Talk:Wavefront

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The definition which is given on the main page implies that, the phase having been defined, the wavefront must move with the speed of light, and yet it is stated that "the temporal component of electromagnetic waves is usually ignored". There must be something wrong here !

The illustrations confuse this further - one shows a static wavefront pattern, the other is moving. I assume that the usefulness of the concept of a locus of equal phase is that it allows the use of a static geometric pattern. If this is the case, the definition must be modified by the inclusion of a phrase such as "at a particular instant". The moving-pattern wavefront ilustration would then be inappropriate.

Please take this comment seriously and clarify this issue. At present the main article is ambiguous to the point of being useless. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.32.50.77 (talk) 07:16, 31 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Proposal to remove images.

I am proposing that we remove the image, or at least put a bold notification on them, so that they are not viewed. This must be potentially harmful to someone who suffers from photosensitive seizures. --Isaiah 21:11, 23 September 2009 (UTC)

Optics is just a branch of Physics

If the notion wavefront is used in other branches of Physics, I think that mentioning Physics alone is enough. It's like saying 'In California and the United States, there are people of different ethnicity.' California is in the United States. Thljcl (talk) 10:10, 4 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

A single surface or a collective?

Sorry to be pedantic, but I think that the first sentence is ambiguous when it says: "the wavefront of a time-varying field is the set (locus) of all points where the wave has the same phase of the sinusoid". Imagine a sinusoidal plane wave; then the set of all such points comprises an infinite collection of parallel planes. Am I right in thinking that each one of these planes is a separate wavefront? Or is it the whole collection taken together, as implied? Or should we regard $θ$ and $θ + 2π$ as being two different phases? NeilOnWiki (talk) 18:21, 19 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Proposed merge of Wavefront sensor into Wavefront

wide overlap with section Wavefront#Sensor. fgnievinski (talk) 19:46, 15 December 2022 (UTC) fgnievinski (talk) 19:46, 15 December 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Merger complete. Klbrain (talk) 13:39, 2 September 2023 (UTC)[reply]