Abstract
Light is an electromagnetic phenomenon. According to classical electromagnetic theory, an electromagnetic field consists of an electric vector field and a magnetic vector field, both being functions of space and time. These fields have to satisfy a set of partial differential equations, Maxwell’s equations, which govern their generation by accelerated electric charges as well as their propagation through media that have different electric and magnetic properties. All optical phenomena can be explained by solving Maxwell’s equations under the proper boundary conditions.
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© 1978 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
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Saleh, B. (1978). The Optical Field: A Stochastic Vector Field or, Classical Theory of Optical Coherence. In: Photoelectron Statistics. Springer Series in Optical Sciences, vol 6. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-37311-7_4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-37311-7_4
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-662-13483-2
Online ISBN: 978-3-540-37311-7
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive