In physics, physical optics, or wave optics, is the branch of optics that studies interference, diffraction, polarization, and other phenomena for which...

straight lines and bend when they pass through or reflect from surfaces. Physical optics is a more comprehensive model of light, which includes wave effects...

This article summarizes equations used in optics, including geometric optics, physical optics, radiometry, diffraction, and interferometry. There are...

the right radius of curvature is negative. Note however that in areas of optics other than design, other sign conventions are sometimes used. In particular...

A phase change sometimes occurs when a wave is reflected, specifically from a medium with faster wave speed to the boundary of a medium with slower wave...

The transfer-matrix method is a method used in optics and acoustics to analyze the propagation of electromagnetic or acoustic waves through a stratified...

coefficient refers to a chemical reaction overcoming a potential barrier; in optics and telecommunications it is the amplitude of a wave transmitted through...

In optics, a thin lens is a lens with a thickness (distance along the optical axis between the two surfaces of the lens) that is negligible compared to...

Schlieren imaging is a method to visualize density variations in transparent media. The term "schlieren imaging" is commonly used as a synonym for schlieren...

In optics, the aperture of an optical system (including a system consisted of a single lens) is a hole or an opening that primarily limits light propagated...

the beginnings of physical and physiological optics, and then significantly advanced in early modern Europe, where diffractive optics began. These earlier...

incident light. This is an important principle in the field of thin-film optics. Specular reflection forms images. Reflection from a flat surface forms...

Fourier optics is the study of classical optics using Fourier transforms (FTs), in which the waveform being considered is regarded as made up of a combination...

or prisms with their surfaces at the Brewster angle are commonly used in optics and laser physics in particular. The polarized laser light enters the prism...

 335. E. Mach (tr.‍ J.S. Anderson & A.F.A. Young), The Principles of Physical Optics: An Historical and Philosophical Treatment (London: Methuen & Co, 1926)...

incident wave, with each expressed as phasors. For example, it is used in optics to calculate the amount of light that is reflected from a surface with a...

In optics, optical path length (OPL, denoted Λ in equations), also known as optical length or optical distance, is the length that light needs to travel...

{\pi {\sqrt {F}}}{2}}={\frac {\pi R^{1/2}}{(1-R)}}.} Hecht, Eugene (2017). Optics (5th ed.). pp. 431–433, 614. ISBN 9780133977226. OCLC 953709783. Rabus,...

John Peckham. Ibn al-Haytham paved the way for the modern science of physical optics. Ibn al-Haytham (Alhazen) was born c. 965 to a family of Arab or Persian...

In telecommunications, signal reflection occurs when a signal is transmitted along a transmission medium, such as a copper cable or an optical fiber. Some...

Fundamentals of Optics, 4th Ed., New York: McGraw-Hill, ISBN 0-07-032330-5. H. Lloyd, 1834, "Report on the progress and present state of physical optics", Report...

For an electromagnetic wave, the coherence time is the time over which a propagating wave (especially a laser or maser beam) may be considered coherent...

Gradient-index (GRIN) optics is the branch of optics covering optical effects produced by a gradient of the refractive index of a material. Such gradual...

such as geometric optics, physical optics, the geometric theory of diffraction, the uniform theory of diffraction and the physical theory of diffraction...

medium, Descartes's theory of light is regarded as the start of modern physical optics. Pierre Gassendi (1592–1655), an atomist, proposed a particle theory...

also known as the principle of least time, is the link between ray optics and wave optics. Fermat's principle states that the path taken by a ray between...

forward Fourier transform to the source distribution. Phase retrieval Fourier optics Holography Adaptive-additive algorithm Gerchberg, R. W.; Saxton, W. O. (1972)...

science he is principally remembered for his experimental work in physical optics, mostly concerned with the study of the polarization of light and including...

states of a physical system composed of many particles. Gibbs also worked on the application of Maxwell's equations to problems in physical optics. As a mathematician...

In optics, piston is the mean value of a wavefront or phase profile across the pupil of an optical system. The piston coefficient is typically expressed...