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	ABOUT: [Introduction][History][Related areas][Subfields] POINTERS: [Texts][Software][Web links][Selected topics here] 78: Optics, electromagnetic theory

Introduction

Optics, electromagnetic theory: the study of the propagation and evolution of electromagnetic waves, including topics of interference and diffraction. Besides the usual branches of analysis, this area includes geometric topics such as the paths of light rays.

History

Applications and related fields

For quantum optics, See 81V80

This image slightly hand-edited for clarity.

Subfields

• 78A: General
• 78M: Basic methods [new in 2000]

Browse all (old) classifications for this area at the AMS.

Textbooks, reference works, and tutorials

Software and tables

Optics packages from the Computer Physics Communications program library.

SCATTERLIB Light Scattering Codes Library.

Electromagnetics from the Computer Physics Communications program library.

Electromagnetic Applications at NERSC

See also the Computational Electromagnetics group

Summary, pointer for Mathematical application called Optica

Other web sites with this focus

• Here are the AMS and Goettingen resource pages for area 78.
• OSA OpticsNet, Optical Society of America
• SPIE -- The International Society for Optical Engineering
• The Net Advance of Physics: pages for Electromagnetism and Optics

Selected topics at this site

• Is there a mathematical model of color?
• Not really math but an intriguing topic: the measurement of color ("what wavelength is brown?":-) ). Citations and pointers.
• A pointer to a rainbow page seemed appropriate here.
• Modeling the passage of light through asymmetric planetary atmospheres.
• What path does a light ray take?
• The Eikonal equation: describing the bending of light through an inhomogeneous medium.
• Algebraic tools for electromagnetics
• Huygens' principle (no light diffusion in wave equation in odd dimensions)
• Modeling (the human perception of) color
• Comparison of models for Optics (Ray optics, Geometrical optics Wave optics)
• The Eikonal Equation in geometrical optics