Past exam of the physics 2 paper of the University of Oxford / 2022 / 11 / a / Solution

Write $T$ for transit time and $\ell (y)=t_0-\alpha y^2$ for lens thickness to avoid using $t$ for both. In the thin lens approximation, the two geometrical distances to the lens plane are $\sqrt{a^2+d^2}$ and $\sqrt{b^2+d^2}$. Their sum counts the lens segment as vacuum. Replacing that segment by material of refractive index $n$ adds $(n-1)\ell (d)$ to the optical path length. Thus, to the retained thin-element accuracy,Using the Taylor expansion $\sqrt{1+u}=1+u/2+O(u^2)$ for $d\ll a,b$ givesThe omitted geometrical terms include $O(d^4/a^3+d^4/b^3)$ in optical path length, together with finite-thickness corrections discarded by the thin lens and paraxial approximations. The addition is $n-1$, because the underlying distance already includes propagation across the thickness once in vacuum.