Refraction and Reflection of Waves –Understanding with Huygens' Principle
Ray
Wavefront
Refracted Wave
Reflected Wave
Elementary Wavelet
λ:
Description :
This page helps you understand the refraction and reflection of waves using Huygens’ principle.
● The green lines represent the wavefronts, and the spacing between them corresponds to the wavelength. The media above and below are different, and refraction or reflection occurs at the central boundary. When the relative refractive index is greater than 1, the phase of the reflected wave is inverted, so the wavefronts of the reflected wave are shown in light purple.
● By checking the boxes, you can toggle various display options. The bluish-purple lines with arrows that appear when checked represent the rays, and the red circular lines represent the wavelets.
● You can change the angle of incidence by dragging the orange triangular point in the upper left with your mouse pointer, or by sliding your finger on a tablet screen.
● By moving the red slider on the right up and down, you can change the refractive index of each medium between 1 and 3.
For reference, the refractive index is about 1.0 for air, 1.3 for water, 1.4–2.1 for optical glass, and around 2.4 for diamond.
● You can control the time progression using buttons such as “>”. Pressing “0” resets the time to zero.
● The λ slider adjusts the wavelength and the frequency at which wavefronts are generated.
Copyright 2025 KATO, Noriyoshi