Spherical Mirror

The spherical mirror has the same radii of curvature R for both tangential and sagittal planes. Matrices for both planes are equal too when the beam falls on the mirror at the normal angle. When incident beam inclined at angle α, then matrices for T and S planes differ.

A spherical mirror can be concave or convex depending on the sign of radius of curvature. The sign of ROC is not related to the beam propagation direction but only governs how the mirror transforms the beam’s wavefront.

The spherical mirror acts in the same way as thin lens, except that you have to specify the radius of curvature instead of the focal range. Even on the layout, it is displayed as a lens when it does not locate at ends of the optical system.

See also

Elements Matrices, ../catalog, ../elem_props