Introduction
When we relate to light, we are undoubtedly linking with everything around us, and this is because the light rays are responsible for transporting each image we see to our natural screen such as the retina, and thus we perceive the space-time where we are immersed.
At every moment of our existence, light rays go from one place to another, i.e., propagating around us, and this action causes essential intrinsic phenomena such as refraction, and this usually happens when certain light beams impact with certain objects that make these rays bend or change direction as in the case of lenses, which we observed in the previous article, and in this article we will continue to deepen on the refractive power of the lenses.
Let us remember my dear readers that the diopter allows us to determine the refractive capacity of the lenses either of natural or artificial origin, and refraction is the ability of a certain material medium to bend or change the directionality of any ray of light, and this aspect has been fundamental for man to design the various artificial lenses that are usually for refractive correction of any optical instrument and for any ametropia in our ocular system, of this refractive defect (ametropia) we will be relating in future installments.
Therefore, this time we continue to make some calculations of the refractive power of some convergent lenses in general and this in diopters, for example, of those wavelengths representative of the colors because as we know that white light is composed of several colors, and when refracted this light could generate the phenomenon of chromatic aberration and at the same time with the implementation of other lenses it is possible to correct it.
First, we will observe the wavelengths of three colors, blue, green and red, in a representative way, and with this, we will determine the refractive power of a convergent lens in diopter, therefore, it is important to be able to visualize the following figure 1.
In the previous figure 1, we can clearly see that each color has its characteristic wavelength, which of course, gives them their hue in terms of the perception of the human eye, as you can see each color is projected in a particular focal point, and thus, we could determine the refractive power of the lens in relation to each wavelength, remember that the calculation of diopters is nothing more than the inverse of the focal length of each projected wave expressed in meters.
Therefore, we observe how the wave representing the blue color is bent or refracted with greater intensity than the other waves, and that is why this wave has a greater amount of diopter (10D) than the waves representing the green (9.9D) and red (9.8) colors respectively, as you can see in the previous image.
In tune with the projection of the representative waves of each color we can find in this way the phenomena of optical aberrations, and one of them is precisely the chromatic aberration which occurs by the generation of secondary focal points due to the disparity between the wavelengths of each color, however, this can be corrected with the implementation of other lenses as you can see below in the following figure 2.
As shown in figure 1, each color is projected differently, that is, to different focal points, sometimes the same lens can correct this type of aberration, especially with the generation of new materials for the manufacture of these lenses, however, at other times another lens must be used for such correction as shown in figure 2 above.
Having been able to understand the phenomenon of refraction has undoubtedly allowed us to improve the quality of the images generated in any space-time we wish to analyze certain rays of light transporters of any image, which is why we have achieved the refractive correction of our ocular system by implementing artificial lenses of origin either convergent or divergent, and where the diopter magnitude plays an important role, but this aspect we will continue to deepen later.
Conclusion
The propagation of light causes the development of a series of important phenomena intrinsic to this propagation, and among them we have refraction, and in this way we have been able to determine the refractive power of a natural or artificial lens through diopters.
Our white or visible light is structured by several colors, and this can be observed with the phenomenon of dispersion, and this basically when such light is refracted by a certain material medium such as a lens, as observed in Figure 1, where we were able to determine the refractive power of a lens in diopter of each color analyzed.
Until another time my dear readers of @Hive.blog, especially the members of the great community of @stemsocial, for which I highly recommend to be part of this great project, because it highlights the excellent work of academia and the wonderful work of the entire scientific field.
Note: All images were created using the Power Point application and the animated gif was created using the PhotoScape application.
Recommended Bibliographic References
[1]What’s a Diopter, and Why Do I Care Anyway.
[3]Refractive power of lenses (Diopter). Author: @rbalzan79.