wavefront

Examples of wavefront in the following topics:

• Huygens' Principle

  • The new wavefront is a line tangent to all of the wavelets.
  • Each point on the wavefront emits a wave at speed, v.
  • The new wavefront is tangent to the wavelets.
  • Huygens's principle applied to a straight wavefront.
  • The new wavefront is a line tangent to the wavelets.

• Single Slit Diffraction

  • The former states that every point on a wavefront is a source of wavelets.
  • The new wavefront is a line tangent to all of the wavelets.
  • This will produce a wavefront that is all in the same phase.

• Spherical and Plane Waves

  • A plane wave is a constant-frequency wave whose wavefronts (surfaces of constant phase) are infinite parallel planes of constant peak-to-peak amplitude normal to the phase velocity vector .
  • Plane waves are an infinite number of wavefronts normal to the direction of the propogation.

• Reflection and Transmission

  • Reflection is a wave phenomenon that changes the direction of a wavefront at an interface between two different media so that the wavefront returns into the medium from which it originated.

• Sonic Booms

  • Since the source is moving faster (with a speed ) than the sound waves it creates, it actually leads the advancing wavefront.

• Moving Source

  • However, since the source is moving, the centre of each new wavefront is now slightly displaced to the right.

• Moving Observer

  • However, since the source is moving, the centre of each new wavefront is now slightly displaced to the right.

• General Case

  • However, since the source is moving, the centre of each new wavefront is now slightly displaced to the right.

• Properties of Waves and Light

  • When Thomas Young first demonstrated this phenomenon, it indicated that light consists of waves, as the distribution of brightness can be explained by the alternately additive and subtractive interference of wavefronts.