Lens (optics) concave surfaces is "biconcave" (or just "concave"). If one of the surfaces is flat, the lens is "plano-convex" or "plano-concave" depending on the curvature of the other surface. A lens with one convex and one concave side is "convex-concave" or "meniscus". It is this type of lens that is most commonly used in corrective lenses. If the lens is biconvex or plano-convex, a collimated beam of light passing through the lens converges to a spot (a "focus") behind the lens. In this case, the lens is called a "positive" or "converging" lens. The distance from the lens to the spot
Cylindrical lens Cylindrical lens A cylindrical lens is a lens which focuses light into a line instead of a point, as a spherical lens would. The curved face or faces of a cylindrical lens are sections of a cylinder, and focus the image passing through it into a line parallel to the intersection of the surface of the lens and a plane tangent to it. The lens compresses the image in the direction perpendicular to this line, and leaves it unaltered in the direction parallel to it (in the tangent plane). In a light sheet microscope, a cylindrical lens is placed in