ABSTRACT
Optics as a science and a technology covers a tremendous range of material. Fortunately, only a limited subset of this material is essential to the field of laser safety. With a few exceptions, this chapter concentrates on the narrower field of geometrical optics, which is the branch of optics that deals with lenses, mirrors, and optical instruments that use lenses and mirrors. After a brief discussion of the nature of light and the relation of geometric optics to the more comprehensive fields of physical optics and quantum optics, the fundamentals of the behavior of rays within the geometrical optics formalism are presented. Next, how the behavior of rays can be used to make lenses that focus light and produce images is addressed. The eye is one optical system that is important for laser safety personnel to understand, and it is discussed next. Finally, some optical devices that are commonly encountered in laser research and development laboratories are described.
