lenses and missing reflection

I am wondering why reflected rays are not considered with lenses. If a ray strikes a surface, another is reflected off that striking point; however, this is not added when studying lenses, only ...
DisD's user avatar
  • 23
1 vote
1 answer
70 views

Snell's Law- Extraordinary ray

I applied the snell's law to find the angle of refraction of the Ordinary and Extraordinary ray. And I got the correct answer 3.51. But I know my approach to the question is wrong because I applied ...
Akshat Shrivastava's user avatar
0 votes
1 answer
39 views

Magnification of closely packed thin lenses, or of closely packed lens and mirror

I was taught how to calculate the equivalent foci in both the cases. And since the formulae resemble the simple mirror and lens maker formulae, teacher said that this system is behaving like a single ...
Gautam's user avatar
  • 41
0 votes
1 answer
44 views

As we all know a convex lens doesn't exactly converge all rays parallel to it's axis on a single point. So I want to find one such figure

Writing a differential equation for such a figure is an uncomplicated task. It can be accomplished by using snell's law. But the resulting equation probably isn't solvable. I put it in wolfram alpha ...
Arpan Bajpai's user avatar

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