Optical Instruments 1
44-5 OPTICAL INSTRUMENTS h
where is the size of the object and d is its distance from
the eye.
The human eye is a remarkably effective organ, but its
In Fig. 24b,
the observer is viewing the object through a
range can be extended in many ways by optical instru
h'
lens that forms an image of lateral size at a distance d'
from the eye. The apparent angular size of the image to
ments such as eyeglasses or contact lenses, simple magnifi
the observer is, again for small angles,
ers, motion picture projectors, cameras (including TV
cameras), microscopes, and telescopes. In many cases
el -
-
h' . (24)
these devices extend the scope of our vision beyond the d'
visible range; satellite-borne infrared cameras and x-ray
microscopes are examples. The image viewed through the lens will appear
larger than
In almost all cases of modern sophisticated optical in the original object to the observer if it subtends a larger
struments, the mirror and thin lens formulas hold only as solid angle than the object subtends. It is therefore not the
approximations. In typical laboratory microscopes the lateral magnification m (= h' / h)
that is important in
lens can by no means be considered "thin." In most opti measuring the apparent size ofthe image; it is the angular
cal instruments lenses are compound; that is, they are magnification m8, defined as
made of several components. Figure 23,
for example,
(25)
shows the components of a typical zoom lens, commonly
used in TV cameras to provide a 20 :
I range in focal In effect, m8is the ratio ofthe size ofthe two images on the
lengths. retina, one with the lens and one without.
In this section we consider optical devices that are de The normal human eye can focus a sharp image of an
signed to produce an enlarged image: we want something object on the retina if the object 0 is located anywhere
to appear larger than it appears to the unaided eye. The from infinity (the stars, say) to a certain point called the
lateral magnification is an incomplete measure of the ap
parent size of an image produced by an optical system. An
near point Pn, which we take to be about 25
cm from the
eye. If you view an object closer than the near point, the
optical system might produce an enlarged image ( lml > 1) perceived retinal image becomes fuzzy. The location of
but may place that image so much farther from us than the near point normally varies with age. We have all heard
the object that it would actually appear to the observer to stories about people who claim not to need glasses but
be smaller than the object. Even though the lateral magni who read their newspapers at arm's length; their near
fication may be greater than unity, and thus the image size points are receding! Find your own near point by moving
greater than the object size, the net result is not what the this page closer to your eyes, considered separately, until
observer would call a "magnified" image. you reach a position at which the image begins to become
The m,
Simple
= mm' Magnifier
= - - ( �) ( �) = (- :�: �:) ( ���:) indistinct.
We take as our basis for comparison the angular size
Figure 24represents the formation of an image by a
that an object would appear to have if it were placed at the
human eye. The size of the image on the retina is deter
mined by the angle () subtended by the object. For small near point. Thus
objects located at relatively large distances from the eye,
the angle () can be approximated as
(26)
h
e ""' (23) Ifwe place the object so that it is just inside the first focal
d' point of a converging lens, as in Fig. 24b,
a virtual image is
formed far away from the lens. The lateral magnification
m has magnitude i/ o,
and the distance d' to the image is i.
The lateral size of the image is, taking magnitudes of all
quantities,
(a)
h' = mh = -0i h (27)
and the angular size is
8,
= d'h' = (i/ io)h = !!_0 = !!_f ' (28)
where the last step can be taken because we assumed the
object to be placed close to the focal point. The angular
(b) magnification is
8'
Figure 24 (a)
eye subtends an height theh atobaject
Ananglobeject8. (b)of When distance
is viedwedfrom the m6 =
7i
= h/25h/fcm
through a lens used a simple magnifier, the image I of
as or
height h' is at a disdistta d' and subtends an angle at the eye.
(J ' 2 5 cm
(29)
Optical Instruments 2
Equation 29 gives the angular magnification of the simple
magnifier, which uses only one lens. The ordinary "mag As usual, the minus sign indicates an inverted image.
nifying glass," used by stamp collectors and actors por
traying Sherlock Holmes, is in reality a simple magnifier. The distance s (called the tube length) is chosen so that
To obtain large angular magnification, we wantfas small the image I falls on the first focal point F� of the eyepiece,
as possible. In practice, an angular magnification of about which then acts as a simple magnifier as described
1 0 is the best we can do before lens aberrations begin to previously. Parallel rays enter the eye, and a final image I '
distort the image. More sophisticated magnifiers, such as
the compound microscope discussed next, can have ap
preciably greater angular magnifications.
forms at infinity. The final magnification M is the product
Compound Microscope of the linear magnification m for the objective lens (Eq.
30) and the angular magnification m6
of the eyepiece (Eq.
Figure 25 shows a thin lens version ofa compound micro 29), or
scope, used for viewing small objects that are very close to
the objective lens of the instrument. The object 0, of M = mm6 = - - -- .
s 25 cm
(3 1 )
fob fey
h,
height is placed just outside the first focal point F1 of the
objective lens, whose focal length is fob· A real, inverted
h'
image I of height is formed by the objective, the lateral
magnification being given by Eq. 1 5, or
L roo-l- ro
F1
e
m = - -h'h = -fsobtan
tan e
= -f-sob . (30) Objective
m9 =
F2 --
f .
_____________________________________
thin lens version ofa compound microscope (not drawn to scale).
Figure 2S A
Refracting Telescope In Fig. 26 parallel rays from a distant object strike the
Like microscopes, telescopes come in a large variety of objective lens, making an angle Bob with the telescope axis
forms. The form we describe here is the simple refracting and forming a real, inverted image at the common focal
telescope consisting of an objective lens and an eyepiece,
point F2, F� .
This image acts as an object for the eyepiece
and a (still inverted) virtual image is formed at infinity.
both represented in Fig. 26 by thin lenses. In practice, just The rays defining the image make an angle Bey with the
as in microscopes, each lens may be a compound lens telescope axis.
system.
At first glance it may seem that the lens arrangements The angular magnification m6 of the telescope is
for telescopes and for microscopes are similar. However, Bey/Bob·For paraxial rays (rays close to the axi s) we can
telescopes are designed to view large objects, such as gal write B0b = h' !fob and Bey = h' /fey
, which gives
= - fob (32)
axies, stars, and planets, at large distances, whereas micro m
scopes are designed for just the opposite purpose. Note ,, fey '
also that in Fig. 26 the second focal point of the objective the minus sign indicating an inv erted final image.
F2 coincides with the first focal point of the eyepiece F�,
but in Fig. 25 these points are separated by the tube
length s.
8ob Objective
Figure 26 A thin lens version ofa refracting telescope (not drawn to scale).
Optical Instruments 3
Magnification is only one of the design factors of an
astronomical
h telescope and 9is indeed easily achieved. A
good telescope needs light-gathering power, which deter
mines how bright the image is. This is important when
viewing faint objects such as distant galaxies and is ac
complished by making the objective lens diameter as large
Field o view
as possible. f is another important parameter.
An instrument designed for galactic observation (narrow
field of view) must be quite different from one designed
for the observation of meteors (wide field of view). The
telescope designer must also take account of lens and
mirror aberrations including spherical aberration (that is,
lenses and mirrors with truly spherical surfaces do not
form sharp images) and chromatic aberration (that is, for
simple lenses the index of refraction and thus the focal
length vary with wavelength so that fuzzy images are
formed, displaying unnatural colors). The effects of dif
fraction (see Section 46-4) limit the ability of any optical
instrument to distinguish between two objects (stars, say)
whose angular separation is small.
To build refracting telescopes of larger diameters (for
better light-gathering efficiency), we must also make the Figure 27 The Hubble Space Telescope.
lenses thicker, which increases the distortions and aberra
tions caused by the lens. The largest refracting telescopes,
which were built around the end of the 1 9th century, have above the atmosphere. Figure 27 shows the Hubble Space
lenses about l m in diameter. Reflecting telescopes, in Telescope, a reflecting telescope that was launched into
which the objective element is a mirror rather than a lens, Earth orbit by a space shuttle in 1 990.
do not suffer from these distortions, because the light
reflects from the front surface of the mirror. The largest
single reflecting telescopes have diameters around 5 - 6 m,
and thus have about 25 - 36 times the light-gathering capa
bility of the largest refracting telescopes. Even larger
reflecting telescopes can be constructed by combining
the light from many individual mirrors into a single
image.
Earth-bound optical telescopes are limited in their abil
ity to form sharp images by atmospheric distortion; the
natural turbulence in the atmosphere distorts the (nearly)
plane wavefronts that reach the Earth from distant ob
jects. One cure for this problem has been obtained
through the development of adaptive optics; by sensing
the atmospheric distortion, the shape of a flexible mirror
can be modified to compensate for the distortion and thus
produce a sharp image. An alternative way to eliminate
the effects of the atmosphere is to place the telescope
