The box of a pin hole camera, of length $$L,$$ has a hole of radius a. It is assumed that when the hole is illuminated by a parallel beam of light of wavelength $$\lambda $$ the spread of the spot (obtained on the opposite wall of the camera) is the sum of its geometrical spread and the spread due to diffraction. The spot would then have its minimum size (say $${b_{\min }}$$) when :

On a hot summer night, the refractive index of air is smallest near the ground and increases with height from the ground. When a light beam is directed horizontally, the Huygens' principle leads us to conclude that as it travels, the light beam :

Assuming human pupil to have a radius of $$0.25$$ $$cm$$ and a comfortable viewing distance of $$25$$ $$cm$$, the minimum separation between two objects that human eye can resolve at $$500$$ $$nm$$ wavelength is :

Two beams, $$A$$ and $$B$$, of plane polarized light with mutually perpendicular planes of polarization are seen through a polaroid. From the position when the beam $$A$$ has maximum intensity (and beam $$B$$ has zero intensity), a rotation of polaroid through $${30^ \circ }$$ makes the two beams appear equally bright. If the initial intensities of the two beams are $${{\rm I}_A}$$ and $${{\rm I}_B}$$ respectively, then $${{{{\rm I}_A}} \over {{{\rm I}_B}}}$$ equals: