Plane wave

Type of wave propagating in 3 dimensions

In physics, a plane wave is a special case of a wave or field: a physical quantity whose value, at any given moment, is constant through any plane that is perpendicular to a fixed direction in space. For any position x → {\displaystyle {\vec {x}}} in space and any time t {\displaystyle t} , the value of such a field can be written as F ( x → , t) = G ( x → ⋅ n → , t) , {\displaystyle F({\vec {x}},t)=G({\vec {x}}\cdot {\vec {n}},t),} where n → {\displaystyle {\vec {n}}} is a unit-length vector, and G ( d , t) {\displaystyle G(d,t)} is a function that gives the field's value as dependent on only two real parameters: the time t {\displaystyle t} , and the scalar-valued displacement d = x → ⋅ n → {\displaystyle d={\vec {x}}\cdot {\vec {n}}} of the point x → {\displaystyle {\vec {x}}} along the direction n → {\displaystyle {\vec {n}}} . The displacement is constant over each plane perpendicular to n → {\displaystyle {\vec {n}}} .

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