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  2. Optical path length - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optical_path_length

    The optical path difference between the paths taken by two identical waves can then be used to find the phase change. Finally, using the phase change, the interference between the two waves can be calculated. Fermat's principle states that the path light takes between two points is the path that has the minimum optical path length.

  3. Fermat's principle - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fermat's_principle

    Fermat's principle states that the path taken by a ray between two given points is the path that can be traveled in the least time. First proposed by the French mathematician Pierre de Fermat in 1662, as a means of explaining the ordinary law of refraction of light (Fig. 1), Fermat's principle was initially controversial because it seemed to ...

  4. Optical path - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optical_path

    Optical path (OP) is the trajectory that a light ray follows as it propagates through an optical medium. The geometrical optical-path length or simply geometrical path length ( GPD ) is the length of a segment in a given OP, i.e., the Euclidean distance integrated along a ray between any two points. [ 1 ]

  5. Wavelength - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wavelength

    The path of the light to a position on the screen is different for the two slits, and depends upon the angle θ the path makes with the screen. If we suppose the screen is far enough from the slits (that is, s is large compared to the slit separation d ) then the paths are nearly parallel, and the path difference is simply d sin θ .

  6. Interferometry - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interferometry

    Figure 1. The light path through a Michelson interferometer.The two light rays with a common source combine at the half-silvered mirror to reach the detector. They may either interfere constructively (strengthening in intensity) if their light waves arrive in phase, or interfere destructively (weakening in intensity) if they arrive out of phase, depending on the exact distances between the ...

  7. Snell's law - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snell's_law

    Refraction of light at the interface between two media of different refractive indices, with n 2 > n 1.Since the velocity is lower in the second medium (v 2 < v 1), the angle of refraction θ 2 is less than the angle of incidence θ 1; that is, the ray in the higher-index medium is closer to the normal.

  8. Six planets will align in the night sky on June 3. How to see ...

    www.aol.com/news/six-planets-align-night-sky...

    "Planets look more like a steady light, while stars often twinkle because their light is affected by Earth’s atmosphere," Conafoy says. Planets also might take on "distinctive colors," Conafoy says.

  9. Geometrical optics - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geometrical_optics

    A light ray is a line or curve that is perpendicular to the light's wavefronts (and is therefore collinear with the wave vector). A slightly more rigorous definition of a light ray follows from Fermat's principle, which states that the path taken between two points by a ray of light is the path that can be traversed in the least time. [1]