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In a dispersive medium, the phase speed itself depends upon the frequency of the wave, making the relationship between wavelength and frequency nonlinear. In the case of electromagnetic radiation—such as light—in free space, the phase speed is the speed of light, about 3 × 10 8 m/s.
For example, a wavenumber in inverse centimeters can be converted to a frequency expressed in the unit gigahertz by multiplying by 29.979 2458 cm/ns (the speed of light, in centimeters per nanosecond); [5] conversely, an electromagnetic wave at 29.9792458 GHz has a wavelength of 1 cm in free space.
A dispersion relation relates the wavelength or wavenumber of a wave to its frequency. Given the dispersion relation, one can calculate the frequency-dependent phase velocity and group velocity of each sinusoidal component of a wave in the medium, as a function of frequency.
In the context of electromagnetics and optics, the frequency is some function ω(k) of the wave number, so in general, the phase velocity and the group velocity depend on specific medium and frequency. The ratio between the speed of light c and the phase velocity v p is known as the refractive index, n = c / v p = ck / ω.
These solutions represent planar waves traveling in the direction of the normal vector n. If we define the z direction as the direction of n, and the x direction as the direction of E, then by Faraday's Law the magnetic field lies in the y direction and is related to the electric field by the relation
The speed of sound for pressure waves in stiff materials such as metals is sometimes given for "long rods" of the material in question, in which the speed is easier to measure. In rods where their diameter is shorter than a wavelength, the speed of pure pressure waves may be simplified and is given by: [ 11 ] : 70 c s o l i d = E ρ ...
The velocity of electromagnetic waves in a low-loss dielectric is given by [1]: 346 = =.. where = speed of light in vacuum. = the permeability of free space = 4π x 10 −7 H/m.
The free spectral range of a diffraction grating is the largest wavelength range for a given order that does not overlap the same range in an adjacent order. If the ( m + 1)-th order of λ {\displaystyle \lambda } and m -th order of ( λ + Δ λ ) {\displaystyle (\lambda +\Delta \lambda )} lie at the same angle, then