Introduction to Wave Physics

Introduction to Wave Physics is a textbook that was developed out of a one-semester college course on Waves and Optics. It is designed to prepare the reader for work, research, or further study in areas that require a strong foundation in wave phenomena. It is therefore intended to be comprehensive and includes chapters on interference, reflection and transmission, cavities and waveguides, radiation, diffraction and scattering. It proceeds from simple to complex, employing one-dimensional waves to introduce major concepts in the first chapter, and extending each of those concepts to three dimensions in subsequent chapters for rectangular, spherical and cylindrical coordinates. Both scalar and vector waves are addressed, using acoustic waves as the primary example of the former and electromagnetic waves as the primary example of the latter.