Optics
← Back to All Topics
Optics is where I usually start when I want to reason about a light-based system at human scale. It is the layer where lenses, imaging paths, apertures, aberrations, and system tradeoffs become concrete enough to think about clearly.
What I want this topic to emphasize is physical intuition: what bends, what focuses, what blurs, and which part of the system is really driving the behavior you care about.
A good place to start:
More about Rainbows
Further questions, extensions, and related atmospheric optics beyond the primary bow.
ReadWave Optics of Rainbows
Why interference matters for the fine structure and color detail of rainbows.
ReadGeometrical Optics of Rainbows
The ray-optics picture of refraction, reflection, and rainbow angles.
ReadHistory of Rainbow Mystery
How people understood, misunderstood, and gradually explained rainbows.
ReadRainbow Colors
A 4-post series on building up rainbow colors from historical ideas to geometrical and wave optics.
View SeriesOptics: Imaging, Refraction, and Systems
A compact overview of how I think about optics as a system-level discipline.
Read