lens
thumb|A Burning glass|burning apparatus consisting of two [[biconvex lens]]
AI overview
A lens is a curved piece of transparent material that bends light rays to focus or spread them out. It matters because lenses are used in everyday tools like magnifying glasses and cameras to help us see things more clearly or capture images.
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- Large convex lens.jpg
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Article
27 sectionsContents
- History
- Construction of simple lenses<span class="anchor" id="simple_lens_anchor"></span>
- For a spherical surface
- Derivation
- Sign convention for radii of curvature {{math|''R''{{sub|1}}}} and {{math|''R''{{sub|2}}}} <span class="anchor" id="sign convention"></span>
- Sign convention for other parameters
- Thin lens approximation
- Derivation
- Imaging properties
- Lens equation
- Magnification
- Summary
- Aberrations
- Spherical aberration
- Coma
- Chromatic aberration
- Other types of aberration
- Aperture diffraction
- Compound lenses <span class="anchor" id="compound_lens_anchor"></span>
- Non spherical types
- Uses
- See also
- Notes
- References
- Bibliography
- External links
- Simulations
thumb|A Burning glass|burning apparatus consisting of two [[biconvex lens]]
A lens is a transmissive optical device that focuses or disperses a light beam by means of refraction. A simple lens consists of a single piece of transparent material, while a compound lens consists of several simple lenses (elements), usually arranged along a common axis. Lenses are made from materials such as glass or plastic and are ground, polished, or molded to the required shape. A lens can focus light to form an image, unlike a prism, which refracts light without focusing. Devices that similarly focus or disperse waves and radiation other than visible light are also called "lenses", such as microwave lenses, electron lenses, acoustic lenses, or explosive lenses.