Lenses are transmissive optical devices used primarily to focus beams of light by means of refraction. A commonly used lens is a small piece of transparent material. In the case of composite lenses, a combination of several ordinary lenses arranged along the common axis is seen. The nature of a lens is opposite to that of a prism. A prism’s job is to focus light and spread it across a surface, whereas the lens focuses on light to make an image. Lenses are usually curved in shape and work on the principle of refraction.
Optical Lens
The light emanating from a peripheral object is used to converge or diverge.
This transparent optical component used is known as an optical lens. The object’s image is then formed by the transmitted light beams, which can be real or virtual. The best example of an optical lens is transmissive optical, which helps to pass or transmit light.
How to choose the right optical lens?
This is the main question when selecting a lens. For a better optical lens, some things have to be taken care of, which are described below:
Aperture
An optical lens can be selected through its aperture, through which the amount of light to enter the eye is decided. The higher the number of apertures, the cheaper the lens is.
Focal Length
The angle of view, or how much of the scene will be caught, and the magnification, or how large individual elements will be, are determined by the lens’s focal length. The smaller the angle of view and the higher the magnification, the longer the focal length.
Refractive Index
The ability of a lens to bend light efficiently is measured by its refractive index, or simply the index of a lens. The higher the index, the less lens material is required to bend the same amount of light.
Types of Lenses
Today, we see many types of lenses, which we use according to our needs. We can classify them as simple lenses or compound lenses. The manufacture of a simple lens uses a single transparent piece, while a compound lens is made up of several simple lenses that are primarily aligned along a common axis. The properties of optical aberration are found in both simple and compound lenses, but they are lost in compound lenses. In addition, compound lenses can be used by adjusting the magnification according to the needs of the user. The types of optical lenses are described, which are as follows;
Aspheric Lens
An aspheric lens is a non-spherical lens with a surface that does not resemble that of a sphere or a section of a cylinder. An aspheric lens’s complex surface aids in the
reduction or elimination of optical distortions. Simultaneously, a single aspheric lens can replace a group of regular lenses, resulting in a significantly smaller system.
Fresnel Lens
A Fresnel lens is primarily a series of concentric rings that provide a short focal length for which are assembled in a proper relationship on a flat surface. Each ring of a Fresnel lens is composed of one element of a simple lens. The Fresnel lens concentrates light into a narrow beam and is commonly used in lighthouses and searchlights.
Cylindrical Lens
The most common application of a cylindrical lens is to focus, compress, or enlarge incoming light. Light is focused on a single dimension or axis via a cylindrical lens, which has one cylindrical surface. It can also be used to symmetrically expand the output of a laser diode.
Lenticular Lens
Lenticular lenses are a form of lens that is utilised in the production of eyeglasses.
They’re rarely used, but when they are, they can be extremely useful. These lenses are made by eyeglass makers to cure severe farsightedness. This indicates that you have trouble seeing details up close.
Bifocal Lens
Bifocals are glasses with a correction for distant vision on the top and a correction for reading on the bottom of the lens.
Facts of Optical Lens
Here the facts of optical lenses are described based on their use and shape. The lenses are grouped into two types: concave and convex lenses, which are explained below based on their shape and use.
Concave Lens
A concave lens is one with at least one inward curved surface. A biconvex lens is a
concave lens that has a curved form on both sides. A concave lens is a form of
divergent lens that spreads the light rays that pass through it. They also have the ability to bend a parallel beam of light at the same time. The centre is thinner than the edges, and the edges are wider than the centre. Concave lenses are used in glasses to correct myopia or nearsightedness.
A concave lens gives the viewer a smaller image. After passing through the lens, light rays parallel to the axis appear to diverge, which is the focal point of a concave lens. The focal length of a lens is defined as the distance between the optical centre and the focal point.
Convex Lens
The form of a convex lens is outwardly curved. In contrast to a concave lens, which has a thicker centre than the sides, a convex lens has a thicker centre than the
sides. Converging lenses and convex lenses both have the same form.
A convex lens has the ability to converge a parallel beam of light into a point, which is
known as the focal point, as well as the distance between the optical centre and the focal point, which is known as the focal length.
A plano-convex lens is a convex lens that is flat on one side. The human eye’s lens is
an excellent example of a convex lens. Hypermetropia, or long-sightedness, is treated with convex lenses. Magnifying tools such as cameras, microscopes, and binoculars use convex lenses.
Conclusion
In optics, a lens is a piece of glass or other transparent material that focuses light rays
from an object to form an image of the object. Light is focused using a lens. Lenses focus the light in different places, which is very important. The use of lenses has also become very important for people’s glasses. There is a small lens in each of our eyes.