This document provides an overview of key concepts in wave optics, including:
- Electromagnetic waves and their properties like wavelength and frequency
- Wavefronts and how they are used to describe light propagation
- Huygens' principle which describes how each point on a wavefront acts as a secondary light source
- The laws of reflection and refraction based on Huygens' principle
- How wavefronts behave when interacting with mirrors, lenses, and prisms
- Conditions for coherent and interfering waves
- Young's double slit experiment and the patterns of light and dark fringes it produces
- How thin film interference can produce the colors seen in phenomena like rainbows