Search research articles

ABOUT JoVE

Overview Leadership Blog JoVE Help Center

AUTHORS

Publishing Process Editorial Board Scope & Policies Peer Review FAQ Submit

LIBRARIANS

Testimonials Subscriptions Access Resources Library Advisory Board FAQ

RESEARCH

JoVE Journal Methods Collections JoVE Encyclopedia of Experiments Archive

EDUCATION

JoVE Core JoVE Business JoVE Science Education JoVE Lab Manual Faculty Resource Center Faculty Site

Terms & Conditions of Use

Related Concept Videos

Propagation of Waves

Propagation of Waves

When a wave propagates from one medium to another, part of it may get reflected in the first medium, and part of it may get transmitted to the second medium. In such a case, the interface of the two mediums can be considered as a boundary that is neither fixed nor free.
Consider a scenario where a wave propagates from a string of low linear mass density to a string of high linear mass density. In such a case, the reflected wave is out of phase with respect to the incident wave, however the...

Propagation Speed of Electromagnetic Waves

Propagation Speed of Electromagnetic Waves

Electromagnetic waves are consistent with Ampere's law. Assuming there is no conduction current Ampere's law is given as:

Imaging Biological Samples with Optical Microscopy

Imaging Biological Samples with Optical Microscopy

Optical microscopy uses optic principles to provide detailed images of samples. Antonie van Leeuwenhoek designed the first compound optical microscope in the 17th century to visualize blood cells, bacteria, and yeast cells. In 1830, Joseph Jackson Lister created an essentially modern light microscope. The 20th century saw the development of microscopes with enhanced magnification and resolution.
In optical microscopy, the specimen to be viewed is placed on a glass slide and clipped on the stage...

The Wave Nature of Light

The Wave Nature of Light

The nature of light has been a subject of inquiry since antiquity. In the seventeenth century, Isaac Newton performed experiments with lenses and prisms and was able to demonstrate that white light consists of the individual colors of the rainbow combined together. Newton explained his optics findings in terms of a "corpuscular" view of light, in which light was composed of streams of extremely tiny particles traveling at high speeds according to Newton's laws of motion.

Propagation of Uncertainty from Systematic Error

Propagation of Uncertainty from Systematic Error

The atomic mass of an element varies due to the relative ratio of its isotopes. A sample's relative proportion of oxygen isotopes influences its average atomic mass. For instance, if we were to measure the atomic mass of oxygen from a sample, the mass would be a weighted average of the isotopic masses of oxygen in that sample. Since a single sample is not likely to perfectly reflect the true atomic mass of oxygen for all the molecules of oxygen on Earth, the mass we obtain from this...

Propagation of Uncertainty from Random Error

Propagation of Uncertainty from Random Error

An experiment often consists of more than a single step. In this case, measurements at each step give rise to uncertainty. Because the measurements occur in successive steps, the uncertainty in one step necessarily contributes to that in the subsequent step. As we perform statistical analysis on these types of experiments, we must learn to account for the propagation of uncertainty from one step to the next. The propagation of uncertainty depends on the type of arithmetic operation performed on...

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by

Same author

Avoiding the tip: spiral optics for robust high power beam shaping of Bessel beams.

Optics express·2025

Same author

Field curvature reduction in miniaturized high numerical aperture and large field-of-view objective lenses with sub 1 µm lateral resolution.

Biomedical optics express·2024

Same author

Reflective dual field-of-view optical system based on the Alvarez principle.

Applied optics·2023

Same author

Design and test of a rigid endomicroscopic system for multimodal imaging and femtosecond laser ablation.

Journal of biomedical optics·2023

Same author

Material-specific high-resolution table-top extreme ultraviolet microscopy.

Light, science & applications·2022

Same author

Extended aberration analysis in symmetry-free optical systems - part I: method of calculation.

Optics express·2021

Search research articles

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Mar 26, 2026

Transmission of Multiple Signals through an Optical Fiber Using Wavefront Shaping

Transmission of Multiple Signals through an Optical Fiber Using Wavefront Shaping

Published on: March 20, 2017

Generalized propagation of light through optical systems. II. Numerical implications.

Manuel Tessmer, Herbert Gross

Journal of the Optical Society of America. A, Optics, Image Science, and Vision

|February 3, 2016

Summary

This study introduces a MATLAB toolbox for simulating light wave propagation through lenses. The algorithm enables accurate, high numerical aperture field tracing for macroscopic optics, enhancing optical design capabilities.

More Related Videos

Fabrication And Characterization Of Photonic Crystal Slow Light Waveguides And Cavities

Fabrication And Characterization Of Photonic Crystal Slow Light Waveguides And Cavities

Published on: November 30, 2012

Fabrication and Characterization of Disordered Polymer Optical Fibers for Transverse Anderson Localization of Light

Fabrication and Characterization of Disordered Polymer Optical Fibers for Transverse Anderson Localization of Light

Published on: July 29, 2013

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Mar 26, 2026

Transmission of Multiple Signals through an Optical Fiber Using Wavefront Shaping

Transmission of Multiple Signals through an Optical Fiber Using Wavefront Shaping

Published on: March 20, 2017

Fabrication And Characterization Of Photonic Crystal Slow Light Waveguides And Cavities

Fabrication And Characterization Of Photonic Crystal Slow Light Waveguides And Cavities

Published on: November 30, 2012

Fabrication and Characterization of Disordered Polymer Optical Fibers for Transverse Anderson Localization of Light

Fabrication and Characterization of Disordered Polymer Optical Fibers for Transverse Anderson Localization of Light

Published on: July 29, 2013

Area of Science:

Optics and Photonics
Computational Electromagnetics
Mathematical Modeling

Background:

Accurate simulation of light propagation is crucial for designing macroscopic optical systems.
Previous methods had limitations in handling complex lens geometries and arbitrary input beams.
The Helmholtz equation provides a framework for wave propagation but requires approximations for curved surfaces.

Purpose of the Study:

To present a novel algorithm and MATLAB toolbox for computing coherent visible light wave propagation through macroscopic lenses.
To extend previous work by enabling computations for arbitrarily directed input beams and high numerical aperture (NA) field tracing.
To provide a Maxwell-exact method for macroscopic structures with large curvature radii, including reflection and transmission.

Main Methods:

Implementation of an algorithm in a MATLAB toolbox.
Utilizing fast Fourier routines for efficient field tracing.
Analytical treatment of curvature-dependent terms in the Helmholtz equation (first perturbation order) and inclusion in propagation distance for computational efficiency.

Main Results:

The developed toolbox enables high numerical aperture field tracing for macroscopic lenses.
The method is Maxwell exact for macroscopic structures and large curvature radii, accounting for reflection and transmission.
Demonstrated strengths of the approach through various examples, highlighting differences from prior methods.

Conclusions:

The presented algorithm and toolbox offer a powerful tool for simulating wave propagation in complex macroscopic optical systems.
The method provides accurate results for high NA field tracing, essential for advanced optical design.
Identified drawbacks and potential simplifications suggest avenues for future research and algorithm refinement.