An Optics Laboratory Module on Image Formation, Aberrations, and Lens Design

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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a deeper understanding of advanced laboratory concepts, weekly laboratories in an upper-division optics course have been replaced by modules, where students study a single topic over the course of several weeks.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

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Published: November 17, 2015

Subjects	Levels	Resource Types
Education Foundations - Communication = Writing Education Practices - Curriculum Development = Laboratory - Technology Optics - Geometrical Optics = Optical Instruments	- Upper Undergraduate	- Instructional Material = Laboratory - Reference Material = Article

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Mirror:: https://doi.org/10.1119/bfy.2015.…
Access Rights:: Free access
License:: 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.
Rights Holder:: American Association of Physics Teachers
DOI:: 10.1119/bfy.2015.pr.021
PACSs:: 01.50.Pa; 42.15.Eq; 42.15.Fr
Keywords:: Aberrations, BFY 2015, Educational Laboratory Experiments, Optical System Design, Ray-Tracing Software, Zemax
Record Cloner:: Metadata instance created November 17, 2015 by Lyle Barbato
Record Updated:: November 19, 2015 by Bruce Mason
Last Update when Cataloged:: November 17, 2015
Other Collections:: The Advanced Labs

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Record Link

<a href="https://www.compadre.org/portal/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>

AIP Format

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).

AJP/PRST-PER

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>.

APA Format

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 May 1, 2025, from https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=13813&DocID=4234

Chicago Format

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 1 May 2025).

MLA Format

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. 1 May 2025 <https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=13813&DocID=4234>.

BibTeX Export Format

@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} }

Refer Export Format

%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

EndNote Export Format

%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

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