Lasers and mirrors

Lasers and mirrors
Depot św. Wawrzyńca
History →
Experimental Garden im. Stanisława Lema
History →
Hangar Czyżyny
History →

Lasers and mirrors

HOW

Left side


Use the manipulators to explorehow laser beams behave when reflected from a mirror of a chosen curvature:

1. flat,
2.convex,
3.concave.


Right side


Position the optical elements so that the laser beam is directed towards the bottom of the black rectangle.

WHY


On the left-hand side you can see that the reflection angle of a beam of light from a mirror is equal to its angle of incidence.


It can be concluded that the reflected beams:

1. are parallel for a plane mirror,
2. move away from each other for a convex mirror and their extension on the concave side is focused on one spot,
3. are convergent to the point for a concave mirror.

The points of intersection of the beams or their extensions are the focus of the mirror.


You can use your knowledge of the law of optics to properly direct the laser beam on the right-hand side.