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2 - The Nature of Light

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 July 2020

Brian Culshaw
Brian Culshaw
Affiliation:
University of Strathclyde
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Summary

Chapter 2:explores the nature of light and the much debated question – should we regard light as an electromagnetic wave (including as a current though a conducting material) or as a particle?The key lies in the fact that (usually) light can be regarded as transmitted as a wave and (usually) light can be regarded as detected as a particle.We explore the implications and conclude that the answer lies in the specific question being asked!

Keywords

Lightwaveparticle
Type
Chapter
Information
Introducing Photonics , pp. 11 - 24
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2020

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  • The Nature of Light
  • Brian Culshaw, University of Strathclyde
  • Book: Introducing Photonics
  • Online publication: 21 July 2020
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316659182.003
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To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

  • The Nature of Light
  • Brian Culshaw, University of Strathclyde
  • Book: Introducing Photonics
  • Online publication: 21 July 2020
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316659182.003
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • The Nature of Light
  • Brian Culshaw, University of Strathclyde
  • Book: Introducing Photonics
  • Online publication: 21 July 2020
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316659182.003
Available formats
×