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Module 2:

Section 3.2.3 - Waves

Progressive Waves	Oscillation of the particles of the medium; amplitude, frequency, wavelength, speed, phase, path difference.	Progressive waves transport energy from one place to another.
Longitudinal and transverse waves	Characteristics and examples, including sound and electromagnetic waves.	Polarisation as evidence for the nature of transverse waves; applications e.g. Polaroid sunglasses, aerial alignment for transmitter and receiver.
Refraction at a plane surface	Refractive index of a substance s	Candidates are not expected to recall methods for determining refractive indices.
Law of refraction	for a boundary between two different substances of refractive indices n₁ and n₂
Total internal reflection	including calculations of the critical angle at a boundary between a substance of refractive index n₁ and a substance of lesser refractive index n₂ or air;	Simple treatment of fibre optics including function of the cladding with lower refractive index around central core - limited to step index only; Application to communications.
Superposition of waves
Stationary waves	The formation of stationary waves by two waves of the same frequency travelling in opposite directions;	Formula for fundamental frequency in terms of mass per unit length and tension is not required. Simple graphical representation of stationary waves, nodes and antinodes on strings.
Interference	The concept of path difference and coherence.
The laser as a source of coherent monochromatic light used to demonstrate interference and diffraction	Comparison with non-laser light; Awareness of safety issues.	Candidates will not be required to describe how a laser works.
Slit patterns of fringes	Requirements of two source and single source double-slit systems for the production of fringes.	The appearance of the interference fringes produced by a double slit system	where: w is the fringe spacing and s is the slit separation
Diffraction	Appearance of the diffraction pattern from a single slit.
	The plane transmission diffraction grating at normal incidence	Optical details of the spectrometer will *not* be required.
	Derivation of the diffraction grating equation	Applications; e.g. spectral analysis of light from stars.	Where n is the order number.