Wiki / Lenses / Conjugated thin lens pair

Conjugated thin lens pair

Applies two thin lenses separated by their focal lengths. Each lens uses the same silent N-BK7 sag estimate for pulse GDD.

Open in the canvas →

A live trace, not a picture of one — but this preview is not interactive. Open it in the canvas to move things, change parameters, and save or export your own version.

In the real world

An afocal telescope pairs two lenses a distance f₁ + f₂ apart so that parallel rays in produce parallel rays out — no net focusing power, just a change in beam diameter and angular magnification. A Keplerian telescope uses two convex lenses and has a real, inverted intermediate image at the shared focus between them; a Galilean telescope uses a convex objective and a concave eyepiece, stays upright, and needs no space for an intermediate image — the arrangement behind classic opera glasses and compact laser beam expanders.

M=f1f2M = -\frac{f_1}{f_2}
Angular magnification — negative for the inverted Keplerian case (both lenses convex), positive and upright when f₂ is negative (Galilean).

In OpticalSetup

Two independent lens surfaces, each applying the same paraxial ray-transfer relation, separated by exactly f₁ + f₂ — the afocal spacing shown by the dashed centerline through the icon. Either lens's focal length can be set negative independently, so the same element models both configurations: two positive focal lengths gives a Keplerian telescope with a real crossing point in the middle, while a negative second focal length gives a Galilean telescope that never focuses the beam down to a point at all.

Simplified vs. reality

Same paraxial-only physics as a single lens, with no eyepiece field-of-view limits, eye relief, or exit-pupil modeling — just the afocal geometry and magnification. Each of the two zero-thickness surfaces contributes the same silent, diameter-aware N-BK7 sag estimate used by a standalone thin lens, typically a roughly 10% class estimate for pulse GDD.

Related components

Further reading