Ray (optics)

Summary

In optics, a ray is an idealized geometrical model of light or other electromagnetic radiation, obtained by choosing a curve that is perpendicular to the wavefronts of the actual light, and that points in the direction of energy flow. Rays are used to model the propagation of light through an optical system, by dividing the real light field up into discrete rays that can be computationally propagated through the system by the techniques of ray tracing. This allows even very complex optical systems to be analyzed mathematically or simulated by computer. Ray tracing uses approximate solutions to Maxwell's equations that are valid as long as the light waves propagate through and around objects whose dimensions are much greater than the light's wavelength. Ray optics or geometrical optics does not describe phenomena such as diffraction, which require wave optics theory. Some wave phenomena such as interference can be modeled in limited circumstances by adding phase to the ray model.

Official source

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_(optics)

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The CLIC Test Facility 3 (CTF3) is being built and commissioned by an international collaboration to test the feasibility of the proposed Compact Linear Collider (CLIC) drive beam generation scheme. Central to this scheme is the use of RF deflectors to inject bunches into a delay loop and a combiner ring, in order to transform the initial bunch frequency of 1.5 GHz from the linac to a final bunch frequency of 12 GHz. The optimization procedure relies on several steps. The active length of each ring is carefully adjusted to within less than millimeter accuracy using a wiggler magnet. The transverse optics of the machine must be set up in a way to ensure beam isochronicity. Diagnostics based on optical Streak camera and RF power measurements have been designed to measure the longitudinal behavior of the beam during the combination. This paper presents their performance and recent measurements.

2010

OPTIMIZATION OF THE POSITION OF THE RADIAL LOOP PICKUPS IN THE CERN PS

Sandra Aumon

A part of the beam losses at transition crossing of high intensity beams in the CERN PS have been attributed to an excursion of the closed orbit. The orbit jump occurs simultaneously with the jump of the transition energy triggered by pulsed quadrupoles. Investigations showed that the position of the pickups used for the radial loop system was not optimized with respect to the dispersion change caused by the fast change of the transition energy. Thanks to new electronics of the orbit measurement system, turn-by-turn orbit data could be recorded around transition crossing. Their analysis, together with calculations of the transverse optics, allowed determining a new choice of pickup positions for the radial loop. In comparison to the previous pickup configuration, the new configuration improves the mean radial position not only during transition crossing, but all along the acceleration cycle.

2010

Transition of optical regime in miniaturized optical systems: light interactions beyond the refraction limit

Hans Peter Herzig, Myun Sik Kim, Toralf Scharf

We investigate the transition of optical regimes of miniaturized optical systems using two canonical examples, where the refraction of light limits the system performance. A ball-lens and a solid immersion lens (SIL) are considered, whose refractive responses can be intuitively described by ray optics when the system size is relatively large. For miniaturized systems, the optical response differs from that of conventional large systems. Since such new responses occur when the refractive response of light start to disappear, this boundary is called the refraction limit. Our intension is to bring insights into new phenomena beyond such a boundary.. First, the refraction limit of the ball-lens is identified with three different criteria: the focal length, the spot size, and the amount of depolarization. The light confinement effect of nanoscale SILs, which have an intentionally deformed shape, demonstrates the diminishing effect of the refractive response of light. Likewise, beyond the refraction limit of the miniaturized systems, the signature of refractive degradations vanishes, and the shape errors of elements become negligible.

Spie-Int Soc Optical Engineering2016