Article
Article
Lens (optics)
Article By:
Herzberger, Max J. Formerly, Department of Physics, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Last reviewed:January 2020
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1036/1097-8542.377000
A curved piece of ground and polished or molded material, usually glass, used for the refraction of light. Its two surfaces have the same axis. Usually this is an axis of rotation symmetry for both surfaces; however, one or both of the surfaces can be toric, cylindrical, or a general surface with double symmetry. The intersection points of the symmetry axis with the two surfaces are called the front and back vertices and their separation is called the thickness of the lens.
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