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Rays and wavefronts. In optics, a ray is an idealized geometrical model of light or other electromagnetic radiation, obtained by choosing a curve that is perpendicular to the wavefronts of the actual light, and that points in the direction of energy flow.
Geometrical optics, or ray optics, is a model of optics that describes light propagation in terms of rays. The ray in geometrical optics is an abstraction useful for approximating the paths along which light propagates under certain circumstances. The simplifying assumptions of geometrical optics include that light rays:
Physical optics is a more comprehensive model of light, which includes wave effects such as diffraction and interference that cannot be accounted for in geometric optics. Historically, the ray-based model of light was developed first, followed by the wave model of light.
Ray tracing of a beam of light passing through a medium with changing refractive index.The ray is advanced by a small amount, and then the direction is re-calculated. Ray tracing works by assuming that the particle or wave can be modeled as a large number of very narrow beams (), and that there exists some distance, possibly very small, over which such a ray is locally straight.
For geometric optics—i.e., to incoherent light and to objects larger than the wavelength of light—the fundamental carrier of light is a ray. The measure for the amount of light traveling along a ray is radiance, denoted by L and measured in W·sr −1 ·m −2; i.e., watts (W) per steradian (sr) per square meter (m 2).
Light, visible light, or visible radiation is electromagnetic radiation that can be perceived by the human eye. [1] Visible light spans the visible spectrum and is usually defined as having wavelengths in the range of 400–700 nanometres (nm), corresponding to frequencies of 750–420 terahertz.
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.
While wave-based models rely on the principles of Maxwell's equations, particle models use ray optics and Monte Carlo methods to simulate light paths. Monte Carlo Ray Tracing: A stochastic method used in light transport simulations to compute global illumination. This method leverages randomness to estimate solutions to the rendering equation ...