Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
In physics, a wave vector (or wavevector) is a vector used in describing a wave, with a typical unit being cycle per metre. It has a magnitude and direction . Its magnitude is the wavenumber of the wave (inversely proportional to the wavelength ), and its direction is perpendicular to the wavefront.
A wave has a momentum = and is a vectorial quantity. The difference of the momentum of the scattered wave to the incident wave is called momentum transfer . The wave number k is the absolute of the wave vector k = p / ℏ {\displaystyle k=p/\hbar } and is related to the wavelength k = 2 π / λ {\displaystyle k=2\pi /\lambda } .
Mathematically, evanescent waves can be characterized by a wave vector where one or more of the vector's components has an imaginary value. Because the vector has imaginary components, it may have a magnitude that is less than its real components.
The propagation constant of a sinusoidal electromagnetic wave is a measure of the change undergone by the amplitude and phase of the wave as it propagates in a given direction. The quantity being measured can be the voltage, the current in a circuit, or a field vector such as electric field strength or flux density.
In multidimensional systems, the wavenumber is the magnitude of the wave vector. The space of wave vectors is called reciprocal space. Wave numbers and wave vectors play an essential role in optics and the physics of wave scattering, such as X-ray diffraction, neutron diffraction, electron diffraction, and elementary particle physics.
The vector containing e x and e y (but without the z component which is necessarily zero for a transverse wave) is known as a Jones vector. In addition to specifying the polarization state of the wave, a general Jones vector also specifies the overall magnitude and phase of that wave.
Reciprocal space (also called k-space) provides a way to visualize the results of the Fourier transform of a spatial function. It is similar in role to the frequency domain arising from the Fourier transform of a time dependent function; reciprocal space is a space over which the Fourier transform of a spatial function is represented at spatial frequencies or wavevectors of plane waves of the ...
The more general description of matter waves corresponding to a single particle type (e.g. a single electron or neutron only) would have a form similar to = (,) (() /) where now there is an additional spatial term (,) in the front, and the energy has been written more generally as a function of the wave vector. The various terms given ...