Christiaan Huygens (1629–1695) advanced a number of novel concepts pertaining to the propagation of light waves.
Thomas Young (1773–1829) championed the wave theory of light and discovered the principle of optical interference.
Light propagates in the form of waves. In free space, light waves travel with a constant speed, co = 3.0 × 108 m/s (30 cm/ns or 0.3 mm/ps or 0.3 μm/fs or 0.3 nm/as). As illustrated in Fig. 2.0-1, the range of optical wavelengths comprises three principal sub-regions: infrared (0.760 to 300 μm), visible (390 to 760 nm), and ultraviolet (10 to 390 nm). The corresponding range of optical frequencies stretches from 1 THz in the far-infrared to 30 PHz in the extreme ultraviolet.
Figure 2.0-1 Optical frequencies and wavelengths. The ...
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