Determination of the spherical aberration and the focal length of a concave mirror

Abstract

Geometrical Optics is an important scientific area of training of the undergraduate science students. It is usually restricted in lenses and mirrors of relatively small lens aperture in which the various errors are considered to be negligible. Our intent in this publication is the experimental approach and study of the spherical aberration of the non-ideal concave mirror with a large aperture, in which the spherical aberration is not negligible. The focal length and the radius of curvature of the mirror are also determined. The same experimental setup can be used to determine the focal length of ideal concave mirrors with negligible errors for an introductory level of geometrical optics