Using lenses to focus incident plane waves to a fixed spot is an extremely important phenomena, gaining increased prominence in advanced microscopy techniques. While lens behavior has been studied experimentally in the light of geometrical optics, an attempt has been made to study lens behavior using the principles of electromagnetic optics. With increasing computational capabilities it has become possible to visualize the passage of light through optical systems, like lenses, from first principles by applying Finite Difference Time Domain Method directly to Maxwell’s equations.

This particular tool enables the user to visualize selective passage of light through the lens-system.

MEEP: MIT Electromagnetic Equation Propagation

1. Munir Nayfeh, Professor, Physics Dept., University of Illinois

Network for Computational Nanotechnology (NCN) at nanohub.org

Researchers should cite this work as follows:

• Nahil Sobh; Zuhaib Bashir Sheikh (2011), "Illinois Tools: Biconvex Lens," https://nanohub.org/resources/biconvex. (DOI: 10.4231/D3VH5CH83).

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1. nanophotonics