Plane mirrors are commonly found in homes as artifacts of daily living and in larger spaces as the finish quality of certain materials such as glass and metal. Plane mirrors produce a specular image of light that is arriving from another mirror surface or from objects and scenes that exist at another location. It is the preservation of the image and the almost complete reflection of the incident light, a result of the surface being optically smooth, that allows the mirror device to carry light further into a space or to an unexpected plane or surface. Parameters that inform the mirror device include the curvature (specular image distortion), faceting, (specular image fragmentation), number and adjacency of mirror devices, and the smoothness of the surface.
Though it does not concentrate light, light that reflects from the surface can be observed to produce a bright white or golden image of the mirror surface on nearby surfaces that are not optically smooth. The brightness of this image, that can often appear on shadowed surfaces, gives it the appearance of a caustic image, though it is not technically so. The smoothness of the surface can also affect the quality of the specular image that is produced, which may or may not be desirable to the architect. The surface of a reflecting pool may also act as a mirror device, as shown.
Sample Series of parameters applied in sequence to the base optic device