Marciano-Melchor et al.

Vol. 29, No. 6 / June 2012 / J. Opt. Soc. Am. A

1035

The point-characteristic function, wavefronts, and

caustic of a spherical wave refracted by an
arbitrary smooth surface
Magdalena Marciano-Melchor,1 Esperanza Navarro-Morales,2 Edwin Romn-Hernndez,3
Jos Guadalupe Santiago-Santiago,2 Gilberto Silva-Ortigoza,2,*
Ramn Silva-Ortigoza,1 and Romn Surez-Xique2
1

CIDETEC-IPN, Departamento de Posgrado, rea de Mecatrnica, Unidad Profesional Adolfo Lpez Mateos,
C.P. 07700, Mxico, D.F., Mxico
2
Facultad de Ciencias Fsico, Matemticas de la Benemrita, Universidad Autnoma de Puebla, Apartado Postal 1152,
72001, Puebla, Pue., Mxico
3
Universidad del Istmo, Departamento de Matemticas Aplicadas, Cd. Universitaria, Tehuantepec, Oax, Mxico
*Corresponding author: gsilva@fcfm.buap.mx
Received December 13, 2011; revised March 1, 2012; accepted March 1, 2012;
posted March 1, 2012 (Doc. ID 159667); published May 29, 2012
The aim of this paper is to obtain expressions for the k-function, the wavefront train, and the caustic associated
with the light rays refracted by an arbitrary smooth surface after being emitted by a point light source located at an
arbitrary position in a three-dimensional homogeneous optical medium. The general results are applied to a parabolic refracting surface. For this case, we find that when the point light source is off the optical axis, the caustic
locally has singularities of the hyperbolic umbilic type, while the refracted wavefront, at the caustic region, locally
has singularities of the cusp ridge and swallowtail types. 2012 Optical Society of America
OCIS codes: 080.0080, 080.2720, 080.2740, 120.5710.

1. INTRODUCTION
In a series of works, Stavroudis and coworkers have obtained,
in a parametric form, the general integral of the eikonal equation that describes the process of reflection or refraction taking place in some particular optical systems [16]. That is, they
have obtained expressions for the k-function (arbitrary function appearing in the general integral of the eikonal equation,
which contains all information about the aberrations introduced to the wavefront by the refracting or reflecting surface
and describes the source and boundary conditions for the refraction or reflection of light), the wavefronts, and the caustic
for a plane wave refracted by a spherical surface, a plane wave
reflected from several conical systems, and a spherical wave
refracted by a plane surface. To compute the caustic, these
authors used the definition that the caustic is the locus of
the centers of curvature of an arbitrary wavefront associated
with the general integral. They found that the wavefronts and
the caustic can be expressed as the sum of two vectors.
Recently, these ideas and results have been generalized by
Shealy and Hoffnagle [7] and by ourselves [8]. More explicitly,
Shealy and Hoffnagle obtained an expression for the k-function
associated with the general integral of Stavroudis to the eikonal
equation for refraction and reflection of a plane wave from
an arbitrary surface. Using that result, they specialized the
solution to derive analytic expressions for the wavefront and
caustic surfaces after refraction of a plane wave from any
rotationally symmetric surface. They applied their results to
evaluating and comparing the wavefront and caustic surfaces
formed both by a plano-spherical lens and a plano-aspheric
lens used for laser beam shaping. In [8], we obtained the
1084-7529/12/061035-12$15.00/0

k-function, the wavefronts, and the caustic surface associated

with the light rays reflected by an arbitrary smooth surface
after being emitted by a point light source located at an arbitrary position in free space (for the two-dimensional case,
see [9]).
It is important to remark that the caustic is one of the few
things in geometrical optics that is real and becomes visible by
blowing a cloud of smoke in the region of the focus of a
lens. Therefore, there has been considerable research on the
properties and applications of the caustic associated with
reflection and refraction of light [148]. Our research is motivated by the fact that the caustic plays a major role in the
computation of the image associated with a given object
[27,43,46]. More explicitly, the main motivation to carry out
the present research lies in our interest on the simulation
of the ideal patterns, referred to as ronchigrams, in the Ronchi
test [49] used to test optical systems, when the grating is
placed at the caustic region and the point light source is
located at an arbitrary position. That is, we are interested
in extending our results for reflection, on the simulation on
ronchigrams [43,46], to the case of refraction.
In this work, we assume that we have two given optical
media with constant refraction indexes n1 and n2 , which
are separated by an arbitrary smooth curved surface. In the
optical medium with refraction index n1 , we place a point light
source at an arbitrary position. Therefore, a light ray emitted
by the point light source experiences a refraction at the surface of discontinuity. The aim of this work is to obtain expressions for the k-function, the wavefront train, and the caustic
associated with the light rays refracted by the arbitrary
2012 Optical Society of America

1036

J. Opt. Soc. Am. A / Vol. 29, No. 6 / June 2012

Marciano-Melchor et al.

smooth surface after being emitted by a point light source

located at an arbitrary position in the homogeneous optical
medium with refraction index n1 . To this end, following our
recent work for reflection [8], we obtain expressions for the
complete and general integrals to the eikonal equation associated with the refracted light rays, and we show that the
refracted wavefronts are described by a map between two
subsets of R3 . The caustic is computed as the image of the
critical set of this map. Finally, the general results are applied
to the case of a refracting parabolic surface; we find that when
the point light source is off the optical axis, the caustic locally
has singularities of the hyperbolic umbilic type, while the refracted wavefront, at the caustic region, locally has singularities of the cusp ridge and swallowtail types. The organization
of this work is as follows: In Section 2, we follow the Shealy
and Hoffnagle procedure [7] to obtain the k-function that describes the light rays refracted by an arbitrary smooth surface
after being emitted by a point light source located at an arbitrary position in a three-dimensional homogeneous optical
medium. After that, we present the map that describes the
evolution of the refracted wavefronts, and the caustic is computed. That is, in this section, the results obtained by Shealy
and Hoffnagle for a plane wave are generalized for a spherical
wave. Finally, in Section 3, we illustrate our general results
when the refracting surface is parabolic and the point light
source is placed on and off the optical axis.

2. THE K-FUNCTION, WAVEFRONTS AND

CAUSTIC

To obtain
an explicit expression for R, we need to compute I

and N . From Fig. 1, we have

I

x s1 ; y s2 ; f s3 
r s

p




































































:

jr sj
x s1 2  y s2 2   f s3 2

(5)

In order to obtain a vector field perpendicular to the refracting

surface, we define the function
Gx; y; z
f x; y z:

(6)

Observe that one level surface of this function is the refracting

surface z
f x; y. Therefore,

G
N

 f x ; f y ; 1;

(7)

where f x
f x and f y
f y is a vector field perpendicular to the refracting surface. Thus, the unit normal vector
field to the refracting surface is given by

N

 f x ; f y ; 1
G

q
























:

jGj
1  f2  f2
x

(8)

By using Eqs. (4)(8), a direct computation shows that

h
R
;

(9)

where

In this section, we apply the Shealy and Hoffnagle [7] procedure

to obtain the k-function associated with the general solution of
Stavroudis to the eikonal equation for refraction of a spherical
wave from an arbitrary surface. Then, using this result, we
show that the refracted wavefront train is described by a
map between two subsets of R3 . Finally, the caustic is computed as the image of the critical set associated with this map.
A. Statement of the Problem
We have two homogeneous optical media, with constant
refraction indexes n1 and n2 , separ1ated by a smooth surface
locally given by z
f x; y. In the optical medium characterized by n1 , we place a point light source
at s
s1 ; s2 ; s3 .
The light ray emitted in the direction I and refracted at
r
x; y; f x; y is described by

h
p




i
2

r s  r s  G
 G;
h
jGj
2

jr s jjGj
;
2
2

1 2 jr s j2 jGj
 2 r s  G
:

(10)

Therefore, from Eqs. (1) and (9), we obtain that the refracted
light rays are described by
 
h
X
r  l
:

(11)

X
r  lR;

(1)

where l is the distance along the refracted light ray and R, in

accordance with the refraction law, is given by

R
I  N ;

(2)

with N being the unit normal vector to the refracting surface

z
f x; y and
n
1;
n2

I N 

q

2
1 2 1 I N  :

(3)

(4)

Fig. 1. (Color online) Schematic drawing of the optical system and

the vectors used to compute the optical path length from some point
in the object space through the optical system to the point in image
space whose coordinates are X, Y , and Z. In this diagram, s

s1 ; s2 ; s3  denotes the position of the point light source, I the direction
of an emitted light ray, r
x; y; f x; y the point on the smooth
surface
where the emitted light ray is refracted in the direction R, and

N the normal vector to the smooth surface at the point of refraction.

Marciano-Melchor et al.

Vol. 29, No. 6 / June 2012 / J. Opt. Soc. Am. A

Our problem is to obtain both the wavefront train and the

caustic associated with the light rays described by Eq (11).
To this end, we compute the k-function associated with the
general integral to the eikonal equation that describes the
refracted light rays [Eq. (11)].
B. Computation of the k-Function


Remember that the point-characteristic function, X
X; Y ; Z, represents the optical path length (OPL) from
some point in the object space, through the optical system
to the point in image space whose coordinates are X, Y , and
Z. From Fig. 1, we notice that the OPL associated with the
point X is equal to n1 times the distance from s to r plus
That is,
n2 times the distance from r to X.

n1 r s  I  n2 X r  R:

(12)

Since I
r s  jr s j, this equation can be rewritten in the

following form:

s ; x; y
n2 X R  k;
X;

(13)

where k is the function that we are looking for and is given by

ks; x; y n1 jr s j n2 r R:

(14)

Observe that the k-function depends on the media, the position of the point light source, s , and the form of the smooth
arbitrary refracting surface given by r
x; y; f x; y. That is,
the k-function is determined by the optical system under
study. Therefore, the complete
integral to our problem is

given by Eq. (13) with R and k given by Eqs. (9) and (14),
respectively. Before closing this subsection, we remark on
the physical meaning of the ks; x; y-function. The first term
appearing in Eq. (14), n1 jr s j, is the OPL from the position
of the point light source
point r , and
s to the refraction

the second term n2 r R
n2 r  R is the OPL from the

refraction point r to a point, P, on the refracted ray that intersects a plane normal to the refracted ray and contains the origin of the coordinate system. Therefore, the ks; x; y-function
is the OPL from the position of the point light source s to the
point P, and the term n2 X R appearing in Eq. (13) is the OPL
from the point P to the point X at which the eikonal is
evaluated.
C. Computation of the Refracted Wavefronts
Here we obtain the expression for the wavefront train or
wavefronts associated with the refracted light rays described
by Eq. (11). To this end, we start with the family of wavefronts
associated with the complete integral [Eq. (13)], and we show
that its envelope is the family of wavefronts that we are looking for.
The wavefronts associated with the complete integral (13)
are given by

n2 X R  k
n2 C;

(15)

where C is a real constant. By definition, the envelope [50] of

this family of wavefronts is given by all the points X that
satisfy Eq. (15) and the following two conditions:

1037

n2 X Rx  kx
0;

(16)

n2 X Ry  ky
0;

(17)

where Rx , kx and Ry , ky denote the partial derivatives of R and

k with respect to x and
y,
respectively.

Using the results R Rx
0, N r x
0, and N r y
0,

that satisfy
a direct computation shows that the points, X,
Eqs. (15)(17) are given by

s; x; y; C
r x; y  C jr x; y s jRs; x; y:

X

(18)

From Eqs. (1) and (18), we have that

l
C jr x; y s j:

(19)

Therefore, we conclude that the wavefronts (or the wavefront

train) associated with the light rays refracted by an arbitrary
smooth surface after being emitted by a point light source
located at an arbitrary given position, s , in the optical medium
with refraction index n1 are given by Eq. (18). It is important
to remark that this family of wavefronts are the wavefronts
associated with the general integral or general solution of
the eikonal equation obtained in the following way: solving
for x and y from Eqs. (16) and (17), one obtains that
x
xX; Y ; Z;

y
yX; Y ; Z:

(20)

By substituting these equations into Eq. (13), we find that

the general integral associated to the refracted light rays
described by Eq. (1) is given by

~
X;
Y ; Z n2 X RxX; Y ; Z; yX; Y ; Z
 kxX; Y ; Z; yX; Y ; Z:

(21)

By using Eqs. (16) and (17), a direct computation shows that

~
X;
Y ; Z given by Eq. (21) is in fact a solution to the eikonal
equation in the optical medium with refraction index n2 ; that
~ 2
n2 .
is 
2
Before continuing, it is important to remark on the geometrical meaning associated with the envelope of the family of
wavefronts [Eq. (15)]. Observe that for fixed values of x and y,
Eq. (15) describes a one-parameter family of wavefronts,
which are planes with normal vector R; each plane of the family is labeled by a value of C. Therefore, Eq. (15) describes a
family of wavefronts, which are planes, such that through
each point of the optical medium with refraction index n2 pass
as many planes as many different values are allowed to take x
and y. The wavefront associated with the refracted light rays
such that C
C 0 , with C 0 given, is the envelope of this family
of plane wavefronts. The envelope conditions are given by
Eqs. (16) and (17), which for fixed values
of x and y are also

planes
with normal
vectors Rx and Ry , respectively. Since R

Rx
0 and R Ry
0, we conclude that for fixed values of x

and y, the corresponding point of the wavefront C
C 0 is
given by the intersection of three mutually orthogonal planes.
In [8] and [9] we have presented a clear description of the
envelope of a family of wavefronts for reflection in a threeand a two-dimensional space, respectively.

1038

J. Opt. Soc. Am. A / Vol. 29, No. 6 / June 2012

Marciano-Melchor et al.

D. Computation of the Caustic

We have shown that the wavefronts associated with the refracted light rays described by Eq. (1) are given by Eq. (18). If
the position of the point light source is assumed to be known
that is, if s is given then from a mathematical point of view
Eq. (18) describes a map between two subsets of R3 , where
x; y; C are the coordinates labeling the points in the domain
space and X; Y ; Z are local coordinates in the target space.
Since in general the curvature of the refracting smooth surface
is not zero, then there will be a region in the space where the
refracted wavefronts will be singular or equivalently the refracted light rays will focus. This region is referred to as the
caustic associated with the refracted wavefronts or refracted
light rays. By definition, the caustic [5153] is the image of the
critical set of the map [Eq. (18)]. The critical set is the set of
points in the domain space where the map is not locally one
to one. That is, if we consider a pencil of refracted light rays,
the critical set determines the condition such that the cross sectional area, of the pencil of refracted light rays, becomes zero.
In our case, it is obtained from the following condition:

   

X; Y ; Z
X
X X
Jx; y; C
det

0: (22)
x; y; C
x
y C
Using Eqs. (9) and (18), a direct computation shows that this
condition is equivalent to




C j rx;y sj 2
C j rx;y sj
H 0
0; (23)
H2
H 1

where
   
h
h

;
x
y
       
r
h
h
r
H 1 x; y
h

;
x
y
x
y
   
r
r
H 0 x; y
h

:
x
y
H 2 x; y
h

(24)

Here we consider the two cases H 2 x; y 0 and H 2 x; y
0:

If H 2 x; y 0 from Eq. (23), we have that the critical set
associated with the map [Eq. (18)] is given by
0
q

























1
H

H 21 4H 2 H 0 A
C
C  x;y j rx;y s j@ 1
: (25)
2H 2
Thus, the caustic set associated with the map given by Eq. (18),
which by definition is obtained by substituting Eq. (25) into
Eq. (18), can be written in the following form:
0
X
X c r 

@H 1 

q


























1
H 21 4H 2 H 0 A
h:
2H 2

(26)

If H 2 x; y
0, from Eq. (23) we have that for this case the
critical set associated with the map [Eq. (23)] is given by
 
H0
Cx; y jr s j
:
(27)
H1

Thus, the caustic set associated with the map given by Eq. (18),
which is obtained by substituting Eq. (27) into Eq. (18), in this
case, can be written in the following form:
 
H0
X
X c
r
h:
H1

(28)

Therefore, when H 2 x; y
0, the caustic only has one sheet.

It is important to remark that Shealy and Burkhard
[15,16,18], by using a different procedure, have derived a general equation for the caustic, which is equivalent to Eq. (26).
More specifically, these authors obtained an analytical formula for the flux density (energy per unit area per unit time) over
an arbitrary receiver surface for rays that have been reflected
from or refracted through an arbitrary curved surface. From
that formula, looking for the points of high energy concentrations, they derived the expression for the caustic. They
applied their general results to a spherical surface. From
Eq. (26), it is clear that the caustic set or, simply, the caustic
associated with the refracted wavefronts described by
Eq. (18), in general, is composed of two branches, which for
very particular forms of the refracting surface and particular
positions of the point light source reduce to a single point.
In the general case, the two branches of the caustic are twodimensional surfaces that, when they are stable under small
deformations of the refracting surface and the position of the
point light source, locally have singularities of well-known
types: the swallowtail, the pyramid or elliptic umbilic, and the
purse or hyperbolic umbilic [5153].
We finish this section with the following observation. As is
pointed out in the introduction, Shealy and Hoffnagle [7] obtained an expression for the k-function, the wavefront train,
and the caustic for refraction of a plane wave from an arbitrary surface. If the plane wave is arriving to the refracting
surface z
f x; y in the direction z and r 0
x; y; 0 denotes
the intersection of the incident ray with the reference plane
z
0 in this case, then the OPL associated with the point
X is equal to n1 times the distance from r 0 to r plus n2 times
That is,
the distance from r to X.

n1 r r 0  z  n2 X r  R:

(29)

With a minor change in the notation, this equation is that obtained by Shealy and Hoffnagle for a plane wavefront [7].
Observe that Eq. (29) is obtained from Eq. (12) by replacing
the position of the point light source s by r 0
x; y; 0. Our
observation is that the k-function, the wavefront train, and
the caustic associated with the refraction of the plane wave
are obtained from the results presented in this section by replacing s by r 0
x; y; 0. This fact is not trivial because to
obtain the results of this section for the refraction of a spherical wave, it was assumed that s , the position of the point light
source, is a constant vector, while for the plane wave r 0

x; y; 0 is not constant.

3. AN EXAMPLE
In this section, we apply our general results to the case when
the refracting surface is parabolic and the point light source is
located at an arbitrary position in the optical medium with refraction index n1 . That is, assuming that the surface is given by

Marciano-Melchor et al.

Vol. 29, No. 6 / June 2012 / J. Opt. Soc. Am. A

z
f x; y

1 2
x  y2 ;
2a

(30)

and the point light source at s , we compute the k-function, the

wavefronts, and the caustic associated with the refracted light
rays. In the above equation, a denotes the radius of curvature
of the parabolic surface. Furthermore, it is assumed that
xmin x xmax and ymin y ymax . The values of xmin , xmax ,
ymin , and ymax are determined by the dimensions of the
refracting surface, which we assume to be known.
A. Results for a Spherical Wave
1. The k-Function
Using Eqs. (2), (14), and (30), a direct computation shows that
ks; x; y

p





1
p



n2  ax2  y2 2s3 x2  y2   
;


p




2a n1
a2  x2  y2 

1039

3. The Critical and Caustic sets

From Eqs. (7), (9), (10), and (30), we find that
r

1; 0; x a;
x
r

1; 0; y a;
y
1 h
h1
3 2a2 s3 x  2a3 s1  x
2a

p




i
 ax3 2s1 y2  xy2s2  y x ;
1 h
h2
3 2a2 s3 y  2a3 s2  y
2a
p




i
 ay3 2s2 x2  xy2s1  x y ;
1 h
h3
3 x2  y2 2  2a2 s1 x  x2 s2 y  y2 
2a
h
p




i
 a 2s3 x2  y2   :

(35)

(31)
where

4a2 s23  s1 x2  s2 y2  4as3 x2  y2   x2  y2 2 ;

4a3 s3 x2  y2  2a2 s1 2xx  s2 2yyx2  y2 
 x2  y2 3  4a4 s1 x  x2 s2 y  y2 ;

Using these results in Eqs. (24)(26), we have computed the

critical and caustic sets associated with this particular example. However, we have not included them because they
have lengthy expressions. We have used those expressions
to obtain a set of plots that show the structure of the caustic
when the point light source is placed on and off the optical axis.

4a3 s3 x2  y2   8a3 s3 s1 x  x2 s2 y  y2  2

 4as3 x2  y2 2 1  2  x2  y2 3 1  2 
 4a4 s23  s1 x2  s2 y2 s1 x2  s2 y2  2 
 a2 x2  y2 4s21  4s22  4s23 8s1 x 8s2 y  5x2  y2 
4x2 s22  s23  xs1  x s2 x2s1  xy
 s21  s23 s1 x  2x2 y2 s2 y3  y4  2 :

(32)

B. Results for a Plane Wave

When the point light source is sent to infinity along the optical
axis, in our case the z axis, the spherical wavefront is a plane
wavefront at the refracting surface. As explained at the end of
Section 2, this particular case is obtained from our general
results taking s1
x, s2
y, and s3
0. A direct computation
shows the following.
1. The k-Function

2. The Wavefront Train


X
x  2a2 s1 x  2as3 x x3

k

p





x
;
 2s1 y xy2s2  y 
a

Y
y  2a2 s2 y  2as3 y y3

h
p















































i
x2  y2  an1 n2 a2  x2  y2 1 2 
2a2  x2  y2 

(36)

 2s2 x2 xy2s1  x 

2. The Wavefront Train

p





y
;
a

 2
x  y2 2
Z
f
2as1 x x2  s2 y y2 
a

p





2s3 x2  y2   ;
where

p




2a
p



.
2a2  x2  y2 

;
2aa2 x2 y2 
h
i
p














































y a a2 x2 y2 1 2  x2 y2 2a
Y
y
;
2aa2 x2 y2 
c
Z
x2 y2 
2
h
p













































i
x2 y2 a a2 x2 y2 1 2  x2 y2 2a
:

2aa2 x2 y2 

(37)

X
x

(33)

(34)

h
p













































i
x a a2 x2 y2 1 2  x2 y2 2a

1040

J. Opt. Soc. Am. A / Vol. 29, No. 6 / June 2012

Marciano-Melchor et al.

200

40

40
700

200
0

400

800

1200

750

800

850

Fig. 2. (Color online) (a) Here we present the refracting surface, some refracted light rays, and the caustic associated with the refraction of a
spherical wavefront. (b) Some light rays at the caustic region.

200

40

40

200
600

850

1100

700

1350

750

800

850

Fig. 3. (Color online) (a) The evolution of the refracted wavefront and the caustic associated with the refraction of a spherical wavefront. (b) Some
wavefronts at the caustic region.

z
120

300

300

120
0

400

800

1200

350

500

650

800

Fig. 4. (Color online) (a) Here we present the refracting surface, some refracted light rays, and the caustic associated with the refraction of a plane
wavefront. (b) Some right rays at the caustic region.

z
90

300

300

90
350

650

950

1250

350

450

550

650

Fig. 5. (Color online) (a) The evolution of the refracted plane wavefront and the caustic. (b) Some wavefronts at the caustic region.

Marciano-Melchor et al.

Vol. 29, No. 6 / June 2012 / J. Opt. Soc. Am. A

1041

3. The Critical and Caustic Sets

h
p















































i
a2  x2  y2 a2  x2  y2 1 2  a  a2  x2  y2 1 2 

C

p















































 ;
a2 x2  y2 1 2   a2 1  2  2a a2  x2  y2 1 2 

X

xx2  y2 1  2 
;
a2

Y

yx2  y2 1  2 
;
a2

Z

8
<

p











































9
2
2
x
y

a

a2  x2 y2 1 2 =

:
X
0;0;
:
;
2a
1 2

(40)

A direct computation shows that when x a 1 and

y a 1, Eqs. (39) and (40) reduce to X 
X

0; 0; a 1 , which gives the effective focal length.

C

a 

p
















































a2  x2  y2 1 2 
;
1 2

(38)

a2a2  3x2  y2 1 2   2a2  x2  y2 1 2 3 2

; (39)
2a2 1 2 

C. Numerical Results
In this subsection, we present a series of plots showing the
wavefronts and caustic when n1
1 (free space), n2

1.517 (glass), and a
116.28 mm. Furthermore, we use polar
coordinates; that is, x
cos and y
sin . In order to
present the results as clearly as possible, we first describe

Fig. 6. (Color online) Branch of the caustic given by Eq. (26) with the plus sign for a parabolic refracting surface and different positions of the
point light source: (a) (0, 0, 300 mm), (b) (5 mm, 5 mm, 300 mm), (c) (10 mm, 10 mm, 300 mm), (d) (15 mm, 15 mm, 300 mm), (e) (20 mm,
20 mm, 300 mm), and (f) (25 mm, 25 mm, 300 mm).

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J. Opt. Soc. Am. A / Vol. 29, No. 6 / June 2012

Marciano-Melchor et al.

Fig. 7. (Color online) Branch of the caustic given by Eq. (26) with the minus sign for a parabolic refracting surface and different positions of the
point light source: (a) (0, 0, 300 mm), (b) (5 mm, 5 mm, 300 mm), (c) (10 mm, 10 mm, 300 mm), (d) (15 mm, 15 mm, 300 mm), (e) (20 mm,
20 mm, 300 mm), and (f) (25 mm, 25 mm, 300 mm).

the case when the point light source is located on the optical axis and then when the point light source is off the optical
axis.
1. The Point Light Source on the Optical Axis
Here we consider two cases: first the point light source
located at a finite distance to the refraction boundary, and
second at infinity that is, the plane wave case. For the finite
distance, we take s1
0, s2
0, and s3
300 mm. Because
of the symmetry about the Z axis, for these cases, we consider
the plane Y
0. In Fig. 2, we show the refracting surface, the
caustic, and some refracted light rays associated with the
refraction of a spherical wavefront. In Fig. 3, we show
the caustic and some refracted wavefronts at the caustic region. Observe that at the caustic region some of the refracted
wavefronts have four singularities and two self-intersections,
while the caustic has three singularities and three selfintersections. In Figs. 4 and 5, we present analogous results
for the plane wavefront case. Observe that for this case, the
refracted wavefronts at the caustic have two singularities and
one self-intersection, while the caustic has only one singularity and does not self-intersect. These figures show that there is
a clear difference in the results for refracting a plane wavefront (the point light source is sent to infinity) and a spherical

one (the point light source is on the optical axis at a finite

distance of the refracting surface).
2. The Point Light Source off the Optical Axis
When the point light source is off the optical axis, the axial symmetry about the optical axis is broken. For this reason, the
caustic and the refracted wavefronts are much more complicated than in the case with the point light source on
the optical axis. In Fig. 6, we show the branch of the caustic
given by Eq. (26) with the plus sign for a parabolic refracting
surface and for different positions of the point light source.
From Fig. 6(a), we see that when the point light source is on
the optical axis, this part of the caustic is a segment of a line
and a two-dimensional surface with a degenerated singularity
of the cusp type, but when the point light source is placed off
the optical axis, the axial symmetry is broken, the degenerated
singularity is removed, and the segment of line is unfolded into
a two-dimensional surface; see Figs. 6(b)6(f)). In Fig. 7, we
show the other branch of the caustic given by Eq. (26) with
the minus sign. When the point light source is on the optical
axis, this part of the caustic is a two-dimensional surface with
a degenerated singularity of the cusp type; see Fig. 7(a). As the
point light source is placed off the optical axis, this part of
the caustic is a two-dimensional surface, but the degenerated

Marciano-Melchor et al.

Vol. 29, No. 6 / June 2012 / J. Opt. Soc. Am. A

1043

Fig. 8. (Color online) Here we present the intersections of the caustic shown in Figs. 6 and 7 with the plane Z
700 mm.

singularity is removed; see Figs. 7(b)7(f). In Fig. 8, we present

the intersections of the caustic shown in Figs. 6 and 7 with the
plane Z
700 mm. From these plots, it is clear that the caustic
locally has singularities of the purse or hyperbolic umbilic
type. [To obtain these plots, we have used Eq. (35) in
Eq. (24) to compute H 0 , H 1 , and H 2 , and finally those expressions were used in Eq. (26) to compute the caustic.] In Fig. 9,

we show a series of refracted wavefronts; from these plots it is

clear that when the point light source is on the optical axis, the
reflected wavefronts at the caustic place have singularities of
the cusp ridge type, and when the point light source is off the
optical axis, they have singularities of the swallowtail type too.
Finally, in Fig. 10, we show the refracting parabolic surface, the
caustic, and some refracted wavefronts.

Fig. 9. (Color online) Refracted wavefronts before the caustic C
500 mm, at the caustic C
800 mm, 900 mm, 1100 mm, 1400 mm and after
de caustic C
2000 mm for a parabolic refracting surface and the point light source at (5 mm, 5 mm, 300 mm).

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J. Opt. Soc. Am. A / Vol. 29, No. 6 / June 2012

Marciano-Melchor et al.

Fig. 10. (Color online) Here we show the refracting parabolic surface, the caustic, and some refracted wavefronts when the point light source is
placed at (5 mm, 5 mm, 300 mm).

4. CONCLUSIONS
In this work, we have assumed that we have two homogeneous optical media, characterized by their constant refraction indexes n1 and n2 , respectively, which match at an
interface described by an arbitrary smooth surface. In the
medium with refraction index n1 , we have placed a point light
source at an arbitrary given position, and we have obtained
the evolution of the refracted wavefronts and their associated
caustic. To this end, we have used the procedure introduced
by Shealy and Hoffnagle [7] to obtain the k-function appearing
in the general integral of the eikonal equation, which solves
this problem. It is important to remark that the k-function given by Eq. (14) depends on both the position of the point light
source and the refracting surface. We have applied our general results to a particular example, that when n1
1 (free
space), n2
1.517 (glass), and the interface is a parabolic surface (with radius of curvature a
116.28 mm). We have obtained the wavefronts and the caustic for some particular
positions of the point light source. From the plots obtained
for this case, we see that the caustic locally has singularities
of the hyperbolic umbilic type, while the refracted wavefront,
at the caustic region, locally has singularities of the cusp ridge
and swallowtail types. The results obtained here will be important to us in the following two problems we want to work
out in the future. The first problem is on the simulation of the
ideal patterns, referred to as ronchigrams, in the Ronchi test
used to test optical systems, when the grating is placed at the
caustic region and the point light source is located at an arbitrary position. That is, we are interested in extending our results for reflection, on the simulation on ronchigrams [43,46],
to the case of refraction by one interface. The second problem
is to extend the results presented here to the case of multiple
refracting surfaces. In particular, we are interested on the
simulation of the ronchigrams for a thick lens when the grating is placed at the caustic region (in this problem the light

rays experience two refractions). On this line of research,

Hoffnagle and Shealy have described the procedure to compute the wavefronts and caustic for multiple refraction of a
plane wave [54]. Finally, we remark that the caustic has been
used in different problems: to compute the circle of least confusion for reflection and refraction [35,38,47,48], in laser beam
shaping [7], possibly to design new Hartmann null screens
[47], and in studying the change of image topology under reflection and refraction [27,43,46]. The last problem is the main
motivation of this research. That is, we are interested in computing the image under reflection or refraction of a given object. To clarify the main ideas of this problem, consider the
image formation problem under reflection by an arbitrary
smooth surface. To this end, we assume that in free space
we have an observer, an arbitrary reflecting surface, and a
one-dimensional object or source, placed at arbitrary relative
positions. The question is, What is the image of the onedimensional object recorded by the observer? To answer this
question, it is crucial to recognize that among all the light rays
emitted by the one-dimensional object or source, the only important ones, to compute its image, are those that arrive to the
observer, and those rays are part of the family of light rays
emitted by a point light source placed at the observer position.
That is, to compute the image of the one-dimensional object,
the original problem is replaced by a new one where the observer is changed by an imaginary point light source. Thus, a
point on the reflecting surface belongs to the image of the onedimensional object if it can be connected by a light ray,
emitted by the imaginary point light source, with a point of
the one-dimensional object. Since in general the emitted light
rays by the imaginary point light source after reflection will
focus at a region in space, which corresponds to the caustic
associated with this family of rays, the image of the onedimensional object is determined by its relative position to
the caustic because in accordance with the caustic touching

Marciano-Melchor et al.

theorem introduced by Berry, if the one-dimensional object

reaches the caustic in such a way that they become tangent
to each other that is, there is a touch between them then
there will be image disruption. Such disruption may be elliptic,
loop born from an isolated point, or hyperbolic, loop pinched
off from an already existing one. In these cases, the object and
its image do not have the same topology, and then we may see
several images corresponding to a single object. These ideas
have been used to describe structure of the ideal ronchigrams
for reflection [43,46]. As remarked above, the results presented in this work will be important in describing the structure of the ideal ronchigrams for refraction.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors thank the referees for helpful comments on the
manuscript. E. Navarro-Morales is supported by a CONACyT
(Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnologa) scholarship, and
M. Marciano-Melchor and R. Silva-Ortigoza acknowledge
financial support from SNI (Sistema Nacional de Investigadores Mxico), Secretaria de Investigacin y Posgrado del
IPN (SIP-IPN), and the programs EDI, EDD, and COFAA of
IPN. G. Silva-Ortigoza acknowledges financial support from
SNI. This work has received partial support from VIEP-BUAP
(Vicerrectora de Investigacin y Estudios de PosgradoBenemrita Universidad Autnoma de Puebla).

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