Virtual Labs
Optics · Geometrical Optics

Optical Bench

An optical rail with sliding mounts. Place an illuminated object, converging and diverging lenses, curved mirrors, and a screen, then drag them along the centimetre rail. Rays are traced through every element with the real thin-lens and mirror equations, the image forms live, and you read off distance, magnification, and orientation just like a real bench experiment.

Optical Rail

Drag any mount left/right along the rail to slide it. Click a mount to select it. Distances are in centimetres on the rail scale. The image is drawn solid & inverted when real, dashed when virtual; the screen shows a sharp image only when it sits at the image plane.

Measurement Readout

Thin lens: 1/v − 1/u = 1/f  ·  Mirror: 1/v + 1/u = 1/f  ·  Magnification m = v / u.
Sign convention: distances measured from the element along the rail, light travels left→right, real object distance u is negative, f > 0 for a converging lens / concave mirror.

Presets

Add to rail

3.0 cm
3

Mounts on rail