Parabolic reflector
![Circular paraboloid](/Images/godic/202502/01/Paraboloid_of_Revolution.svg0445.png")
![One of the world's largest solar parabolic dishes at the Ben-Gurion National Solar Energy Center in Israel](/Images/godic/202502/01/Solar_dish_at_Ben-Gurion_National_Solar_Energy_Center_in_Israel0445.jpg")
![Parallel rays coming in to a parabolic mirror are focused at a point F. The vertex is V, and the axis of symmetry passes through V and F. For off-axis reflectors (with just the part of the paraboloid between the points P1 and P3), the receiver is still placed at the focus of the paraboloid, but it does not cast a shadow onto the reflector.](/Images/godic/202502/01/Parabola_with_focus_and_arbitrary_line.svg0445.png")
![An oblique projection of a focus-balanced parabolic reflector](/Images/godic/202502/01/Focus-balanced_parabolic_reflector.svg0445.png")
A parabolic (or paraboloid or paraboloidal) reflector (or dish or mirror) is a reflective surface used to collect or project energy such as light, sound, or radio waves. Its shape is part of a circular paraboloid, that is, the surface generated by a parabola revolving around its axis. The parabolic reflector transforms an incoming plane wave traveling along the axis into a spherical wave converging toward the focus. Conversely, a spherical wave generated by a point source placed in the focus is reflected into a plane wave propagating as a collimated beam along the axis.