Researched
Wave Optics (Young, Fresnel)
Young's interference experiments (1801) and Fresnel's theory (1815-21) show that light is a wave.
Open in the interactive tree →Newton's picture of light as particles ruled until Thomas Young made light beams interfere around 1801, producing bright and dark bands that only waves explain. Augustin Fresnel built a full mathematical wave theory and explained polarisation with transverse waves. This prepared Maxwell's finding that light is an electromagnetic wave, and Young's two-slit set-up later became the classic demonstration of quantum behaviour.
Prerequisites
Unlocks
- Fraunhofer: Lines & Gratings1814
- Electromagnetism1831-1865Maxwell identified light as an electromagnetic wave after wave optics had shown it is a wave
- Spectroscopy1859
- Abbe's Image Theory (Zeiss)1873
- Michelson-Morley Experiment1887
- X-ray Crystallography1912
- Anti-Reflection Coatings1935
- Multilayer EUV Mirrors1981
- Gravitational Waves Detected2015LIGO detects gravitational waves with light interference