Abstract
AbstractIn modern optics, light can be described at different levels: as rays, as scalar waves, as vector fields, and as quantum fields. In the first three levels, there are singularities—characteristic features, useful in interpreting phenomena at that level. In geometrical optics, the singularities are ray caustics; in scalar wave optics, they are phase singularities (=wave dislocations= wave vortices = nodal manifolds); in vector waves, they are singularities where the polarisation of light is purely linear or purely circular. The singularities at each level are dissolved at the next level. Similar singularities occur in all waves, not just light.
Funder
Emeritus Fellowship from the Leverhulme Trust
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Subject
Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics,Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials
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