The Human Eye

In order to see, we must have light. While we don't fully understand all the different
properties of light, we do have an idea of how light travels.
A light ray can be deflected, reflected, bent or absorbed, depending on the different
substances it encounters.
When light travels through water or a lens, for example, its path is bent or refracted.
Certain eye structures have refractive properties similar to water or lenses and can
bend light rays into a precise point of focus essential for sharp vision.
Most refraction in the eye occurs when light rays travel through the curved, clear
front surface of the eye (cornea). The eye's natural (crystalline) lens also bends light
rays. Even the eyes tear film and internal fluids (aqueous humor and vitreous) have
refractive abilities.

The process of vision
begins when light rays
that reflect off objects
and travel through the
eye's optical system
are refracted and
focused into a point of
sharp focus.
For good vision, this
focus point must be on
the retina. The retina is
the tissue that lines the
inside of the back of the eye, where light-sensitive cells (photoreceptors) capture
images in much the same way that film in a camera does when exposed to light.
These images then are transmitted through the eye's optic nerve to the brain for
interpretation.
Just as a camera's aperture (called the diaphragm) is used to adjust the amount of
light needed to expose film in just the right way, the eye's pupil widens or constricts
to control the amount of light that reaches the retina.
In dark conditions, the pupil widens. In bright conditions, the pupil constricts.
The Astronomical Telescope
The astronomical telescope makes use of two positive lenses: the objective, which
forms the image of a distant object at its focal length, and the eyepiece, which acts
as a simple magnifier with which to view the image formed by the objective. Its
length is equal to the sum of the focal lengths of the objective and eyepiece, and its
angular magnification is -fo /fe, giving an inverted image.

The astronomical telescope can be used for terrestrial viewing, but seeing the image
upside down is a definite inconvenience. Viewing stars upside down is no problem.
Another inconvenience for terrestrial viewing is the length of the astronomical
telescope, equal to the sum of the focal lengths of the objective and eyepiece lenses.
A shorter telescope with upright viewing is the Galilean telescope.
Galilean Telescope
The Galilean or terrestrial telescope uses a positive objective and a negative
eyepiece. It gives erect images and is shorter than the astronomical telescope with
the same power. Its angular magnification is -fo/fe.

The image below shows parallel rays from two helium-neon lasers passing through a
Galilean telescope made from an objective with f=30cm and an eyepiece with f=-
10cm.

With the lenses placed 20 cm = fo+fe apart, the parallel input rays are rendered
parallel again by the eyepiece lens, giving an image at infinity. This shows one of the
uses of Galilean telescopes. It is useful as a collimator that takes a large beam of
parallel light and reduces the size of the beam, keeping the rays parallel. The angular
magnification of this Galilean telescope is 3. The beams of the helium-neon lasers
were made visible with a spray can of artificial smoke.
Microscope Optics
The basic light path of the microscope can be clearly seen at the left. Light from the
bulb in the base is focused by the
collector lenses in the base and sent
upward, via a mirror or prism, as an
illuminating cone of light which fills
the sub-stage condenser with light.
The condenser then focuses the
light and the image of the fields
diaphragm on the specimen. If the
aperture diaphragm is set properly
the emerging light will fill the
objective and give maximum
resolution.
The preliminary image produced by
the objective is deflected by the
prism into the eye tubes and then it
is further magnified by the
eyepieces which project the image
into the eye, or if fitted into the
camera. The adjustment of the
condenser and the field and
aperture diaphragms can be found
under the discussion on Khler
illumination.
The illustration above shows a
schematic of the optics and light
paths of the microscope. The
condenser focuses the image of
the field diaphragm into the
specimen plane and the plane of
the eyepiece field stop. It also
focuses the filament of the lamp
into the plane of the aperture
diaphragm and the objective exit
pupil. The objective produces a
primary or intermediate image of
the specimen which is further
magnified by the eyepiece and
projected into the eye or camera.
The condenser plays a critical role
in image formation. Highly
corrected condensers are complex
and are made of a number of
lenses as seen below. Like a
microscope objective, a
condenser has a numerical
aperture and it should equal or
better that of the highest
magnification objective being
used. The wavelength of light
used (which can be selected by a
filter), the objective numerical
aperture and the condenser
numerical aperture all affect the
resolution of the instrument
according to the formulae below.



SOURCES:
http://www.allaboutvision.com/eye-exam/refraction.htm
http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/geoopt/teles.html
http://web.uvic.ca/ail/techniques/scope_basics.html