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Which types of lens surfaces produce a diverging lens?

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Diverging lenses are classified based on the curvature of their two surfaces. According to optical principles, the types of lens surfaces that produce a diverging lens include:

  • Biconcave: Both surfaces are concave (depressed).1
  • Plano-concave: One surface is plane (flat) and the other is concave.1
  • Convexo-concave (diverging meniscus): One surface is convex (bulging) and the other is concave.1

These lenses cause incident parallel light rays to appear to diverge from a single focal point. In terms of optical power, a diverging lens is characterized by a negative diopter value.12