I.

INTRODUCTION
Optical instruments are used to improve the observation of objects by replacing them by images. These
can be divided into two different categories:

- Those that supply real images (telephoto lens, projectors, photo camera, … any instruments that
can project the image of the object onto something)
- Those that supply virtual images that can only be seen by the eye (mirrors, telescope, classes,
periscope)

The purpose of this experiment is to build several optical instruments that project real images (projection
microscope, …) on an optical bench, and then to assess their principal characteristics.

II. BACKGROUND THEORY

II.1. Geometric optics
Geometric optics studies the propagation of light, without considering its wavelike nature. It introduces
the concept of light rays, and is based on the following postulates:
1. Propagation of light in a homogeneous and isotropic environment is rectilinear.
2. Reversibility of light rays. One ray will follow the same path in both directions.
3. Independence of light rays. Each beam of light can propagate independently of the surrounding ones,
that have no influence on one another.

When a light beam hits the surface of two

different environments (diopter), it will
generally separate into two: one reflected i r
beam that stays in the first environment, and i
one refracted beam, that penetrates the
second environment after changing directions
j j

Fig. 1: Reflection and refraction of light

The geometry of the light rays follows the Snell-Descartes laws:

1) The incident, reflected and refracted beam are all in the same plane (fig. 1)

2) Incident angle i and reflection angle r are equal and of opposite signs.

i   r (1)

3) For any monochromatic ray, the incident angle i and refracted angle j are connected by:

sin  i u
 n ji  i (2)
sin  r uj
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where n ji is a constant called the refraction index of an environment j with respect to an environment i
for which the light. u i and u j are the speeds of light in the environments i and j. When the environment
i is a vacuum, we have:

c
 nj (3)
uj

nj being the absolute refraction index of the environment j and c is the speed of light in a vacuum, which
is a universal constant ( c  2.99793 10 m s ).
8
cu .

nj
We can easily see that: n ji  (4)
ni

1
And according to the 2nd postulate: n ji  (5)
n ij

Equation (3) is generally written in the form:

ni  sin i  n j  sin  j  n k  sin  k  ...  const (6)

for a given beam.

The indices vary with the frequency of the considered light. Here are a few values.

air (at 0 C and 760 mm de Hg) 1.000294

water (at 20 C ) 1.33
glass (Crown) 1.52
glass (Flint) 1.6
diamond 2.4
OPTICAL SYSTEMS

An optical system is made of a collection of surfaces, either separations between different transparent
environments (dioptric systems), or reflecting surface (catoptric system), or both (catadioptric systems),
preferably simple, in order to simplify the practical implementation. The geometric nature of the surface
assigns names to the diopters. In the event of a spherical diopter, the line connecting the center of the
sphere to the selected side of the diopter is called the principle axis. Any plane containing this axis is
called principle cross section.

An optical system defines a correspondence between two spaces that can overlap: The object space,
and the image space. Geometric optics precisely define the nature and span of both spaces for a given
optical system.
EPFL-TRAVAUX PRATIQUES DE PHYSIQUE F4-3

II.2. Lenses
An optical system made of a transparent refracting space limited by spherical surfaces is called a lens.
Generally, lenses are made of flint glass (refractive index: 1.6 to 1.7 ) or crown glass (refractive index
1.6 ). There are two types of lenses: converging lenses and diverging lenses.
We will only consider thin lenses (we shall neglect the thickness of the lens) and light rays slightly
inclined to the main axis, which allows first-order approximations. The properties of thin lenses are:
1. Any light ray passing through the optical center of a thin lens suffers no deviation
2. Any light ray parallel to the principal axis of a lens refracts by passing through the focal point,
whether in real or in virtual space.

The image of an object made by a lens is the locus of the image points that make up the objects

Let’s build the image made of a point A by a converging lens (Fig. 2a). We know the trajectories of three
light rays from point A. The intersection of two of these paths is sufficient to determine the position of
the image point A '. The AO ray passing through the optical center O undergoes no deviation. The ray
parallel to the optical axis passes through the focus point F, after refraction. The ray passing through
the focus point F ', becomes parallel to the optical axis after refraction through the lens. The point A'
which is the intersection of the refracted rays, is the image of the point A, and the image of the arrow
AB is the arrow A'B '.

L
d d’

A f
I
F B’
o
B F’ O i

A’

(a)

d
f
A
A’ I F’
o
i
B B’ O
F
d’

(b)
Fig. 2: Image of an object generated by converging (a) and diverging (b) lenses

The geometrical construction of the image of a point formed by a diverging lens is similar to that of the
converging lens, however, notice that the extensions of the refracted rays converge at the image point,
and not the refracted rays themselves (Fig. 2b). In Fig. 2b, the image AB is virtual (cannot be projected
onto the screen).

To simplify the notation, we denote by o the size of the object AB, by i the size of the image A'B', by d
the distance of the object OB to the lens, by d’ the distance of OB' to the lens and by f the focal length
OF of the lens.
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Considering the similar triangles A'OB' and AOB, yields the following magnification .

i d'
   (7)
o d
Now, looking at the similar triangles A'FB' and IFO, we get:

i d ' f
 (8)
o f
Using (7) and (8), yields:

1 1 1
d + d' = f (9)

Equations (7) and (9) are used to determine the position and the properties of images made by lenses
provided that the parameters d, d ' and f are positive in the case of real objects, images and foci and
negative if objects, images and foci are virtual. Since the lenses refract the light, the parameters d, d’
have a conventional sign depending if they are on the opposite sides or on the same side of the lens.

According to these conventions:

f >0 converging lens f <0 diverging lens

d >0 real object d <0 virtual object
d' > 0 real image d' < 0 virtual image

II.3. Stigmatism.
The theoretical and generally biunivocal correspondence between the object and image spaces can
only be studied in practice. To each object point M, there corresponds in reality a caustic surface that
can only in degenerate into a single image point M’ in certain cases. When this happens, it is called
stigmatism. However, it is impossible for this stigmatism to happen to all points of space. We must
therefore satisfy ourselves with apparent stigmatism for certain parts of space, by doing our best to
reduce the caustic surface of each point, until we reach satisfying results with respect to the
imperfections of the receptor (eye, photograph,…)

Centered optical systems

Experiment and theory both show that to get stigmatism for two points with a single diopter, it needs to
be of cylindrical symmetry around the line connecting both points. Therefore, optical instruments will be
a succession of cylindrically symmetric diopters around an axis that will be called optical axis of the
centered system. The medium separating these diopters are supposed transparent, isotropic, and
entirely defined by their refraction index.

Limits of rays
The quality of images supplied by centered systems is conserved as long as we stay in the paraxial
domain which is the portion space where we can neglect calculations of second-order or higher, with
respect to the angle of the rays on the optical axis. In this region any object in a perpendicular plane to
the optical axis will cast an image perpendicular to the optical axis. This gives a triple use to diaphragms:
1) they fix the lighting of the image; 2) they limit the dimensions of the image; 3) they stop unwanted
light from entering the system.
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II.4. Characteristics of an optical instrument

1) Magnification G : it’s the ratio of the viewing angle  ' when watching the object through the
optical instrument, to the viewing angle  when watching the object without the optical instrument
'
G (10)

2) Separating power: it’s a measure of the perceptibility of details. It can be limited by chromatic or
geometric aberrations, diffraction phenomena, the granular structure of the screen or captor,…

For an ideal optical instrument, images of

points are actually circular diffraction spots.
Figure 3 shows what these diffraction profiles
tend to look like. First in the case of a single M' R'
point, then in the case of two neighboring M' N'
points.

Fig. 3 : Aspect of light points supplied by

instruments

The separating power depends on the opening u (fig. 4) in the object space, the opening u ' in the image
space, the cone of light rays coming from a point S and going to a point S’. It also depends on the n and
n’ index of the object and image space, and on the wavelength   of the light.

n n'
S instrument S'
u u'

Fig. 4: Opening angle of the incoming and outgoing rays.

0.61 
The R ' ray of a diffraction spot is: R' (11)
n ' sin u '
Therefore, the separation condition for two image points is:

0.61 
M'N'  R ' 
n ' sin u '

0.61 
and two object points MN  (12)
n  sin u
3) The Field is defined by the portion of the object space for which the instrument can provide a
clear image.

4) Clarity is a measure of the apparent luminosity of the objects, when observed through the
instrument versus without the instrument
'
It is defined by the ratio: C (13)

  and  respectively designate the light flux penetrating the eye with and without the optical
instrument, C can be greater than 1 (star watched through a telescope)
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III. OPTICAL INSTRUMENT EXAMPLES

III. 1. Projection microscope
In principle, the direct vision microscope is made of an objective lens, of short focal length (a few mm),
that gives a first magnified real image of the object. This image is then examined through a second lens,
of focal length of the order of 1cm, that serves as a magnifying glass for the eye of the observer. In
reality, both lenses are made of a more complex set of lenses, that aim to increase the performance of
the instrument (less aberrations, separating power, clarity, …)

objective ocular
L1 L2 B ''

B
F1 A'

A F2 A ''
B'

Fig. 5: Diagram of a projection microscope.

If we place the ocular lens L 2 farther than the image A'B', at a distance greater than the focal length
(Fig. 5), we get a real image that can be projected on a screen or photographic captor.

III. 2. Telephoto lens.

The telephoto lens is made of two lenses: one converging lens L1 and one diverging lens L 2 (Fig. 6).
The lens L1 makes an image A’B’ of the object placed at infinity. The image is located on the focal point
(F1). This real image is a virtual object of which the diverging lens makes a real image A’’B’’ on the
captor. The dimensions of A’’B’’ can be modified by moving L1 and L 2 along the axis: zoom

L1 L2
B"
B
B'
A
F2 A' F'2 A"
F1

Fig. 6: Diagram of a telephoto lens

In order to study the interaction of a converging and a diverging lens on an optical bench, we will build
a similar instrument, as seen in figure 7
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L1 L2

B
F2 A’ F2’ A’’
A
B’

Fig. 7: Diagram of telephoto lens with object at finite distance.

IV. SUGGESTED EXPERIMENTS

Study the two types of real image optical instruments explained above: projection microscope and
telephoto lens. Choose performances according to your project (e.g. magnification 50x to 70x). An
example of the experimental setup can be seen in figure 8.

Let’s start with the projection microscope:

1. Using the lens formulae, calculate the position of the different images with respect to the object.

2. Do a scaled model of the entire setup (lenses, light rays, …)

3. Create the instrument on the optical bench, and verify the laws of geometric optics
experimentally.

4. List the performances of your optical instrument: magnification, resolutions, field, and clarity.
Discuss your results

Repeat steps 1 through 4 with a telephoto lens with object at finite distance (Fig. 7). We can also simulate
an object at infinite distance by adding a converging lens after the light source, while making sure that
the light source is one the focal point of said lens, in order to get parallel rays (fig. 8)
In order to simplify, we will try to get the same magnification as the projection microscope. That way, we
can keep the lens L1 and only replace the lens L 2 by a diverging lens. You must then calculate the
position of L 2 and the screen in order to get the desired magnification

Comment: In order to turn on the light source, turn on the main switch, and hold the red button pressed
for about 10 seconds, until the light goes on.
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Fig. 8: Image of the experimental setup.