Some Ray Tracing Problems Related to Circles and Ellipses

Abstract

A classical ray tracing problem, namely the celebrated Alhazen Mirror Problem, is reviewed. An alternative formulation of the law of reflection, leading, in the spherical mirror case, directly to Alhazen's equation is presented. The locus method of ray tracing is introduced and applied to Alhazen's problem. Finally, the technique is applied to some ray tracing problems, which often occur in practice, namely reflection by a circular cylinder and diffraction by a circular edge. Although these problems cannot in general be solved analytically, a technique is devised that may save considerable amounts of computer time in actual applications. Keywords: Ray tracing; Reflection; Optics; Diffraction.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Mar 01, 1989
Accession Number
ADA219306

Entities

People

  • Henning Bach

Organizations

  • Rome Laboratory

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Air Platforms
  • C4I

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Force
  • Availability
  • Classification
  • Coordinate Systems
  • Equations
  • Geometry
  • Locus
  • Mirrors
  • Numbers
  • Optics
  • Polynomials
  • Ray Tracing
  • Refractive Index
  • Security
  • Square Roots
  • Three Dimensional
  • Two Dimensional

Readers

  • Microwave Engineering.
  • Space/Atmospheric Physics.
  • Systems Analysis and Design