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The standard example of a longitudinal wave is a sound wave or "pressure wave" in gases, liquids, or solids, whose oscillations cause compression and expansion of the material through which the wave is propagating. Pressure waves are called "primary waves", or "P-waves" in geophysics. Water waves involve both longitudinal and transverse motions ...
When viewed in this way, the polarization of an electromagnetic wave is determined by a quantum mechanical property of photons called their spin. [7] [8] A photon has one of two possible spins: it can either spin in a right hand sense or a left hand sense about its direction of travel. Circularly polarized electromagnetic waves are composed of ...
An elliptically polarized wave may be resolved into two linearly polarized waves in phase quadrature, with their polarization planes at right angles to each other. Since the electric field can rotate clockwise or counterclockwise as it propagates, elliptically polarized waves exhibit chirality .
A transverse wave is the form of a wave in which particles of medium vibrate about their mean position perpendicular to the direction of the motion of the wave. To see an example, move an end of a Slinky (whose other end is fixed) to the left-and-right of the Slinky, as opposed to to-and-fro. [2]
Position of a point in space, not necessarily a point on the wave profile or any line of propagation d, r: m [L] Wave profile displacement Along propagation direction, distance travelled (path length) by one wave from the source point r 0 to any point in space d (for longitudinal or transverse waves) L, d, r
Light rays and wave fronts are dual: if one is known, the other can be deduced. More precisely, geometrical optics is a variational problem where the “action” is the travel time T {\textstyle T} along a path, T = 1 c ∫ A B n d s {\displaystyle T={\frac {1}{c}}\int _{A}^{B}n\,ds} where n {\textstyle n} is the medium's index of refraction ...
When the entire waveform moves in one direction, it is said to be a travelling wave; by contrast, a pair of superimposed periodic waves traveling in opposite directions makes a standing wave. In a standing wave, the amplitude of vibration has nulls at some positions where the wave amplitude appears smaller or even zero.
Position space probability density of a Gaussian wave packet moving in one dimension in free space. The simplest example of a quantum system with a position degree of freedom is a free particle in a single spatial dimension. A free particle is one which is not subject to external influences, so that its Hamiltonian consists only of its kinetic ...