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📚 College Physics 2e
Chapters ▾
1 Introduction: The Nature of Science and Physics2 Kinematics3 Two-Dimensional Kinematics4 Dynamics: Force and Newton's Laws of Motion5 Further Applications of Newton's Laws: Friction, Drag, and Elasticity6 Uniform Circular Motion and Gravitation7 Work, Energy, and Energy Resources8 Linear Momentum and Collisions9 Statics and Torque10 Rotational Motion and Angular Momentum11 Fluid Statics12 Fluid Dynamics and Its Biological and Medical Applications13 Temperature, Kinetic Theory, and the Gas Laws14 Heat and Heat Transfer Methods15 Thermodynamics16 Oscillatory Motion and Waves17 Physics of Hearing18 Electric Charge and Electric Field19 Electric Potential and Electric Field20 Electric Current, Resistance, and Ohm's Law21 Circuits and DC Instruments22 Magnetism23 Electromagnetic Induction, AC Circuits, and Electrical Technologies24 Electromagnetic Waves25 Geometric Optics26 Vision and Optical Instruments27 Wave Optics28 Special Relativity29 Quantum Physics30 Atomic Physics31 Radioactivity and Nuclear Physics32 Medical Applications of Nuclear Physics33 Particle Physics34 Frontiers of Physics

Chapter 27: Wave Optics

Katharine Burr Blodgett using equipment.
Figure 27.1 Katharine Burr Blodgett (1898–1979) was a physicist and chemist who made significant advancements in the study of surfaces and thin films. The trough she developed is still used in thousands of labs around the world, and her invention of non-reflective glass has had massive impact in cinema, medical, and scientific research arenas.Katharine Burr Blodgett (1898–1979) was a physicist and chemist who made significant advancements in the study of surfaces and thin films. The trough she developed is still used in thousands of labs around the world, and her invention of non-reflective glass has had massive impact in cinema, medical, and scientific research arenas. (credit: Smithsonian Institution)

If you have ever looked at the reds, blues, and greens in a sunlit soap bubble and wondered how straw-colored soapy water could produce them, you have hit upon one of the many phenomena that can only be explained by the wave character of light (see Figure 27.2). The same is true for the colors seen in an oil slick or in the light reflected from a compact disc. These and other interesting phenomena, such as the dispersion of white light into a rainbow of colors when passed through a narrow slit, cannot be explained fully by geometric optics. In these cases, light interacts with small objects and exhibits its wave characteristics. The branch of optics that considers the behavior of light when it exhibits wave characteristics (particularly when it interacts with small objects) is called wave optics (sometimes called physical optics). It is the topic of this chapter.

Soap bubbles reflecting mostly purple and blue light with some regions of orange.
Figure 27.2 These soap bubbles exhibit brilliant colors when exposed to sunlight. How are the colors produced if they are not pigments in the soap?These soap bubbles exhibit brilliant colors when exposed to sunlight. How are the colors produced if they are not pigments in the soap? (credit: Scott Robinson, Flickr)

Adapted from College Physics 2e by OpenStax (openstax.org), licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. Changes were made. License: CC-BY-NC-SA-4.0.