Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Preface to corrected reprint of the seventh edition
- Preface to the first edition
- Preface to the second edition
- Preface to the third edition
- Preface to the fourth edition
- Preface to the fifth edition
- Preface to the sixth edition
- Preface to the seventh edition
- Contents
- Historical introduction
- I Basic properties of the electromagnetic field
- II Electromagnetic potentials and polarization
- III Foundations of geometrical optics
- IV Geometrical theory of optical imaging
- V Geometrical theory of aberrations
- VI Image-forming instruments
- VII Elements of the theory of interference and interferometers
- VIII Elements of the theory of diffraction
- IX The diffraction theory of aberrations
- X Interference and diffraction with partially coherent light
- XI Rigorous diffraction theory
- XII Diffraction of light by ultrasonic waves
- XIII Scattering from inhomogeneous media
- XIV Optics of metals
- XV Optics of crystals
- Appendices
- Author index
- Subject index
XII - Diffraction of light by ultrasonic waves
- Frontmatter
- Preface to corrected reprint of the seventh edition
- Preface to the first edition
- Preface to the second edition
- Preface to the third edition
- Preface to the fourth edition
- Preface to the fifth edition
- Preface to the sixth edition
- Preface to the seventh edition
- Contents
- Historical introduction
- I Basic properties of the electromagnetic field
- II Electromagnetic potentials and polarization
- III Foundations of geometrical optics
- IV Geometrical theory of optical imaging
- V Geometrical theory of aberrations
- VI Image-forming instruments
- VII Elements of the theory of interference and interferometers
- VIII Elements of the theory of diffraction
- IX The diffraction theory of aberrations
- X Interference and diffraction with partially coherent light
- XI Rigorous diffraction theory
- XII Diffraction of light by ultrasonic waves
- XIII Scattering from inhomogeneous media
- XIV Optics of metals
- XV Optics of crystals
- Appendices
- Author index
- Subject index
Summary
IN Chapters I and II it was shown that the propagation of electromagnetic waves may be studied either by using Maxwell's equations, supplemented by the material equations, or by means of certain integral equations which utilize the polarization properties of the medium. In particular, either of these methods may also be applied to the study of the propagation of light through a medium whose density depends on space coordinates and on time. Though the former method has been used extensively in the past, the latter has only more recently been applied to such studies. In this chapter we shall apply the integral equation method to the problem of diffraction of light by a transparent homogeneous medium, disturbed by the passage of ultrasonic waves. It will be useful, however, to give first a qualitative description of this diffraction phenomenon and a brief summary of the theoretical work on this problem based on Maxwell's differential equations.
Qualitative description of the phenomenon and summary of theories based on Maxwell's differential equations
Qualitative description of the phenomenon
Ultrasonic waves are sound waves whose frequencies are higher than those of waves normally audible to the human ear. The angular frequencies of the ultrasonic waves produced in laboratories lie from about 105 s-1 to about 3 X 109 s-1, the former value representing the limit of audibility of the human ear. The corresponding range of wavelengths A of course depends on the velocity v of these waves in the medium in which they travel.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Principles of OpticsElectromagnetic Theory of Propagation, Interference and Diffraction of Light, pp. 674 - 694Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1999