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converging lens
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Diagram of a double convex lens bending diverging rays from a star-shaped light source so they converge toward an eye. Diagram showing cross-sections of common lenses on the left, with three converging lenses above and three diverging lenses below. On the right, light rays are shown passing through a converging lens, focusing at point F on the principal axis, and through a diverging lens, spreading outward as if originating from focal point F. Labels indicate axis, focal point, focal length, and focal plane.
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converging lens

optics
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Diagram of a double convex lens bending diverging rays from a star-shaped light source so they converge toward an eye.
double convex lens A double convex lens, or converging lens, focuses the diverging, or blurred, light rays from a distant object by refracting (bending) the rays twice. At the front side of the lens, the rays are bent toward the normal (the perpendicular to the surface) because the glass is a denser medium than the air, and, at the back side of the lens, the rays are bent away from the normal as the rays pass into the less-dense medium of the air. This double bending causes the rays to converge at a focal point behind the lens so that a sharper image can be seen or photographed.

A converging lens is a piece of transparent material, typically glass, used in optics to form an image by focusing light rays. It causes parallel rays of light to come to a focus. This happens because light travels more slowly within the lens than in the surrounding air, causing refraction (bending) of light rays as they enter and exit the lens.12

Lenses can have various shapes, including biconvex, plano-convex, and concavo-convex. The curvature of the lens surfaces causes different rays of light to bend at different angles, allowing a beam of parallel rays to converge at a point called the focal point. This property is fundamental to how lenses form images, whether real or virtual, and is utilized in numerous optical instruments.2

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