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In physics, the term "light" may refer more broadly to electromagnetic radiation of any wavelength, whether visible or not. [4] [5] In this sense, gamma rays, X-rays, microwaves and radio waves are also light. The primary properties of light are intensity, propagation direction, frequency or wavelength spectrum, and polarization.
By recording the attenuation of light for various wavelengths, an absorption spectrum can be obtained. In physics, absorption of electromagnetic radiation is how matter (typically electrons bound in atoms) takes up a photon's energy—and so transforms electromagnetic energy into internal energy of the absorber (for example, thermal energy). [1]
The optical properties of a material define how it interacts with light. The optical properties of matter are studied in optical physics (a subfield of optics) and applied in materials science. The optical properties of matter include: Refractive index; Dispersion; Transmittance and Transmission coefficient; Absorption; Scattering; Turbidity
Optics is the branch of physics that studies the behaviour and properties of light, including its interactions with matter and the construction of instruments that use or detect it. [1] Optics usually describes the behaviour of visible , ultraviolet , and infrared light.
Light, or visible light, is a very narrow range of electromagnetic radiation of a wavelength that is visible to the human eye, or 380–750 nm which equates to a frequency range of 790 to 400 THz respectively. [4] More broadly, physicists use the term "light" to mean electromagnetic radiation of all wavelengths, whether visible or not.
Plasma is called the fourth state of matter after solid, liquid, and gas. [16] [17] [18] It is a state of matter in which an ionized substance becomes highly electrically conductive to the point that long-range electric and magnetic fields dominate its behaviour. [19] [20]
Atomic, molecular, and optical physics (AMO) is the study of matter–matter and light–matter interactions, at the scale of one or a few atoms [1] and energy scales around several electron volts. [2]: 1356 [3] The three areas are closely interrelated. AMO theory includes classical, semi-classical and quantum treatments.
Such states of matter are studied in condensed matter physics. In extreme conditions found in some stars and in the early universe, atoms break into their constituents and matter exists as some form of degenerate matter or quark matter. Such states of matter are studied in high-energy physics.