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Light exerts physical pressure on objects in its path, a phenomenon which can be deduced by Maxwell's equations, but can be more easily explained by the particle nature of light: photons strike and transfer their momentum. Light pressure is equal to the power of the light beam divided by c, the speed of light.
These areas of optical science typically relate to the electromagnetic or quantum properties of light but do include other topics. A major subfield of modern optics, quantum optics, deals with specifically quantum mechanical properties of light. Quantum optics is not just theoretical; some modern devices, such as lasers, have principles of ...
The optical properties of a material define how it interacts with light. The optical properties of matter are studied in optical physics (a subfield of optics) and applied in materials science. The optical properties of matter include: Refractive index; Dispersion; Transmittance and Transmission coefficient; Absorption; Scattering; Turbidity
Newton then suggested in Qu. 18 and Qu. 19 that light propagates through vacuum via a very subtle "Aethereal Medium", just like heat was thought to spread. Although the previous hypotheses describe wave-like aspects of light, Newton still believed in particle-like properties.
Brightness, the subjective perception elicited by the luminance of a source; Luminance, the photometric equivalent of radiance (lm·sr −1 ·m −2) Photometry (optics), measurement of light, in terms of its perceived brightness to the human eye; Radiometry, measurement of light, in absolute power units; Luminosity
The luminance of a specified point of a light source, in a specified direction, is defined by the mixed partial derivative = where L v is the luminance ( cd / m 2 ); d 2 Φ v is the luminous flux ( lm ) leaving the area dΣ in any direction contained inside the solid angle dΩ Σ ;
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Later experiments showed that these light-quanta also carry momentum and, thus, can be considered particles: The photon concept was born, leading to a deeper understanding of the electric and magnetic fields themselves. The Maxwell wave theory, however, does not account for all properties of light.