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...

In optics, a ray is an idealized geometrical model of light or other electromagnetic radiation, obtained by choosing a curve that is perpendicular to the...

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

Geometrical optics, or ray optics, is a model of optics that describes light propagation in terms of rays. The ray in geometrical optics is an abstraction...

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...

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...

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...

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

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

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...

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

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...

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

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...

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...

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

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...

has such a zero in it. The study of these phenomena is known as singular optics. In an optical vortex, light is twisted like a corkscrew around its axis...

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...

Max Born Award in Physical Optics from the Optical Society (OSA) in 1997 for his contributions to the fields of non-linear optics, optical waveguide...

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...

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...

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...

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 optics and especially laser science, the Rayleigh length or Rayleigh range, z R {\displaystyle z_{\mathrm {R} }} , is the distance along the propagation...