In the simple theory of the formation of image and in the derivation of lens formula

(1/f=1/v-1/u), it was assumed that: -

1. The light rays make small angles with the principal axis.
2. The aperture of the lens is small.
3. A point object gives a point image.

In optical instruments, to collect a large amount of light and to increase the resolving power,
a large aperture is necessary.

We have to consider the rays close to the axis (paraxial rays) and rays falling near the end of
the lens (peripheral or marginal rays).

Non paraxial rays of light , after refraction through the lens do not meet at a single point.

So the position, size and shape of image is deviated and such deviations are called
aberrations.

A paraxial ray is a ray which makes a small angle (θ) to the optical axis of the system, and
lies close to the axis throughout the system.
The parallel rays which are away from the principal axis and not meet at the principal focus
after reflections are called marginal rays. AND the parallel rays near to the principal axis and
after reflection meet at the principal focus are called paraxial rays.

Monochromatic: - containing or using only one colour.

Even with paraxial rays, if the falling on the lens is not MONOCHROMATIC, refractive index
and focal length of a lens is different for different wavelengths of light.

The rays of white light after refraction through a lens form a number of coloured images of
different sizes at different position.
Monochromatic Aberration
1. The aberrations produced due to non-paraxial rays are called monochromatic or
Seidel aberrations,
2. By Maclaurin’s theorem, the expansion of sinƟ is given by the equation
sinƟ= Ɵ-Ɵ3 /3ǃ+Ɵ5/5ǃ-Ɵ7ǃ+....

3. When the value of Ɵ is small, the series is rapidly converging one and we use
sinƟ=Ɵ.

Converge= (of lines) tend to meet at a point.

4. The relation between u, v, f is developed on the basis of first order theory.

5. But in practice, the rays coming from an object and forming the image are not only
paraxial rays but also marginal or non-paraxial rays.
6. For marginal or non-paraxial rays, the value of Ɵ is large. So in the expansion of sinƟ
we have to take at least first two terms of the series.
7. The equation sinƟ= Ɵ-Ɵ3 /3ǃ, form the basis of third order theory.
8. For the monochromatic rays of light, the third order theory produces deviations in
the size, shape and position of an image as calculated from the first order theory.
9. This deviations were discovered by Siedel in 1955 and called as Siedel
monochromatic aberrations.
10. The monochromatic aberrations are classified as: -
 Spherical aberrations.
 Coma.
 Astigmatism
 Curvature of field.
 Distortion.

Chromatic Aberration

1. Focal lenght (f) of a thin lens is related to the refractive index of a material of the
lens by equation

1/f=(µ-1)(1/R1-1/R2)

Where R1 and R2 are radii of curvature of a lens and µ is refractive index of the material of
the lens.

2. For a given thin lens (R1 & R2= constant) and refractive index of a material of the lens
is greater for violets rays than that for red rays.
3. Focal lenght of a lens decreases from red to violet end of the spectrum.
4. The magnification of image depends on the focal lenght, so size of the image is
different for different colours.
5. The image of a white object formed by a lens is coloured and blurred.
Spherical Aberration:-

1. Consider a point object ‘O’ situated on the axis of thin lens. As the aperture
of the lens is large, the rays of light refracted through different regions of the
lens do not come to focus at a single point.
2. The paraxial rays after refraction meet at point Ip away from the lens, while
marginal rays meet at point Im nearer to the lens.
3. For a given object, the image extends over the length ImIp .
4. All the rays are not focused at a single point, the lens does not form a point
image of an axial point object.
5. The failure of a lens to form a point image of a point object is called as
spherical aberration.
6. A screen is held perpendicular to the axis of lens, it will be seen that the
image is not sharp at any point, but appears as a circular patch.
7. The size of the circular patch is minimum at that position, where paraxial and
marginal rays intersect.
8. The circular patch of diameter AB is called the circle of least confusion.
9. The radius of this circle is measure of the transverse or lateral spherical
aberration.
10. The distance between Im and Ip is called the axial or longitudinal spherical
aberration.
11. When the aperture of the lens is relatively large compared to its focal lenght,
different zones of the lens have different lenghts.

Reduction od spherical aberration: -

I. By reducing the lens aperture

II. Use of plano convex lens
III. By using a crossed lens
IV. By combining suitable concave and convex lenses
V. By using combination of two plano convex lenses separated by a finite distance.
VI. By using an aplantic lens.
 1. By reducing the lens aperture :-
 It is found that spherical aberration is proportional to h2, where h is the aperture of
the lens.
 If h is reduced, the spherical aberration will reduced considerably.
 In order to reduce aperture of the lens, the stops are used.
 The stop arrangement permits only either paraxial rays or marginal rays so that all
the refracted rays come practically at a point focus.
 This can be done by blackening the unrequired portion of the system or by using
circular or annular shutter.
 The use of stops reduces the intensity of the image due to cut off of the light rays.

2. Use of plano convex lens:-

The spherical aberration arises due to large deviation of the marginal rays than the
paraxial rays.
If the deviation of the marginal rays of light is made minimum, the focus F m will be
shifted toward the focus Fp.
It is observed that longitudinal or axial spherical aberration can be minimized, if total
deviation is equally shared by the two surface of the lens.
For a plano convex lens, when a parallel beam of light is incident on the plane
surface, the deviation is produced only due to curved surface and is not shared by
both surface.
Spherical aberration in this case is quite large.
When a parallel beam of light is incident on the curved surface of same plano convex
lens, the total deviation is shared by both the surfaces.
As a result the spherical aberration is minimum.

3. By using a crossed lens

 When a parallel beam of light is incident on a thin lens, the longitudinal or axial
spherical aberration produced by the lens is given by

X=p2/f[k2µ3+k(µ+2µ2-µ3) +µ3-2µ2+2/2µ(µ-1)2(1-k)2]

Where x= logitudinal or axial spherical aberration

P=radius of the lens aperture

F= second principal focal length of the lens

K=R1/R2 R1 and R2 are radii of curvature of a lens.

µ= refractive index of material of the lens.

For a given aperture of a lens, with given focal length and made from a given material i.e.
with given values of µ, f and p the condition for minimum spherical aberration is

dx/dk = 0

Differentiating above equation w.r.t. k and equating to zero, we get

K=R1/R2=µ(2µ-1)-4/µ(2µ+1)

In order to reduce spherical aberration, we must use the lens whose radii of curvature
satisfy above equation.

If µ=1.5, we get R1/R2 =-1/6

If the refractive index of the material of the lens is 1.5, the spherical aberration will be
minimum when R1/R2 =-1/6.

This means that for the minimum spherical aberration, the lens must be biconvex or
biconcave and the radius of curvature of the surface, on which light is incident, must be
one-sixth of the radius of curvature of the other surface.

A lens having R1/R2 =-1/6 is called crossed lens.

4. By combining suitable concave and convex lens.

 The longitudinal or axial spherical aberration for a convex lens is positive while for a
concave lens it is negative.
 Therefore by taking suitable combination of the convex and concave lens, the
spherical aberration can be minimized.
5. By using combination of two plano convex lenses separated by a finite distance
o The condition for minimum spherical aberration is that the distance between two
plano convex lenses is equal to the difference in their focal lengths.

APLANATIC LENS
A spherical lens which is free from the defects of spherical and coma is called an aplanatic lens. A
pair of conjugate points free from spherical aberration and coma are called aplanatic points. Fig.
illustrates the property of an aplanatic lens. Let O be the centre of the curvature of the lens of
refractive index   and radius of curvature R. P is a point on the axis of the lens such
that  . It can be shown that all rays passing through the point P appear to diverge
through the point Q irrespective of the slope angle made by the incident rays. PA is the incident ray
and AC is the refracted ray. The ray AC appears to diverge from the point Q which is the image of P.
Let i and r be the angles of incidence and refraction and   and   the slope angles made by the
incident and refracted rays.

From (i) and (ii)

∴∠   = ∠ r                                                                           (iii)

In the Δ APO,    

∠   =   + (r – i)                                                                   (iv)

Substituting ∠   = ∠ r in equation (iv)

r =   + r – 1 or i =                                                               (v)

In the Δ AQO,

OQ =  .R

Thus, if the distance of the object point P is R/  from the centre of curvature, then the distance of
the image point Q is  R irrespective of the slope angles   and  . The object and image distances of
the conjugate points that satisfy the above condition are BP = R + R/  and BQ = R +  R.

An aplanatic lens is mostly used as the front lens of a high power microscope objective called the oil
immersion objective. As it is not possible to place an object inside a solid spherical lens, the lens is
ground a little and the object to be examined is embedded in between a drop of oil and the lens
surface. The oil chosen is such that it has the same refractive index as that of the lens.