In physics, physical optics, or wave optics, is the branch of optics which studies interference, diffraction, polarization, and other phenomena for which the ray approximation of geometric optics is not valid. This usage tends not to include effects such as quantum noise in optical communication, which is studied in the sub-branch of coherence theory.
Read more about Physical Optics: The Physical Optics Approximation, See Also, References
Famous quotes containing the word physical:
“It seems to me that physical sickness softens, just as moral sickness hardens, the heart.”
—Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th Earl Chesterfield (1694–1773)