Overview of Light Propagation in Homogeneous, Source-free Media
Light can be described as a waveform propagating through free space (vacuum) or a material medium (such as air or glass). Mathematically, the (real valued) amplitude of one wave component is represented by a scalar wave function u that depends on both space and time:
where
represents position in three dimensional space, and t represents time.
Read more about this topic: Fourier Optics
Famous quotes containing the words light and/or media:
“For it is wretchedness that endures, shedding its cancerous light on all it approaches:
Words spoken in the heat of passion, that might have been retracted in good time,
All good intentions, all that was arguable.”
—John Ashbery (b. 1927)
“The media have just buried the last yuppie, a pathetic creature who had not heard the news that the great pendulum of public conciousness has just swung from Greed to Compassion and from Tex-Mex to meatballs.”
—Barbara Ehrenreich (b. 1941)