RAY OPTICS AND OPTICAL INSTRUMENTS

CHAPTER - 9 RAY OPTICS AND OPTICAL INSTRUMENTS

The electromagnetic Radiation belonging to the region of wavelength range of about 400
nm to 750 nm is called light; we can see the world around us because of light. Light travels along a
straight line and it is known as rectilinear propagation. Speed of light in vacuum is the highest
speed attainable in nature.

Monochromatic and Composite light: Light having single frequency or single wavelength in a
medium is called monochromatic light. Light having several frequencies or wavelengths of light is
called composite light.

Ray and beam of light: The straight line along which light travels is called a ray. A bundle of such
rays in called beam of light.

Optical medium: A medium through which light can travel is called optical medium. If the light
has same speed in all directions, then that medium is called isotropic medium, but in anisotropic
medium, the speed of light is different in different direction.

Reflection of light: The phenomenon of returning of light in the same medium when if falls on a
surface is known as reflection of light.
Reflecting surface: The surface which reflects the light is called reflecting surface. Any reflecting
surface may be called a mirror.

Incident ray: A ray of light striking the mirror is called Incident ray.
Reflected ray: A ray of light sent back by mirror into the same medium is called reflected ray.
AO  Incident ray
OB  Reflected ray
NO  Normal
XOY  Reflecting surface

Angle of incidence: The angle between incident ray and the normal to the mirror at a point of
incidence is called angle of incidence

Angle of reflection: The angle between the reflected ray and the normal to the mirror at the point
of incidence is called angle of reflection .

Laws of Reflection
1. Angle of reflection is equal to the angle of incidence.
2. The incident ray, the reflected ray and normal at the point of incidence lie in the same plane.

Reflection at spherical mirrors:

Spherical mirror: A spherical mirror is a part of hollow sphere whose one side is reflecting and the
other side is opaque.

There are two types of spherical mirrors:

Concave mirror: If the reflecting surface is towards the centre of the sphere
of which the mirror is a part, is called concave mirror.

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Convex mirror: If the reflecting surface is away from the centre of the sphere of which the mirror is
a part is called convex mirror.

Pole: The geometric centre of the reflecting surface is called its pole (P).

Centre of curvature (C): The centre of the sphere of which the mirror is a
part is called its centre of curvature.

Radius of curvature (R): The radius of the sphere of which the mirror is a part is called it radius of
curvature.

Principle axis: A straight line passing through the pole and centre of curvature of a mirror is called
the principal axis.

Aperture: The surface area of a spherical mirror available for reflection is called aperture.
The diameter of the circular periphery of the spherical mirror is called the linear aperture of the
spherical mirror. The angle subtended at the centre of curvature by the circular periphery of the
spherical mirror is called angular aperture of the spherical mirror.

Normal: The Normal to the spherical mirror at any point is the line joining that point to the centre
of curvature.

Paraxial rays: Rays which are close to the principal axis and make small angles with principal axis
are called paraxial rays.

Principal focus: When a narrow parallel beam of light is incident along the
principal axis, the reflected rays either converge to a point on the principal axis
in the case of concave mirror or appear to diverge from a point on the principal
axis of a convex mirror. This point is called the principal focus (F).
In the case of concave mirror F is real point and in the case of convex
mirror F is virtual point.

Focal length (f): The distance between the principal focus (F) and pole (P) of a
mirror is called focal length of the spherical mirror.

Focal plane: The plane through the principal focus and perpendicular to the principal axis is
known as focal plane.

Relation between focal length and Radius of curvature:

Consider a concave mirror of focal length and Radius of curvature .

Let represent pole, represent principal focus and its centre of curvature.
A ray parallel to the principal axis of a concave mirror is incident at and reflected along .
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By the law of Reflection,

From figure, (alternative angles)
and
As the aperture is small and angle is small, arc may be considered as a straight segment.

om

( )

But and

Tracing the image in a mirror

Image: If the rays of light starting from a point meet at another point after reflection then the other
point is called the image of the first point.

Real Image: If the rays actually converge at the second point then the image is called real.

Virtual image: If the rays of light appear to meet or converge when produced behind the mirror
then the image is called virtual.

To obtain the image of a point due to reflection at a spherical mirror any two of the following rays
can be used.
1. A ray parallel to principal axis after reflection either passes through the principal focus or
appears to diverge from the principal focus.
2. A ray passing through the principal focus or appearing to diverge from principal focus after
reflection passes parallel to the principal axis.
3. A ray incident such as to pass through the centre of curvature C gets reflected back along the
original path.
4. The ray incident at any angle at the pole, the reflected ray follows the laws of reflection.

Sign convention:
1. All the distances are measured from the pole of the spherical mirror along the principal axis.
2. The distances measured in the same direction as the incident light, are taken as positive.
3. The distances measured opposite to the direction of incident light are taken as negative.
4. The height measured upwards and perpendicular to the principal axis of the mirror is taken as
positive, the height measured downwards is taken as negative.

The mirror equation: The equation relating the object distance , image distance and focal
length in the case of spherical mirror is called mirror equation.

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Derivation of Mirror equation:

Consider an object placed in front of a concave mirror of focal length .
It forms a real image .
For paraxial rays can be considered to be a straight line and perpendicular to .
The right angled triangles and are similar.

Also the right angled triangles and ABP are similar,

According to sign convention, , and

On rearranging,

Note: The mirror equation can be obtained in a similar manner for concave mirror forming virtual
image and convex mirror forming virtual image.

Linear Magnification (m): The linear magnification produced by a spherical mirror is defined as
the ratio of height of image to the height of the object.

Applying sign convention, u is negative, v is negative, h is positive and is negative.

The above equation is valid for concave mirror producing real image.

Note: With proper use of sign convention it is valid for all cases of reflection by spherical mirrors.
When image is real m is negative and when image is virtual m is positive.

| |
If | | image formed is enlarged, if | | image formed is diminished

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Refraction: The phenomenon of the change in direction of light when it enters from one medium
to another medium obliquely is called Refraction.
incident ray
refracted ray
normal to the surface

Angle of incidence: The angle between the incident ray and normal is called
angle of incidence (i).
Angle of refraction: The angle between the refracted ray and the normal is called angle of
refraction (r).

Laws of Refraction:
1. The incident ray, the refracted ray and the normal to refracting surface at the point of incidence
lie in the same plane.
2. The ratio of the sine of the angle of incidence to the sine of the angle of refraction is a constant
for given pair of media and for a given wavelength of light.

This is known as Snell’s law, where is a constant, called refractive index of second medium
with respect to the first medium when a ray of light travels from medium-1 to medium-2

Absolute refractive index: If medium-1 is air or vacuum, is denoted as and is called absolute
refractive index of a medium.

Optically denser medium: If medium-1 has high value of refractive index than medium-2, then
medium-1 is called optically denser medium.

Optically rarer medium: If medium-1 has lesser value of refractive index than medium-2, then
medium-1 is called optically called optically rarer medium.

Note:
1. If , then . The medium-2 is denser and medium-1 is rarer. In this case when a
ray of light travels from rarer to denser the refracted ray bends towards the normal.
2. If , then . The medium-2 is rarer and medium-1 is denser. In this case when a
ray of light travels from denser to rarer the refracted ray bends away from the normal.

Relation between and :

The path of the light is always retraceable.

Multiplying both the equations,

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Note:

Where is RI of medium-3 wrto medium-2

is RI of medium-3 wrto medium-1
is RI of medium-1 wrto medium-2

Consequences due to Refraction

Lateral shift: When a ray of light passes through a parallel sided slab, the direction of the emergent
ray is the same as the direction of the incident ray, but the path of the ray is shifted laterally by
certain distance called the lateral shift.

For the refraction at the air glass interface

For the refraction at the glass air interface

But

Indicating that the emergent ray is parallel to the incident ray, thus, the slab produces a lateral
shift on the incident ray but no deviation.

Apparent depth :
A familiar example for apparent depth is, the Bottom of a
tank filled with water appears to be raised.

Where apparent depth

real depth

Delayed sunset and advanced sunrise

Because of refraction of light through atmosphere the sun is
visible before the actual sunrise and until a little later after the
actual sunset.
The refractive index of air with respect to vacuum is 1.00029
i.e , ray of light bend towards the normal, as a
result the image of the sun is seen even before it rises. The
apparent flattering (oval shape) of the sun at sunrise and sunset
is also due to refraction.
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Total internal reflection: It is the phenomenon, in which a ray of light travelling at an angle of
incidence greater than the critical angle from denser medium to a rarer medium is totally reflected
back into the denser medium, obeying the laws of reflection.

Explanation: A ray of light approaching the interface from

the medium of higher refractive index is refracted away
from the normal. As the angle of incidence increases, the
corresponding angle of refraction also increases.
At some angle of incidence, called critical angle, the
angle of refraction becomes 900, that is refracted ray just
grazes the interface. For any angle of incidence greater than critical angle the light is reflected back
totally into the same medium.

Critical angle(ic): It is the angle of incidence in the denser medium for which the angle of
refraction in the rarer medium is 900.

Condition for total internal reflection:

1) The ray of light must travel from a denser medium into a rarer medium.
2) The angle of incidence in the denser medium must be greater than the critical angle for the
given pair of media.

Relation between critical angle and refractive index:

Consider the refraction of light from denser medium of RI into a rarer medium of RI .

When then

Here medium 2 is air(rarer) and medium 1 is denser, then and

Note: For the values of i larger than ic, Snell’s law of ef action cannot be satisfied and hence no
refraction is possible.

Application of Total internal reflection

1) Brilliance of Diamond: Diamond has high refractive index and the critical angle for
Diamond - air interface is very small ( ). By cutting the diamond suitably, multiple total
internal reflections can be made to occur. Therefore when light enters into a diamond undergoes
series of total internal reflection and finally emerges out from any one of the faces. Hence,
diamond gets the sparkle.

2) Mirage : It is an optical illusion in deserts or over hot extended surfaces due to total internal
reflection due to which an observes sees a shimmering pool of water in which inverted images of
surrounding objects, like trees are formed.

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On hot days, lower strata of air near the ground may be hotter than the upper state. Hotter
air which has lower density has smaller refractive index than the cooler air. When light from a tall
object such as a tree passes from higher layer to lower layer of air, it bends away from the normal
due to refraction. Finally at a lower layer, it undergoes total internal reflection, if the angle of
incidence is greater than critical angle. For a distant observer, the light appears to be coming from
somewhere below the ground. The observer assumes that light is reflected by a pool of water near
the tall object, because of the inverted image of the object seen.

3) Totally reflecting prisms: Many optical instruments such as periscopes, Binoculars and
telescopes use glass prisms and total internal reflection to turn the beam of light through 90 0 or
1800. These prisms are used to invert the image without changing its size.

4) Optical fibres: Optical fibre is a thin transparent fibre of glass or plastic which can transmit light
along any desired path.
An optical fibre consists of a cylindrical inner core
made of transparent glass or plastic and an outer
concentric layer of lower refractive index glass
known as the cladding.
Light entering one end of the core strikes the core-cladding interface at an angle of incidence
greater than the critical angle, and therefore, undergoes total internal reflection. Light waves inside
the curved path. In a well-designed fibre, the absorption of light by the core is very small, so light
can travel many kilometres before its intensity diminishes appreciably.

Uses of optical fibre cable:

 Optical fibres are used to transmit light without any loss in its intensity over distances of
several km.
 Optical fibres are used in the manufacture of endoscopes.
 They are used in telecommunication for transmitting audio and video signals.
 They are used to transmit the images of the objects.

Refraction at spherical surfaces: Spherical surface is a portion of a solid sphere. Refraction takes
place at a spherical surface in accordance with the laws of refraction which hold good for a plane
surface.

Spherical refracting surfaces are of two types:

Convex spherical surface: The spherical
refracting surface is convex towards rarer
medium.
Concave spherical surface: The spherical
refracting surface is concave towards the rarer medium.
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Refraction at a convex surface:

Figure shows the formation of image of an object
on the principal axis of a convex surface with centre of
curvature .
As the aperture is small the length of will
be taken to be nearly equal to the length of the
perpendicular from the point on the principal axis.

For small angles (assuming paraxial rays) we have,

Fo small angles, Snell’s law, can be written as,

( ) ( )

( ) ( )

Applying the Cartesian sign convention,

This relation relates u and v to n and R and this equation holds good for any spherical surface.

Lens: A lens is an optical medium

bounded by two surfaces of which
at least one is spherical or
cylindrical.
There are different types of lenses as
shown in figure.

Convex lens: A Convex lens is thicker at the middle than at the edges. A lens which converges a
parallel beam of light passing through it is called converging lens. As the convex lens converges
the light rays, it is also called as converging lens.

Concave lens: A concave lens is thicker at the edges than at the middle. A lens which diverges a
parallel beam of light passing through it is called Diverging lens. As the concave lens diverges the
light rays, it is also called as diverging lens.
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Principal axis: It is a straight line passing through the centers of curvature of the two spherical
surface of the lens.

Optic centre: Optic centre of a lens is a point on the principal axis inside the lens such that all rays
passing through this point will have the emergent ray parallel to the corresponding incident ray.

Principal focus: A beam of light, close and parallel to the principal axis incident on the lens, after
refraction, the rays converge to a fixed point in the case of a convex lens and appear to diverge
from a fixed point in the case of a concave lens. This fixed point is called Principal focus.

Focal length: It is the distance between the optic centre and principal focus of the lens.

Thin lens: A thin lens is one whose thickness is negligible compared to the radii of curvature of its
surfaces.

Lens Maker’s formula:

Consider a thin lens of small aperture placed in a medium of Refractive index .
Let be the Refractive index of the material of the lens.
Let be the focal length of the lens.
Let and be the radii of curvature of its two surfaces.

The image formation can be seen in terms of two steps.

(i) The first refracting surface forms the image of
the object O at a distance from the lens.
Using the relation for refraction at a spherical surface,

(ii) The image acts as a virtual object for the second

surface and the refraction at the second surface
forms the image .

Using the relation for refraction at a spherical surface,

Adding the equation (1) and (2)

( )

( )( )

( )

( )

This equation is known as lens make ’s formula and this is true for both convex and concave lens.
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Image formation in the case of thin lenses: The image

formed by a lens can be found by choosing any two rays
mentioned below. The laws of refraction need to be
applied in ray tracing.
1) A ray of light from an object parallel to the principal
axis after refraction passes through the second
principal focus (in a convex lens) or appears to diverge
from the first principal focus (in a concave lens).
2) A ray of light through the optic centre emerges without
any deviation after refraction.
3) A ray of light passing through first principal focus (in a
convex lens) or appearing to meet at it (in a concave
lens) emerges parallel to the principal axis.

Thin lens formula: The relation between object distance (u) image distance (v) and focal length (f)
of a lens is called thin lens formula.

This is the thin lens this formula is applicable to both convex and concave lenses.

Power of lens: The power P of a lens is defined as the tangent of the angle by which it converges or
diverges a beam of light falling at unit distant from the optical centre.
Power of a lens is also defined as the reciprocal of the focal length of the lens expressed in metre.

( )

Power of the lens is measured in The power of a lens is one dioptre, if its focal length
is one metre.

Note: (1) While calculating power in dioptre - focal length should be metre.
(2) Power of a lens varies inversely as the focal length or vice versa.
(3) The power is positive for a converging lens since it has a positive focal length and
negative for a diverging lens as it has a negative focal length.

Linear Magnification: Magnification produced by a lens is defined as the ratio of the size of the
image to that of the object.

Note: With proper use of sign convention it is valid for all cases of refraction through lenses.
is positive for erect and virtual image. is negative for inverted and real images.

Combination of thin lenses in contact:

and are the two thin lenses of focal lengths and kept in contact.
Let is the point object placed on the principal axis of the lens at a distance u from the lens system.

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The lens forms an image of the object at a distance from it.

acts as an object for the lens which forms the image at a distance from it.

Adding both the equations,

Thus, the two thin lenses in contact behave as a single lens of focal length f. This single lens is
known as equivalent lens and its focal length f is called equivalent focal length.

Magnification of equivalent lens: The equivalent magnification is given by,

(for two lenses)
It lenses are more than two,
Thus combination of lenses increases the magnification of final image.

Uses of equivalent lens: An equivalent lens (combination of lenses) is used in optical instruments
like telescope, microscope, camera and binoculars.

Prism: Prism is an optical medium bounded by three rectangular faces and two triangular faces
which are parallel to each other.
Refracting surface: The two highly polished rectangular faces are called the refracting surfaces.

Base of the prism: The third rectangular surface which is rough is called the base of the prism.

Angle of the prism: The angle between the two refracting surfaces is called Angle of the prism or
refracting angle.

Refracting edge: The line along which the two refracting surfaces meet is called the refracting edge.

Principal section : A section of the prism at right angles to the refracting edge is called the principal
section.
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and refracting surface

Base of the prism
Refracting edge
Principal section
Angle of the prism

Refraction through a prism (Expression for refractive index of the material of prism):
is a principal section of a prism of Refractive Index .
A ray of light incident on the refracting face refracts along and emerges along
Let and be the angle of incidence and refraction respectively at .
Let and be the angle of incidence and emergence respectively at .
and are the normal at and to and respectively.

In the quadrilateral AQNR,

Therefore,
In the triangle QNR,
From above equation, we get,
The Angle between the incident ray PMT and the direction of emergence MRS is the angle of
deviation.
From the

From the graph, for a given value of deviation there are two values of angle of incidence i and e
At minimum deviation position,

then
and
Now we have ,

and

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( )

( )
This is the expression for RI of the material of the prism.

Note: The smallest angle of deviation for a ray passing through a prism is called the angle of
minimum Deviation.

Thin prism: A prism whose refracting angle is less than about 100 is considered as thin prism.
For a thin prism the angle of minimum deviation is very small.
( ) ( )

( ) ( )

Natural phenomena Due to sunlight

(i) Rainbow: Rain bow is a spect um of sun’s light on natu e. Rainbow is due to combined effect of
dispersion, refraction and total internal reflection of sunlight by spherical droplets of rain.
The condition for observing rain bow is that sun should be shining on one part of the sky while it
is raining in the opposite part of the sky. For observing a rainbow, the observer must stand with
his back towards the sun.

The formation of Rainbow: Sun light is first refracted as it enters a rain drop, which causes the
dispersion. When these component rays strike the inner surface of
the water drop, they get internally reflected, if the angle of
incidence is greater than the critical angle ( for water). The
reflected ray is refracted as it comes out.
It is found that the violet light comes out at an angle of 400
and red light emerges at an angle of 420 relative to the incident
sunlight.

Formation of primary rainbow:

We see that red light from drop l and violet from drop
2 reach the observers eye. the violet from drop 1 and
red from drop 2 are directed at levels above or below
the observer. Thus the observer sees a rain bow with
red colour on the top and violet on the bottom. Thus
the primary rainbow is a result of three process –
refraction, reflection and refraction.

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Formation of secondary rainbow:

When white light undergo two internal reflection inside a rain drop. A secondary rainbow is
formed it is four step process – refraction, reflection, reflection and refraction. The observer sees
violet colour on top and red colour at the bottom. The intensity of the secondary rain bow is fainter
than the Primary rainbow.

(ii) Scattering of light: When a beam of light travels

through a medium the particles of medium deviate
the rays of light laterally. This phenomenon is called
scattering of light.
When light travels through air, the molecules
of air, dust particles, smoke particles, water droplets
etc. scatter light. There is no scattering in vacuum.
Coherent scattering: When the wave length of Scattered light is same as that of the incident light,
it is called coherent scattering. Ex: Rayleigh scattering.

Incoherent scattering: When the wavelength of scattered light is different from that of incident
light, it is called incoherent scattering. Ex: Raman scattering.

Rayleigh’s scattering law: Amount of scattering is inversely proportion to the fourth power of the
wavelength.
Light of shorter wave length is scattered much more than light of longer wave lengths.

Blue colour of the sky: The blue colour of sky may be explained on the basis of Rayleigh
scattering. The light from sun passes through the atmosphere, violet and blue colours are the most
scattered colours, since these have shortwave length. In fact violet gets scattered even more than
blue having a shorter wavelength. But since our eyes are more sensitive to blue than violet, we see
the sky blue.

White colour of clouds: Rayleigh scattering is predominant when the size of the particle scattering
light is very small compared to wavelength of light.
When the particles scattering light have size large compared to wave length of light, all the
wavelengths are scattered nearly equally. Thus, clouds which have water droplets of larger size
compared to wavelength of light, appear white in sunlight.

Reddish sun at sunset or sunrise: At sunset or sunrise, the rays of sunlight have to pass through a
longer distance in the atmosphere most of the blue and other shorter wavelengths are removed by
scattering. The least scattered light having longer wavelength such as red and orange reach our
eyes. Therefore sun looks Reddish.

Optical Instruments: Optical instruments are the devices which help the human eye in
observation and detailed examination of objects. These devices and instruments are designed
utilizing reflecting and refracting properties of mirrors lenses and prisms. Some of the optical
instruments are microscope telescope, periscope, binoculars and Kaleidoscope.

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Simple microscope: A simple microscope is a convex lens of short focal length.

It is also called magnifying glass.
When the object is placed close to the lens at
distance less than the focal length of the lens, a virtual,
erect and magnified image of the object is formed.

Ray Diagram: The ray diagram is as shown.

Expression for Linear magnification when the image at near point:

Here and are negative &

Using sign convention, and

This is the expression for magnifying power of a simple microscope in normal adjustment.
Smaller the focal length, greater is the magnifying power.

Angular magnification: The Angular magnification of a simple microscope is defined as the ratio
of angle subtended by the image at the eye to the angle subtended by the object at unaided eye
when both are placed at the least distance of district vision.

When the image is formed at the least distance of district vision, then .
Imagine the object AB to be displaced to the least distance of
distinct vision then

From ray diagram, using small angle approximation,

Magnifying power or Angular magnification is same as linear magnification

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Expression for Angular magnification when the image at infinity:

When the image is at infinity, the st ain on the obse ve ’s eye is minimum.
To form image at infinity, the object distance, .

Here and

Note: Generally, the magnifying power or magnification of a simple microscope is around 5 to 6

units.

Compound microscope: A compound microscope consists of two converging lenses.

They are (i) an objective, O of very small focal length and small aperture and
(ii) an eye piece, E of moderate focal length and large aperture.
The distance between objective and the eye piece is adjustable. The principle of operation is, the
objective forms a magnified real image of the tiny object and eye piece magnifies it further forming
a virtual image at the near point.

Ray Diagram:

Working: The object is placed, just outside the focus of the objective. The image formed by the
objective is real, inverted and enlarged as compared to the object. This first image will serve as the
object for the eyepiece falls at or just inside the focus F e of the eyepiece. The final image is seen by
the eye is virtual, inverted and very much enlarged.

Expression for magnification (m):

(i) For a final image at the near point:

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The eye piece behaves as a simple microscope.

Thus, magnification of the compound microscope is,

( )

Hence, smaller the focal length of objective and eyepiece, larger is the magnification.

(ii) For a final image at infinity:

If the final image is formed at infinity,

Magnification in this case is,

( )( )

Note:
Tube length of Compound microscope: The distance L, i.e., the distance between the second focal
point of the objective and the first focal point of the eyepiece (focal length f e) is called the tube
length of the compound microscope.

Telescope: Telescope is an optical instrument used to view distant objects.

There are two types,
(i) Refracting telescope - which uses a combination of lens to form an image
(ii) Reflecting telescope - which uses a curved mirror and a lens to form an image

Refracting telescope (Astronomical telescope): This type of telescope is used to observe

astronomical bodies like moon, planets, distant stars etc. The image formed by the telescope is
virtual and inverted.
The refracting telescope consists of two converging lenses, an objective of large focal length
and large aperture, and an eyepiece of small focal length and small aperture.

Ray diagram:

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Formation of image: The objective forms a real, inverted image of the distant object at its focus
The eyepiece is so arranged that the image formed by the objective falls at its focus Hence the
two lenses are separated by a distance , which corresponds to the length of the telescopes
tube. The final image is formed at infinity which is highly magnified and inverted with respect to
the object.

Magnifying power: Magnifying power or angular magnification of a telescope is the ratio of the
angle subtended by the final image at the eye to the angle subtended by the object at the lens when
both object and image are at infinity.

Expression for magnifying power:

From ray diagram, for small angle approximation

Hence larger the focal length of objective and smaller the focal length of eye piece, higher is the
magnification.

Length of the telescope: It is the distance between the eyepiece and objective of the telescope.
when the telescope is in normal adjustment.

Note: Telescope using a lens as objective are referred to as refracting telescopes the longest of such
telescope which is at the Yerkes observatory (USA) has an objective of diameter of 1.02 m and a
focal length of 19m.

Disadvantage of refracting telescope: To view fainter objects, the diameter of the objective can be
increased. (i) Lenses of large diameter are heavy and need to be suitably supported.
(ii) The images formed by them are distorted and suffer from aberrations.

Terrestrial telescope: Telescopes used to observe terrestrial bodies are called terrestrial telescopes.
In construction, terrestrial telescopes are similar to astronomical telescopes. A pair of inverting
lenses is used to make the final image erect.

Reflecting telescopes: Here a concave mirror is used as the objective instead of the convex lens.
Hence chromatic aberration present in the lens is overcome. Spherical aberration is removed by the
use of a parabolic mirror.
There are many types of reflecting type telescopes. One of them is Cassegrain telescope.

U N Swamy, Lecturer in Physics, MGGPUC, KUNIGAL Page|19

 RAY OPTICS AND OPTICAL INSTRUMENTS

Reflecting Cassegrain telescope:

Working: It comprises a parabolic concave mirror of
diameter 5 m with a small hole at its centre. Parallel
rays from a distant object are incident on the mirror
parallel to the principal axis. After reflection they are
incident on a secondary convex mirror and are reflected
on to the eyepiece. The final image is seen through the
eyepiece is inverted.

Advantage of Reflecting telescope over Refracting or astronomical telescope

* Chromatic error encountered in objective is eliminated when a concave mirror is used.
* Difficulties arising from spherical aberration are reduced because of the parabolic shape of the
mirror.
* Comparatively large aperture, admitting more light, can be used in the reflecting telescope.
* Since much of the weight of a reflecting telescope is located at the base of the telescope where the
heavy mirror is placed, the telescope has greater stability.

Note: The largest reflecting telescope in India is in Kavalur, Tamil Nadu and has the diameter
2.34m. This is being used by Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Bangalore.
The largest reflecting telescope in the world is the pair of Keck telescope in Hawaii (USA) with a
Reflector of 10m in diameter.

U N Swamy, Lecturer in Physics, MGGPUC, KUNIGAL Page|20