Electromagnetic Radiation

• Electromagnetic radiation refers to the waves of the electromagnetic field, propagating through space, carrying electromagnetic radiant energy. It includes radio waves, microwaves, infrared, light, ultraviolet, X-rays, and gamma rays.

Wave Interference

• Interference is a phenomenon in which two waves superpose to form a resultant wave of greater, lower, or the same amplitude.

Thin-film Interference

• Thin-film interference is a natural phenomenon in which light waves reflected by the upper and lower boundaries of a thin film interfere with one another, either enhancing or reducing the reflected light.

Diffraction

• Diffraction refers to various phenomena that occur when a wave encounters an obstacle or a slit. It is defined as the bending of waves around the corners of an obstacle or through an aperture into the region of geometrical shadow of the obstacle/aperture.
• When wave pass a boundary, they bend in the process of diffraction

X-Ray Diffraction

• X-ray diffraction is the elastic scattering of x-ray photons by atoms in a periodic lattice. The scattered monochromatic x-rays that are in phase give constructive interference.

Polarization

• Polarization is a property applying to transverse waves that specifies the geometrical orientation of the oscillations. In a transverse wave, the direction of the oscillation is perpendicular to the direction of motion of the wave.

Linear Polarization

• Linear polarization or plane polarization of electromagnetic radiation is a confinement of the electric field vector or magnetic field vector to a given plane along the direction of propagation.

Circular Polarization

• Circular polarization of an electromagnetic wave is a polarization state in which, at each point, the electric field of the wave has a constant magnitude but its direction rotates at a constant rate in a plane perpendicular to the direction of the wave.
• The total polarization for light is the sum of the electric field components
• If light has two perpendicular components out of phase, the net polarization will rotate as each component oscillates        

Electromagnetic Spectrum

• The electromagnetic spectrum is the range of frequencies of electromagnetic radiation and their respective wavelengths and photon energies.

Photons

• The photon is a type of elementary particle. It is the quantum of the electromagnetic field including electromagnetic radiation such as light and radio waves, and the force carrier for the electromagnetic force. The invariant mass of the photon is zero; it always moves at the speed of light in a vacuum.