Nonlinear Optics and Organic Materials
Abstract
In glancing through a flat windowpane we confront light's interaction with glass, but ignore it. We assume that the world's image is not perceptibly altered when light passes through the glass. Yet glass does play tricks with light: A penny viewed through a variety of lenses may appear the same size, magnified, reduced, or blurred. The shape of glass dictates the distortion of the image. The 14th century craftsmen who first formed lenses from glass to aid those with deteriorating vision progressed by trial and error. Even Galileo used the exacting labor of grinding glass, without benefit of a practical theory of optics, to improve his pioneering telescope. The optics industry flourished for centuries before theory could minutely chart the interaction between light and glass.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Oct 01, 1989
- Accession Number
- ADA226953
Entities
People
- E. Cavicchi
- J. Kumar
- R. Saikumar
- Sukant Tripathy