Lens
Lens From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to navigation Jump to search For other uses, see Lens (disambiguation) . A biconvex lens Lenses can be used to focus light A lens is a transmissive optical device which focuses or disperses a light beam by means of refraction . A simple lens consists of a single piece of transparent material , while a compound lens consists of several simple lenses ( elements ), usually arranged along a common axis . Lenses are made from materials such as glass or plastic , and are ground and polished or molded to the required shape. A lens can focus light to form an image , unlike a prism , which refracts light without focusing. Devices that similarly focus or disperse waves and radiation other than visible light are also called lenses, such as microwave lenses, electron lenses , ...