Wednesday, September 23, 2015

Why doesn't the frequency of light change during refraction?


When light passes from one medium to another its velocity and wavelength change. Why doesn't frequency change in this phenomenon?



Answer



The electric and magnetic fields have to remain continuous at the refractive index boundary. If the frequency changed, the light at each side of the boundary would be continuously changing its relative phase and there would be no way to match the fields.


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