Concave lens

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Concave lens diverging light rays

A concave lens (or biconcave lens) is a lens with inward-curving (concave) surfaces: the ends are wide, the middle is thin. This is the most common form of diverging lens, so called because light passing through such a lens is diverged. Concave lenses can be used in telescopes, microscopes, and eyeglasses. In glasses, they are used to compensate for myopia (nearsightedness). A concave lens produces a virtual image.

Nicholas of Cusa is believed to have been the first to discover the benefits of concave lens for the treatment of myopia in 1451.

See also

• Convex lens
• List of optical topics
• Optics
• M.C.Escher, Convex and Concave.

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