When it comes time to build an optical system, you’re not going to get very far without familiarizing yourself with the plano-convex lens or singlet spherical lens. Whether it’s an industrial, pharmaceutical, defense or CO2 laser application, the plano-convex lens is essential if light needs to be focused, collected and collimated.
A plano-convex lens is an optical component whose purpose is to focus light into a single point. The “plano” portion refers to one side being flat (a plane) and the “convex” portion refers to the other portion of the lens being bowed outward. A plano-concave lens (a subject for another day) means it is bowed inward or is caved in.
This outward bowing produces what’s called a positive focal length. A positive focal length means that the focal point (or the point where light converges) is on the opposite side of the lens as the object. This means the image will be both inverted and flipped as seen in the below image.
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