Ray Trace of a Spherical Mirror

Optical imaging systems like in telescopes or medical imaging systems use mirrors and lenses to focus light. The most commonly used focusing surfaces are spherical concave mirrors and convex focusing lenses. A ray trace diagram shows the path of light rays to and away from the surface. This is used to predict how and when the final image will appear. The telescope deign project looked at creating optical surfaces and understanding the properties for each model like the principal axis, radius of curvature and focal point.This work supported by the NSF-REU Solar Physics program at SAO, grant number AGS-185075