Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-r5fsc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-23T14:37:42.320Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

A Maximum-Minimum Method of Determining the Cardinal Points of a Lens System

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 October 2008

G. F. C. Searle
Affiliation:
Peterhouse

Extract

The method of determining the focal length f of a thin converging lens by finding the minimum distance Δ0 between image and object is well known. When the thickness of the lens is negligible, f = ¼Δ0.

In the general coaxial system, the media at the two ends have refractive indices μ1, μ2, and there is a finite distance t between the principal or unite plances. The two focal lengths are unequal, since, f1/f212, and the nodal points do not coincide with the principal points.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge Philosophical Society 1936

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

* Searle, Experimental optics, Chapter ix.

The focal length f is positive or negative, according as the image of a distant object is inverted or erect. This is the definition used by practical opticians.