CHAPTER 4Interference, Coherence, and Diffraction
Electromagnetic (EM) waves exhibit the special properties of coherence, interference, and diffraction. To realize the property of interference, the waves must exhibit some degree of the wave-coherence property. For example, two interfering sinusoidal EM waves should have relative stability in time during the interference observation interval. Interference of waves is a mathematical idealization of the physical process of interference called diffraction. Diffraction theory takes into account the physical limits of apertures through which the waves travel and interact to produce the interference pattern that shows special characteristics via finite-edge effects. For example, a mathematically deduced ...
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