In this blog we will discuss what is the wavefront and what are its types?
What is wavefront?
It is the continuous locus of all such particles of the medium which are vibrating in the same phase at any instant . So we can say wavefront is the surface of constant phase.( An arrow drown perpendicular to the wavefront in the direction of propagation of wave is called ray.)
We can also states
A wavefront is a surface joining all the points of a wave that are vibrating in the same phase.
For example, the circular ripples produced when you drop a stone into water form circular wavefronts.
There are three types of wavefront-
(i) spherical wavefront- When light rays coming out from a point source then the wavefront drawn is spherical wavefront.
(ii) Cylindrical wavefront- When light rays coming out from a linear source then the wavefront drawn is cylendrical wavefront.
(iii)Plane wavefront – A small portion of the wavefront acoming from the large distat source gives plane wavefront.
Next topic –Huygen’s principle click here-.