2: Physical Optics
- Page ID
- 94033
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- 2.1: Light as a Wave
- Light exhibits wave nature, though it does so in a manner very different from mechanical waves.
- 2.2: Double-Slit Interference
- By allowing a single source of light to be divided into two parts with the use of two thin slits in a screen, we turn one source into two, and the resulting waves can then be made to interfere with each other, resulting in a static pattern.
- 2.3: Diffraction Gratings
- If an interference pattern is the result of two slits, what is the effect of adding many more? We will explore this here.
- 2.4: Single-Slit Diffraction
- Experimentation reveals that an interference pattern occurs when light passes through a single slit. How can interference occur with what appears to be only a single source? We will answer this question in this section.
- 2.5: Reflection and Refraction
- In this section we explore two phenomena that result from a light wave encountering a boundary between two different media.
- 2.6: Polarization
- Transverse waves in three dimensions like light have a degree of freedom related to the plane into which the transverse "displacement" occurs. For light in particular this leads to interesting phenomena.