REFLECTI

ON OF
LIGHT

REFLECTION

Reflection of light is either specular (mirror-like) or diffuse

(retaining the energy, but losing the image) depending on
the nature of the interface. Furthermore, if the interface is
between a dielectric and a conductor, the phase of the
reflected wave is retained, otherwise if the interface is
between two dielectrics, the phase may be retained or
inverted, depending on the indices of refraction.[citation needed]
A mirror provides the most common model for specular
light reflection, and typically consists of a glass sheet with
a metallic coating where the reflection actually occurs.
Reflection is enhanced in metals by suppression of wave
propagation beyond their skin depths. Reflection also
occurs at the surface of transparent media, such as water
or glass.

TYPES OF
REFLECTION
1. Regular reflection
2. 2. Diffused
reflection

Regular reflection:
It occurs when a beam of parallel rays
fall on a smooth surface.
In this case, the reflected rays are also
parallel to each other.
It happens because the points of
incidence of the incident rays are in the
same straight line (along the
surface).The normals at the points of
incident are also parallel to one
another.

Diffused reflection:
It occurs when a beam of parallel rays fall
on a rough surface.
In this case, due to the curvatures in the
surface, the reflected rays are not parallel
to each other.
It happens because the points of incidence
of the incident rays are not in the same
straight line (along the curved surface).
The normals at the points of incident are at
different directions causing the reflected
rays making angles among themselves,
resulting in not being parallel to each other.

IMAGES IN PLANE
MIRRORS

IMAGES IN PLANE
MIRRORS

IMAGES IN PLANE
MIRRORS

IMAGES IN PLANE
MIRRORS

IMAGES IN PLANE
MIRRORS

IMAGES IN PLANE
MIRRORS

IMAGES IN PLANE
MIRRORS

IMAGES IN PLANE
MIRRORS

CURVED MIRRORS

A curved mirror is a mirror with a curved reflective

surface, which may be either convex (bulging
outward) or concave (bulging inward). Most curved
mirrors have surfaces that are shaped like part of a
sphere, but other shapes are sometimes used in
optical devices. The most common non-spherical
type are parabolic reflectors, found in optical devices
such as reflecting telescopes that need to image
distant objects, since spherical mirror systems, like
spherical lenses, suffer from spherical aberration.
One advantage that mirror optics have over lens
optics is that mirrors do not introduce
chromatic aberration.

Convex mirrors

A convex mirror, fish eye mirror or diverging mirror,

is a curved mirror in which the reflective surface bulges
toward the light source. Convex mirrors reflect light
outwards, therefore they are not used to focus light. Such
mirrors always form a virtual image, since the focus (F)
and the centre of curvature (2F) are both imaginary
points "inside" the mirror, which cannot be reached. As a
result, images formed by these mirrors cannot be
projected on a screen, since the image is inside the
mirror.
A collimated (parallel) beam of light diverges (spreads
out) after reflection from a convex mirror, since the
normal to the surface differs with each spot on the mirror.

Convex mirrors

Concave mirrors

A concave mirror, or converging mirror, has

a reflecting surface that bulges inward (away
from the incident light). Concave mirrors reflect
light inward to one focal point.They are used to
focus light. Unlike convex mirrors, concave
mirrors show different image types depending on
the distance between the object and the mirror.
These mirrors are called "converging" because
they tend to collect light that falls on them,
refocusing parallel incoming rays toward a focus.
This is because the light is reflected at different
angles, since the normal to the surface differs
with each spot on the mirror.

Concave mirrors

The Mirror Equation

Ray diagrams can be used to determine the

image location, size, orientation and type of
image formed of objects when placed at a
given location in front of a concave mirror.
Ray diagrams provide useful information
about object-image relationships, yet fail to
provide the information in a quantitative
form. While a ray diagram may help one
determine the approximate location and size
of the image, it will not provide numerical
information about image distance and object
size.

The Mirror Equation

To obtain this type of numerical

information, it is necessary to use the
Mirror Equation and the Magnification
Equation. The mirror equation expresses
the quantitative relationship between the
object distance (do), the image distance
(di), and the focal length (f). The equation
is stated as follows:

The Mirror Equation

The magnification equation relates the

ratio of the image distance and object
distance to the ratio of the image height
(hi) and object height (ho). The
magnification equation is stated as
follows: