Definition:Plane Wave
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Definition
A plane wave is a wave in a medium in space such that:
- the disturbance is constant over all points in a plane perpendicular to the direction of propagation of the wave.
Wavefront
Let $\phi$ be a plane wave.
The perpendicular plane $P$ on which the disturbance is constant over all points of $P$ is called the wavefront of $\phi$.
Also see
- Results about plane waves can be found here.
Sources
- 1955: C.A. Coulson: Waves (7th ed.) ... (previous) ... (next): Chapter $\text {I}$: The Equation of Wave Motion: $\S 4$