Chapter 2 - Fundamentals of Microscopy

Abstract

This chapter introduces the basic concept of an image-forming lens system. In the simplest case the lens is a thin, double-convex piece of glass with spherical surfaces. Light rays inside the glass have a lower velocity of propagation than light rays in air or vacuum. Because the distance the rays must travel varies from the thickest to the thinnest parts of the lens, the light rays are bent toward the optical axis of the lens by the process known as refraction. The lens is thicker near the axis than near the edges, and axial rays are refracted more than peripheral rays. In the ideal case, the variation in thickness is just right to convert the incoming expanding spherical wave into a spherical exit wave converging toward the image point. Any deviation of the exit wave from spherical form is, by definition, due to aberration. A diverging spherical wave of light radiating from a point source at the origin of the focal plane is refracted by a convex lens to produce a converging spherical exit wave. The light converges to produce a small spot at the origin of the image plane.