Wavefront

Periodic waves are employed in physics to describe the propagation of energy in the form of light, sound, wind, or any other kind of energy. This wave is described as a function of sinusoidal waves since it is a smooth periodic oscillation. Previously, light was described as a collection of extremely small particles with no mass. It was also hypothesised that the particles of various coloured photons differed. Based on this idea and the fact that light particles are elastic in nature, all other natural phenomena of light such as reflection, refraction, and diffraction were recognised.

Christian Huygens launched a significant scientific revolution in the 17th century. He claimed that light is actually a type of energy that travels in waves. He explained it by claiming that any point source of light emits light waves simultaneously in all directions in three dimensions. Under the impact of wave energy, the particles in its environment vibrate on a regular basis. The points of a certain place are present at the same time phase in this sort of propagation. A wavefront is the plane generated by this cluster of points or particles in the same phase.

We will talk about how light is in the form of a wave and what is the contribution of wavefront in it, in the coming paragraphs, which are like this.

What is Wave Front?

The set of all points in a medium where the wave is at the same phase is known as a wavefront. This could be the location of all crests, troughs, or any other phase in between. Wavefronts are useful for depicting the movement of waves in two dimensions. On a wavefront, the distance between two lines is exactly one wavelength. A wavefront is an imaginary surface that represents a wave’s corresponding points vibrating in unison. The set or locus of all the points in the same phase is called a wavefront. Plane wavefronts, spherical wavefronts, and cylindrical wavefronts are the three forms of wavefronts. We’ll go through each of these sorts of wavefronts in detail in the next sections.

Types of Wavefront

The numerous forms of wavefronts are determined by the path taken by particles originating from a source., here some types of wavefront are described, which are as follows;

Spherical wavefront- It’s a circular wavefront generated by a single point of light. Because the locus of all points at the same distance from the point source is the same. Examples can be electromagnetic waves in a vacuum, rings produced by a stone placed in water, etc.