Chapter 15

Optics

Optics is the study of light and its interaction with devices such as mirrors, lenses,
and prisms. Light (or visible light) makes up only a small part of the entire
spectrum of electromagnetic waves, which ranges from radio waves to gamma rays.
The waves we studied in the preceding chapter needed a material medium to travel
through, but electromagnetic waves can propagate through empty space.
Electromagnetic waves consist of time-varying electric and magnetic fields that
oscillate perpendicular to each other and to the direction of propagation of the
wave.