physical optics

American  

noun

1. the branch of optics concerned with the wave properties of light, the superposition of waves, the deviation of light from its rectilinear propagation in a manner other than that considered by geometrical optics, the interaction of light with matter, and the quantum, corpuscular aspects of light.

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Etymology

Origin of physical optics

First recorded in 1825–35

Example Sentences

He has written diverting fiction as well as three volumes on physical optics.

From Time Magazine Archive

Thus by means of pure observation we have arrived at nothing less than what is known to physical optics as Snell's Law of Refraction.

From Man or Matter by Lehrs, Ernst

Man’s “natural” or physical optics do not discern a spirit.

From Witchcraft of New England Explained by Modern Spiritualism by Putnam, Allen

That we have to do in these observations with the speed of the light-front only, and not of the light itself, is a fact fully acknowledged by modern physical optics.

From Man or Matter by Lehrs, Ernst

He experimented in physical optics; took up astronomy in 1816; and in 1820, assisted by his father, he completed for a reflecting telescope a mirror of 18 in. diameter and 20 ft. focal length.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 13, Slice 4 "Hero" to "Hindu Chronology" by Various