Introduction to optics

Introduction to optics:

Optics is basically a part or topic of physics in which we basically study the properties, behaviour, and characteristics of light, how a ray of light interact with the matters, how instruments are constructed and designed which can be used to produce and detect rays of lights. Optics physics basically tells us about the properties and characteristics of ultraviolet, visible, and infrared light. Since light comes under the category of electromagnetic waves, other waves which come under electromagnetic waves such as microwaves, X-rays, and radio waves show similar properties to that of a light wave.

Most optical phenomena can be attributed to the use of the classical electromagnetic description of light. However, it is quite difficult to practice using complete electromagnetic descriptions of light. Usually, simplified methods are used for practical optics, geometric optics is one of the most common simplified models which treat lights as a collection of rays that tends to travel in a straight line and whenever it passes through or reflects through from a surface it gets slight bend.

It’s characteristics

Physical optics is a more diverse and vaster model of light, which includes the major wave effects such as interference and diffraction that cannot be attributed to geometric optics. In the past times it is reported that before the wave model of light, a ray-based model of light was developed. Advances in electromagnetic theory in the 19th century led to the discovery that light waves were actually electromagnetic radiation. In optics, precision lenses and precision optics are also manufactured for special purposes and for their manufacturing custom optical prism manufacturer are used.

There are some phenomena that depend on the dual nature of light i.e., particle-like and wave-like properties. In order to study these dual properties of light, we have to deep dive into Quantum mechanics. When we consider that the light consists of particle-like properties, the light is constructed as a collection of small particles known as “Photons”.

Optical science is studied and has applications in many fields such as various engineering fields, astronomy, medicine (particularly optometry and ophthalmology where it is known as physiological optics), and photography. The optics technology has applications in many day-to-day life things such as lenses, mirrors, microscopes, telescopes, lasers, and fiber optics.

Classical optics are categorized into two main categories: physical (or wave) optics and geometrical (or ray) optics. In geometrical optics, it is assumed that the light travels in a straight line, on the other hand, in physical optics, it is assumed that light acts as an electromagnetic wave.