Crossword clues for wavefront
Wiktionary
n. (context physics English) An imaginary surface passing through points of a medium oscillating in phase.
WordNet
n. (physics) an imaginary surface joining all points in space that are reached at the same instant by a wave propagating through a medium [syn: wave front]
Wikipedia
In physics, a wavefront is the locus of points characterized by propagation of position of the same phase: a propagation of a line in 1d, a curve in 2d or a surface for a wave in 3d. Since infrared, optical, x-ray and gamma-ray frequencies are so high, the temporal component of electromagnetic waves is usually ignored at these wavelengths, and it is only the phase of the spatial oscillation that is described. Additionally, most optical systems and detectors are indifferent to polarization, so this property of the wave is also usually ignored. At radio wavelengths, the polarization becomes more important, and receivers are usually phase-sensitive. Many audio detectors are also phase-sensitive.
In physics, a wavefront is the locus (a line, or, in a wave propagating in 3 dimensions, a surface) of points having the same phase.
Wavefront may also refer to:
- Wave front set, WF(f), a mathematical set in the field of microlocal analysis that characterizes the singularities of a generalized function in space and with respect to its Fourier transform at each point
- Wavefront arbiter, a circuit used to make decisions which control the crossbar of a high capacity switch fabric in parallel.
- Wavefront coding, a method for increasing the depth of field in an image to produce sharper images
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Wavefront Technologies, a computer graphics company that developed and sold animation software used in Hollywood motion pictures and other industries
- Wavefront .obj file A 3D mesh format
- Wavefront Technology Solutions Inc., an improved injection company for the petroleum and environmental sectors
Usage examples of "wavefront".
Harivarman, reentering the room at top speed, holding what he hoped was a control device in hand, was just in time to catch the faint wavefront of that puffy blast, and to see that Lescar had indeed managed to somehow close up his helmet.
There was even Harriman, who had actually seen a supernova explode, and coasted long enough on the expanding wavefront to win a five-million-dollar science award in the old days.
THE LANDING PARTY is struck by violent wavefront as they attempt to flee.
Bright Star Culture wavefront was, of course, only intersecting the Second Sphere from one side.
Seconds later there came sound again, the wavefronts of blasted particles hitting the outer surface of the Fortress hard enough to awaken roaring resonance in stone and metal, sending an uproar rolling and rumbling on toward the far interior.
Even if this race had reached the outer planets, its doom would only be delayed by the few hours it would take for the ravening wavefronts to cross the Solar System.
Wind rustled the trees by the river, where glow beetles were still busy at their mating display, more persistently amorous than humans, casting glittering, ecstatic wavefronts to eerie rhythms.
He flexed his fingers reflectively, in the disharmonic motion from little finger to thumb that no animal but man can copy, and watched the widening wavefronts of greenish light re bound in larger arcs from the curved spore walls.
And in that wavefront, an advanced technical civilization can pick up the tinny transmissions of Enrico Caruso arias, the Scopes trial, the 1928 election returns, the big jazz bands.
It was a 5-dimensional measuring device which was precisely tuned to the frequency of the wavefront.
But still, with the intellectual chauvinism inherent in our monolinear orientation, we assumed that the wavefront of simultaneous reality advanced everywhere at the same rate.