Featured Article: How Mirages Work
You're driving down the road on a sunny day, and you see a puddle of water coming up. You look again and it's gone! What happened? Learn what causes different kinds of mirages. See more »
optics library
Optics is the study of the properties and behavior of light. In this section you can learn about everything from holograms to lasers and lenses.
Diffraction
Diffraction, in physics, the spreading out of waves, such as those of water, sound, radio, or light, as they pass around an obstacle or go through an opening.
See more »Diffusion (optics)
Diffusion, in optics, the scattering of light, as when it is reflected from a rough surface or when it passes through a translucent material.
See more »Fiber Optics
Fiber Optics, the technique of transmitting light through transparent, flexible fibers of glass or plastic.
See more »Gray
Gray, or Grey, any color formed by blending black and white. Gray tones range from nearly white to nearly black.
See more »Green
Green, a color of the spectrum that appears between blue and yellow. Green is a primary color of light.
See more »Halo
Halo, a circle or arc of light surrounding a luminous body. The name is particularly applied to the luminous circles sometimes seen around the sun or moon.
See more »How do one-way mirrors work?
Just about everyone has seen a television show or movie in which a criminal suspect is questioned while detectives watch from behind a one-way mirror. How does a piece of glass manage to reflect light from one side while remaining clear on the other?
See more »How does a Fresnel lens work?
I have a thin piece of plastic mounted on the back window of my RV. It magnifies things so I can see better when I'm backing up. How can such a thin piece of plastic magnify things? A regular glass magnifying lens would have to be curved on both sides and much thicker.
See more »Illusion
Illusion, an impression of a real stimulus, received through one of the senses, which does not agree with other sense impressions or with objective tests.
See more »Lens
Lens, a curved, transparent body (usually of glass) that refracts (bends) light rays.
See more »Light
Light, the form of radiant energy that makes vision possible. Since sight is the most important of the senses, light furnishes most of the information we have about our surroundings.
See more »Lighting
Lighting, articifial illumination. Lighting is used indoors and out for both useful and decorative purposes.
See more »Luminescence
Luminescence, the emission of light from causes other than high temperature. (The emission of light due to heat is called incandescence.) Luminescence may occur in a solid, liquid, or gas.
See more »Mirage
Mirage, an optical illusion caused by light that is refracted (bent) as it passes through layers of air of different temperatures.
See more »Mirror
Mirror, a smooth, polished surface that reflects light rays and causes images to be formed.
See more »Newton's Rings
Newton's Rings, a pattern of light and dark circles visible when a convex lens is placed, curved side down, on top of a flat piece of glass.
See more »Ocular
Ocular, the lens also known as the eyepiece in a refracting telescope and in a microscope.
See more »Optics
Optics, the branch of physics that deals with all aspects of visible light, including vision, and with infrared and ultraviolet radiation.
See more »Orange (color)
Orange, a color that lies between red and yellow on the spectrum. It is a mixture of the primary colors red and yellow.
See more »Periscope
Periscope, an optical device used for viewing objects that are out of the line of sight.
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