telescopeѲptics.net
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▪ CONTENTS
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1.1. Point spread function (PSF)
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1.3.
Optical system of a telescope
► 1.2. Reflection and refractionIn order to form images, telescopes use mirrors and lenses. Mirrors are optical surfaces that reflect light. And lenses are optical elements that refract light. Both, reflection and refraction of light result from its wave nature. Reflection occurs when a surface exposed to light immediately emits back a portion of the energy received. As the surface atoms absorb wave energy, they become unstable, and regain stability by releasing portion of the absorbed light from their electron orbits. Due to reflection of light occurring in a precisely consistent, predictable manner, reflective surfaces can be manipulated to re-direct or re-shape optical wavefront into spherical, needed for the purpose of imaging. This can be illustrated with a linear array of three silver atoms on the mirror surface (FIG. 3 right). With the atoms being separated by ~1 Ångström (one 10-millionth of mm), the array is essentially flat. As the incident wavefront sweeps over the array, the atoms absorb wave energy and emit most of it right back. However, if the array is inclined in regard to the incident wavefront, the surface slope causes phase shift, with each successive atom's emission lagging behind by a fixed phase fraction. This in turn results in the change of orientation of the principal wavefront, so that the angle of reflection is a negative equivalent of the angle of incidence. In other words, the wavefront reflects at the angle of incidence, only at the opposite side of a normal to the surface.
Rays from the neighboring atoms are practically parallel, but they will merge and interfere in the focal zone of the mirror. As the mirror slope gradually changes along its surface, so does the slope of reflected wavefront unfolding from the mirror edge toward center. If the mirror surface has appropriate shape, the reflected wavefront will emerge spherical, with the tightest possible concentration of light energy forming around its center of curvature. Refraction of light also results from the phase shift of wavefront points, as their velocity changes within media of different optical properties. The ratio of velocity change is expressed by refractive index n as 1/n. Value of n spans from 1 for vacuum, to nearly 1.8 for the most dense commonly used optical glass types. An average refractive index of the optical crown is n~1.5, reducing the speed of light by a factor ~1/1.5. Refractive index for any given media vary slightly with the wavelength of light, resulting in unequal propagation for different wavelengths - the cause of chromatic aberration. An exaggerated section of a lens can be used to illustrate the phenomenon, mathematically described by Snell's low of refraction (FIG. 3 left). The lens surface is practically flat for a very small section, and inclined with respect to the impinging wavefront as determined by a local surface slope angle. As incident wavefront enters the glass, it slows down, while its portions still traveling through the air maintain the higher speed. This generates phase shift resulting in the change of wavefront orientation. With properly designed lens objective, these sections of refracted incident wavefront unfold into a sphere. Of course, for proper refraction, the glass has to be homogeneous, just as any other media through which light travels.
Local variations in glass density would cause local deformations of the wavefront, resulting in wavefront roughness. It is easy to show that Snell's law applies to reflection as well. Since for reflection, index of incidence for light traveling from left to right is 1, and index of reflection is -1, substituting these values for n and n' gives law of reflection:
n'sinα'
= nsinα
(law of refraction), for n=1, n'=-1 becomes law of reflection,
sinα'
= -sinα
Both, law of reflection and law of refraction can be derived from
Fermat's principle. Some 2,000 years ago, Hero from Alexandria stated
that reflected ray of light traverses the shortest possible path
between two points (P and P') via reflective surface (FIG.
4A).
Hero's law, however, does not apply to refraction (FIG. 4B). Here,
the ray path is geometrically longer than the shortest path via surface
- which is a straight line connecting the two points - but light moves from point P to
P' in the least amount of time via surface point S. This, of course, apply to
reflection as well, and represents the basis of the general principle defined by
Fermat, which states that
light ray traversing two given points follows the path that requires the least amount of time,
i.e. one of the shortest optical path length (shown is ray refracted at
air/glass surface, with the refractive index n'~1.5; path differential
in air ΔLn
is geometrically somewhat larger than that in glass,
ΔLn',
but less than 50%, which is how much more time light needs in the glass
vs. air to span any given
distance).
Depending on optical surface, there can be more than a single path
satisfying Fermat's principle. A ray traversing the two foci via
reflective ellipsoidal surface will have an indefinite number of
alternative paths requiring the same minimum amount of time - we could
say that these rays have no other choice. When the second focus is at
infinity, optical path length from any point on the incident wavefront
(A, B, C, D...) to the focus point F is constant at the minimum
stationary value. For such surface, there is a straight line whose point
(A', B', C', D'...) to surface separation equals the corresponding
separation from surface to a fixed point (F) - the definition of
a parabola (FIG. 4C).
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