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  2. Dioptrique - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dioptrique

    In today's notation, the law of refraction states, sin i = n sin r , where i is the angle of incidence, r is the angle of refraction, and n is the index of refraction. Using a tennis ball, Descartes would compare the projection of a ray of light to the way a ball moves when it is thrown up against another object.

  3. Reflection (physics) - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reflection_(physics)

    Reflection of light is either specular (mirror-like) or diffuse (retaining the energy, but losing the image) depending on the nature of the interface.In specular reflection the phase of the reflected waves depends on the choice of the origin of coordinates, but the relative phase between s and p (TE and TM) polarizations is fixed by the properties of the media and of the interface between them.

  4. Specular reflection - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Specular_reflection

    Specular reflection, or regular reflection, is the mirror-like reflection of waves, such as light, from a surface. [ 1 ] The law of reflection states that a reflected ray of light emerges from the reflecting surface at the same angle to the surface normal as the incident ray, but on the opposing side of the surface normal in the plane formed by ...

  5. Lambert's cosine law - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lambert's_cosine_law

    A surface which obeys Lambert's law is said to be Lambertian, and exhibits Lambertian reflectance. Such a surface has a constant radiance / luminance , regardless of the angle from which it is observed; a single human eye perceives such a surface as having a constant brightness, regardless of the angle from which the eye observes the surface.

  6. Fermat's principle - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fermat's_principle

    Hero of Alexandria, in his Catoptrics (1st century CE), showed that the ordinary law of reflection off a plane surface follows from the premise that the total length of the ray path is a minimum. [35] Ibn al-Haytham, an 11th-century polymath later extended this principle to refraction, hence giving an early version of the Fermat's principle ...

  7. Snell's law - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snell's_law

    Snell's law (also known as the Snell–Descartes law, the ibn-Sahl law, [1] and the law of refraction) is a formula used to describe the relationship between the angles of incidence and refraction, when referring to light or other waves passing through a boundary between two different isotropic media, such as water, glass, or air.

  8. Stokes relations - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stokes_relations

    A reflection of the incoming field (E) is transmitted at the dielectric boundary to give rE and tE (where r and t are the amplitude reflection and transmission coefficients, respectively). Since there is no absorption this system is reversible, as shown in the second picture (where the direction of the beams has been reversed).

  9. Ewald's sphere - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ewald's_sphere

    the diffraction angle for a given reflection, the reciprocal lattice of the crystal. It was conceived by Paul Peter Ewald, a German physicist and crystallographer. [1] Ewald himself spoke of the sphere of reflection. [2] It is often simplified to the two-dimensional "Ewald's circle" model or may be referred to as the Ewald sphere.