An Optics Laboratory Module on Image Formation, Aberrations, and Lens Design
written by
Robert D. Polak and Nicholas M. Pflederer
To foster a deeper understanding of advanced laboratory concepts, weekly laboratories in an upper-division optics course have been replaced by modules, where students study a single topic over the course of several weeks. This culminates in a laboratory report written according to the American Institute of Physics style manual. One module covers image formation, aberrations and lens design. The students measure the mechanical properties of a lens and the optical properties of the glass. With this information, they build a virtual lens using ray-tracing software and compare results within the virtual environment to those measured in the laboratory.
2015 Conference on Laboratory Instruction Beyond the First Year of College
Part of the BFY Conference series
College Park, MD: July 22-24, 2015
Pages 84-87
This material is released under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license.
Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the published article's author(s), title, proceedings citation, and DOI.
<a href="https://advlabs.aapt.org/items/detail.cfm?ID=13813">Polak, Robert D., and Nicholas M. Pflederer. "An Optics Laboratory Module on Image Formation, Aberrations, and Lens Design." Paper presented at the 2015 Conference on Laboratory Instruction Beyond the First Year of College, College Park, MD, July 22-24, 2015.</a>
R. Polak and N. Pflederer, , presented at the 2015 Conference on Laboratory Instruction Beyond the First Year of College, College Park, MD, 2015, WWW Document, (https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=13813&DocID=4234).
R. Polak and N. Pflederer, An Optics Laboratory Module on Image Formation, Aberrations, and Lens Design, presented at the 2015 Conference on Laboratory Instruction Beyond the First Year of College, College Park, MD, 2015, <https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=13813&DocID=4234>.
Polak, R., & Pflederer, N. (2015, July 22-24). An Optics Laboratory Module on Image Formation, Aberrations, and Lens Design. Paper presented at 2015 Conference on Laboratory Instruction Beyond the First Year of College, College Park, MD. Retrieved March 27, 2025, from https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=13813&DocID=4234
Polak, Robert D., and Nicholas M. Pflederer. "An Optics Laboratory Module on Image Formation, Aberrations, and Lens Design." Paper presented at the 2015 Conference on Laboratory Instruction Beyond the First Year of College, College Park, MD, July 22-24, 2015. https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=13813&DocID=4234 (accessed 27 March 2025).
Polak, Robert D., and Nicholas M. Pflederer. "An Optics Laboratory Module on Image Formation, Aberrations, and Lens Design." 2015 Conference on Laboratory Instruction Beyond the First Year of College. College Park, MD: 2015. 84-87 of BFY Conference. 27 Mar. 2025 <https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=13813&DocID=4234>.
@inproceedings{
Author = "Robert D. Polak and Nicholas M. Pflederer",
Title = {An Optics Laboratory Module on Image Formation, Aberrations, and Lens Design},
BookTitle = {2015 Conference on Laboratory Instruction Beyond the First Year of College},
Pages = {84-87},
Address = {College Park, MD},
Series = {BFY Conference},
Month = {July 22-24},
Year = {2015}
}
%A Robert D. Polak %A Nicholas M. Pflederer %T An Optics Laboratory Module on Image Formation, Aberrations, and Lens Design %S BFY Conference %D July 22-24 2015 %P 84-87 %C College Park, MD %U https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=13813&DocID=4234 %O 2015 Conference on Laboratory Instruction Beyond the First Year of College %O July 22-24 %O application/pdf
%0 Conference Proceedings %A Polak, Robert D. %A Pflederer, Nicholas M. %D July 22-24 2015 %T An Optics Laboratory Module on Image Formation, Aberrations, and Lens Design %B 2015 Conference on Laboratory Instruction Beyond the First Year of College %C College Park, MD %P 84-87 %S BFY Conference %8 July 22-24 %U https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=13813&DocID=4234
Disclaimer: ComPADRE offers citation styles as a guide only. We cannot offer interpretations about citations as this is an automated procedure. Please refer to the style manuals in the Citation Source Information area for clarifications.
Record Link
Save to my folders