All Questions
Tagged with electromagnetic-radiation optics
709
questions
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Double refraction - Direction of propagation of extraordinary wave inside the birefringent medium
I am reading Optics by Ajoy Ghatak, in which the author explains the phenomenon of double refraction in a calcite crystal using Huygens' principle. My query is in the analysis of the case of normal ...
- 11
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24
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Solarization Spectrum
I'm looking to better understand the relation between the spectrum of the light which induces solarization in glass and the spectrum of the induced absorption.
More specifically, I'm interested in ...
- 1,538
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95
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How to compute the diffraction efficiency of a thin phase grating with arbitrary groove shape?
From Magnusson and Gaylord (1978), the wave amplitudes, $S_i(z)$, of $p$-polarized light for a thin, arbitrary phase grating are given by the equation
$$
\frac{\partial S_i}{\partial z} + \gamma \sum_{...
- 123
1
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1
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49
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Confusion regarding phase
As far as I know about phase if the phase difference between two waves is positive, the former is leading..and the latter is lagging. Then why has D J Grifith stated this?
If the phase of the magnetic ...
1
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1
answer
39
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Can an optical medium be lossless and dispersive?
Occasionally, I come across the phrase "lossless dispersive linear optical medium". How can such a medium be possible mathematically? I mean the real and imaginary parts of the electric ...
- 437
11
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4
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Can the laser light, in principle, take any wavelength in the EM spectrum?
Can the laser light, in principle, take any wavelength in the EM spectrum? I don't think there is what prevent this in principle, right?
- 959
2
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1
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46
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Is there a way to use the optical transfer-matrix method to determine the absorbance of each layer in a multilayer stack?
I've implemented the transfer-matrix method to determine the the transmittance and reflectance of a multilayer stack of thin films.
I know that (ignoring scattering) the absorbance of the entire stack ...
- 123
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42
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Spherical laser beam terminology
I am currently seeking the correct terminology for a beam that expands linearly from a fixed point, resulting in its wavefronts forming spherical surfaces. However, the beam does not expand in all ...
- 153
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35
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What happens when a linear polarized EM wave encounters a perpendicular mesh of wires (which are electrically connected)?
Assume a radio wave with wavelength 1 m is traveling in the negative z direction when it encounters a grid of closely spaced wires (say, 10 cm separation) laying in the xy plane, with each wire ...
- 83
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28
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How does parameters of the constitutive relation of electromagnetic media be constrained as for chiral, nonreciprocal or loss media?
The constitutive equations are:
$$
\bf D =\varepsilon E +\xi H \\
B =\mu H + \zeta E
$$
Why, when the media is nonreciprocal, the parameters $\xi$ and $\zeta$ only can take the real part equals zero,...
- 13
3
votes
4
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318
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A question about circularly polarized light
At work, a senior colleague thinks that circularly polarized light does not exist. My problem is that we both work on a project involving polarized light. In some occasions, I would like to point out ...
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37
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How to measure light intensity in a room?
Does anyone know how I would go about measuring the light intensity in a room? I'm not interested in knowing the lux reading, I would like to measure the $W/m^2$ due to thermal radiation in my ...
- 31
2
votes
4
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130
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Reflection due to wave nature of light
In my high school, I am studying geometrical optics. I studied why smooth surfaces like mirrors form an image of an object but rough surfaces like a wall don't (due to regular reflection and irregular ...
7
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5
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14k
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Light waves can't have a wavelength
The wave nature of light comes from Maxwell's equations. More precisely, the two wave equations that come from them:
$$\Delta\vec{E}=\mu\varepsilon \frac{\partial^2\vec{E}}{\partial t^2}\\
\Delta\vec{...
- 267
0
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Why are Fresnel coefficients not symmetric?
When talking about reflection, we have the following coefficients for the electric field:
$$r_{\perp}=\frac{n_1\cos(i)-n_2\cos(t)}{n_1\cos(i)+n_2\cos(t)} \\ r_{\parallel}=\frac{n_2\cos(i)-n_1\cos(t)}{...
- 267