I want to substitude the ray optics analysis with what are the resultant waves that happen. I say "resultant" because many waves that would exist if they were alone, as they are not alone, after their superposition with the other waves become some resultant waves which are not the same with each wave that would exist if it was alone.

Question

E.g. The many straight rays going from the object to all the areas of a flat mirror should be the equivalent of one shperical wave radiated from the source i.e from the object that its image can be seen inside the mirror. Or it should be the resultant waves of the many spherical waves, as the object is not a point-source but many point sources (say atoms) and each atom radiates a shperical wave. And the many straight rays reflected from the mirror should be...and then the superipotition of all these should be.... At the second applet of this link:
h t t p : / / w w w. cabrillo.edu/~jmccullough/Applets/Applets_by_Topic/Superposition_Interference.html
put a wall-mirror in front of the source-object. Where are all these straight lines of ray optics? Would I see them if I substitude the point source with many point sources (the atoms of the object) close together?
Do you know any link that has done this job of substituting ray optics analysis with waves? I.e. all this stuff with the lenses and the why something can be photographed because the rays were such and such?

Answer 1

I think you are missing the point.

First of all, consider Huygens' principle:

Here it is as differential equations:
http://www.mathpages.com/home/kmath242/kmath242.htm

The entire principle says that each point of any wave is a wave front for a new wave. Ray diagrams just draw the direction of propagation as a line, it still is a wave, traveling in the form of a wave. What about all the other waves? They don't end up in your eye, so you don't see them.