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Questions tagged [optics]

Optics is a branch of physics describing the behaviors and properties of light (electromagnetic waves). Questions regarding the properties of light, it's interactions with matter and the instruments used to detect and deflect (or concentrate) light should be posted here.

Optics is a branch of physics describing the behaviors and properties of light (electromagnetic waves). Questions regarding the properties of light, it's interactions with matter and the instruments used to detect and deflect (or concentrate) light should be posted here.

Some Relevant Categories:

  • geometric optics (ray theory)
  • physical optics (diffraction & interference)
  • Quantum optics (photonic behavior)

Lenses and mirrors would apply.

164 questions
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What is the focal distance of an optical mouse?

I am trying to build an optical sensor for my old school, state property, standard french watt-o-meter. EDF ( Electricité de France ) has a gig which turns a wheel depending on watt consumption. The higher the wattage, the faster a tiny disk turns.…
Martin
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Must rifle scopes have revealing reflections?

It's a movie trope that snipers are spotted because someone catches a glimpse of a reflection of the scope. It seems to me that this is a serious design flaw. I also know that a good number of scopes have "lids" to protect against dirt, etc., when…
KlaymenDK
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What does 'easily reversed' mean in the NIST spectral database?

I'm trying to do some processing of optical emission spectra from sputtering plasmas, and am confused by what NIST means by 'easily reversed' in their notation. Anyone have a clue?
wordsforthewise
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Do contiguous laser curtains exists? and if not are there any lenses that could spread a concentrated beam into a "planar" beam

The first photo is an example of a light curtain. I am certain that every individual beam is from an individual laser and receiver pair on both cases. Would it be possible to have one laser beam perhaps be directed from the top or side of the case…
AlanZ2223
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Why does light bend after travelling half of the lens?

As light enters a denser medium from a rarer medium, it bends towards the normal. Why does the light bend after passing through point F & not E?
S.M.T
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Periscope camera with a mobile phone, how to make walls not visible on the camera/alternative solution?

I am trying to make like a "periscope" that i can use with a mobile camera. I have made a very quick prototype with two mirrors and it "works" but you can see the interior of the walls so it is not a good solution. It currently looks like this So…
Carlos Rodrigez
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Optics for a triangulation laser distance sensor

I'm trying to build a laser distance sensor using triangulation (With this as my main inspiration, Webcam Based DIY Laser Rangefinder). My plan is to use a linear CCD array as the imager, such as the Toshiba TCD132D, for detecting the absolute…
Asmus Bjerregaard Hansen
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How to make a panel of LEDs appear to be a single source infinitely far away

I have a square panel of 100 LEDs (a series of LED strips). I would like to use some sort of optics setup to make this panel emit light that looks like it's from a single source at infinity. Is this possible with a diffuser / fresnel lens type…
Amit Deshwar
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Does this type of lens or light guide exist?

I am trying to create a line made from light projected from a lens / guide of some sort onto a surface from a few mm away. I have used a laser, but comes with safety considerations, space to mount the optics, and a lot of fine tuning. I was testing…
John
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Home made microscope using donated objective lens and camera-ocular-adapter

I have a bunch of nice objective lenses from an huge old microscope set, and would like to make a microscope body tube with just one objective and one ocular lens. Without using trial and error to determine the right distance between the lenses, how…
Suryetto
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What is the optical Lagrange invariant of an afocal system?

I am solving an optics exercise that requires to design a Keplerian telescope with a given magnification M (negative), a certain object size L and the restriction of not having lenses faster than F/1 (wavelength of the signal and resolution are also…
Eggman
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What lens is needed for a retina scan?

I was originally planning to as this on Physics Stack exchange, but found this question while searching, which directed the asker to here. While my question is not a duplicate of that, it still falls in the same classification, so I believe it's on…
dgnuff
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experiment with interlacing to achieve 3d effect

I am going to attempt an experiment to achieve 3d effect. I read about autostereoscopy on wikipedia. I am trying to do this, I have already processed image in that format. see the image every alternate pixel is of particular eye image. If I create…
Fennekin
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Lens arrangement for laser tag?

I’m working on a laser tag game using IR LEDs and demodulation ICs. The trick is to force the gun to be aimed accurately at the center of the target. I’m willing to experiment, but I don’t really know much about lenses and focusing or collimating…
Rick
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Dioptres of lens in glasses

If your glasses lenses have a +2.00D SPH and -1.75CYL. Does this mean the lens is composed of both cylindrical lenses and spherical lenses? For the Spherical lenses, if the diopetres is 2. The focal point should be 0.5m. But the distance from the…
ThreadBucks
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