What is Wave Normal?
Wave normal is a unit vector that is perpendicular to an equiphase surface of a wave and has its positive direction on the same side of the surface as the direction of propagation.
Wave normal is a vector that points in the direction of the wave’s energy flow and describes the direction of wave propagation in a medium.
In optics, the direction of wave propagation is often described using the wave vector, which is a vector that points in the direction of wave propagation and has a magnitude equal to the wave’s wavenumber.
Wave Optics
Wave optics is a branch of physics that studies various phenomena such as interference, diffraction, and polarization. It involves the behavior of light and its interaction with different mediums, leading to studying wavefronts, waves normal, coherent and incoherent sources, and other related concepts.
In this article, we will have a comprehensive study of Wave Optics, including its theories, concepts, and more.
Table of Content
- What is Wave Optics?
- Wave Optic Theories
- Wavefront and Wave Normal
- Coherent and Incoherent Sources
- Wave Optics Formulas