APPENDIX CDerivation of the Lens Maker’s Equation
The lens maker’s equation for a thin lens is easily derived from the equations for the focusing powers of the two surfaces as described in Equation (7.1). The situation is illustrated in Figure C.1, where the radius of curvature for the second surface, R2, is a negative number.
Now imagine that the two diagrams are overlapped so that the lines defining the central plane of the thin lens coincide and the region having refractive index n2 is confined between the two curves. The result is that the image plane of the first surface lies on the right side of the second surface at the position q1. Therefore, the subject for the second optical surface can be defined as p2 = –q1. The equations ...
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