Huygens–Fresnel

principle

Wave refraction in the manner of Huygens

Wave diffraction in the manner of Huygens and Fresnel

The Huygens–Fresnel principle (named

after Dutch physicist Christiaan Huygens
and French physicist Augustin-Jean
Fresnel) is a method of analysis applied to
problems of wave propagation both in the
far-field limit and in near-field diffraction.

It states that every point on a wavefront is

itself the source of spherical wavelets.[1]
The sum of these spherical wavelets
forms the wavefront.

History

Diffraction of a plane wave when the slit width equals

the wavelength

In 1678, Huygens[2] proposed that every

point to which a luminous disturbance
reaches becomes a source of a spherical
wave; the sum of these secondary waves
determines the form of the wave at any
subsequent time. He assumed that the
secondary waves travelled only in the
"forward" direction and it is not explained
in the theory why this is the case. He was
able to provide a qualitative explanation of
linear and spherical wave propagation, and
to derive the laws of reflection and
refraction using this principle, but could
not explain the deviations from rectilinear
propagation that occur when light
encounters edges, apertures and screens,
commonly known as diffraction effects.[3]
The resolution of this error was finally
explained by David A.B. Miller in 1991.[4]
The resolution is that the source is a
dipole (not the monopole assumed by
Huygens), which cancels in the reflected
direction.

In 1818, Fresnel[5] showed that Huygens'

principle, together with his own principle of
interference could explain both the
rectilinear propagation of light and also
diffraction effects. To obtain agreement
with experimental results, he had to
include additional arbitrary assumptions
about the phase and amplitude of the
secondary waves, and also an obliquity
factor. These assumptions have no
obvious physical foundation but led to
predictions that agreed with many
experimental observations, including the
Arago spot.

Poisson was a member of the French

Academy, which reviewed Fresnel's
work.[6] He used Fresnel's theory to predict
that a bright spot ought to appear in the
center of the shadow of a small disc, and
deduced from this that the theory was
incorrect. However, Arago, another
member of the committee, performed the
experiment and showed that the prediction
was correct. (Lisle had observed this fifty
years earlier.[3]) This was one of the
investigations that led to the victory of the
wave theory of light over the then
predominant corpuscular theory.

The Huygens–Fresnel principle provides a

reasonable basis for understanding and
predicting the classical wave propagation
of light. However, there are limitations to
the principle, and not all experts agree that
it is an accurate representation of reality—
for instance, Melvin Schwartz argued that
"Huygens' principle actually does give the
right answer but for the wrong reasons".[7]
See Huygens' Theory and the Modern
Photon Wavefunction below.
Kirchhoff's diffraction formula provides a
rigorous mathematical foundation for
diffraction, based on the wave equation.
The arbitrary assumptions made by
Fresnel to arrive at the Huygens–Fresnel
equation emerge automatically from the
mathematics in this derivation.[8]

A simple example of the operation of the

principle can be seen when an open
doorway connects two rooms and a sound
is produced in a remote corner of one of
them. A person in the other room will hear
the sound as if it originated at the
doorway. As far as the second room is
concerned, the vibrating air in the doorway
is the source of the sound.

Mathematical expression of
the principle

Geometric arrangement for Fresnel's calculation

Consider the case of a point source

located at a point P0, vibrating at a
frequency f. The disturbance may be
described by a complex variable U0 known
as the complex amplitude. It produces a
spherical wave with wavelength λ,
wavenumber k = 2π/λ. The complex
amplitude of the primary wave at the point
Q located at a distance r0 from P0 is given
by:

since the magnitude decreases in inverse

proportion to the distance travelled, and
the phase changes as k times the distance
travelled.
Using Huygens' theory and the principle of
superposition of waves, the complex
amplitude at a further point P is found by
summing the contributions from each
point on the sphere of radius r0. In order to
get agreement with experimental results,
Fresnel found that the individual
contributions from the secondary waves
on the sphere had to be multiplied by a
constant, −i/λ, and by an additional
inclination factor, K(χ). The first
assumption means that the secondary
waves oscillate at a quarter of a cycle out
of phase with respect to the primary wave,
and that the magnitude of the secondary
waves are in a ratio of 1:λ to the primary
wave. He also assumed that K(χ) had a
maximum value when χ = 0, and was equal
to zero when χ = π/2. The complex
amplitude at P is then given by:

where S describes the surface of the

sphere, and s is the distance between Q
and P.

Fresnel used a zone construction method

to find approximate values of K for the
different zones,[6] which enabled him to
make predictions that were in agreement
with experimental results.
The various assumptions made by Fresnel
emerge automatically in Kirchhoff's
diffraction formula,[6] to which the
Huygens–Fresnel principle can be
considered to be an approximation.
Kirchhoff gave the following expression
for K(χ):

K has a maximum value at χ = 0 as in the

Huygens–Fresnel principle; however, K is
not equal to zero at χ = π/2.

Huygens' theory and the

modern photon
wavefunction
Huygens' theory served as a fundamental
explanation of the wave nature of light
interference and was further developed by
Fresnel and Young but did not fully resolve
all observations such as the low-intensity
double-slit experiment that was first
performed by G. I. Taylor in 1909, see
double-slit experiment. It was not until the
early, and mid-1900s that quantum theory
discussions, particularly the early
discussions at the 1927 Brussels Solvay
Conference, where Louis de Broglie
proposed his de Broglie hypothesis that
the photon is guided by a wavefunction.[9]
The wavefunction presents a much
different explanation of the observed light
and dark bands in a double slit
experiment. In this conception, the photon
follows a path which is a random choice of
one of many possible paths. These
possible paths form the pattern: in dark
areas, no photons are landing, and in
bright areas, many photons are landing.
The set of possible photon paths is
determined by the surroundings: the
photon's originating point (atom), the slit,
and the screen. The wavefunction is a
solution to this geometry. The
wavefunction approach was further proven
by additional double-slit experiments in
Italy and Japan in the 1970s and 1980s
with electrons.[10]

Huygens' principle and

quantum field theory
Huygens' principle can be seen as a
consequence of the homogeneity of space
—the space is uniform in all locations.[11]
Any disturbance created in a sufficiently
small region of homogenous space (or in a
homogenous medium) propagates from
that region in all geodesic directions. The
waves produced by this disturbance, in
turn, create disturbances in other regions,
and so on. The superposition of all the
waves results in the observed pattern of
wave propagation.

Homogeneity of space is fundamental to

quantum field theory (QFT) where the
wave function of any object propagates
along all available unobstructed paths.
When integrated along all possible paths,
with a phase factor proportional to the
action, the interference of the wave-
functions correctly predicts observable
phenomena. Every point on the wavefront
acts as the source of secondary wavelets
that spread out in the light cone with the
same speed as the wave. The new
wavefront is found by constructing the
surface tangent to the secondary
wavelets.

In other spatial dimensions

In 1900, Jacques Hadamard observed that
Huygens' principle was broken when the
number of spatial dimensions is
even.[12][13][14] From this, he developed a
set of conjectures that remain an active
topic of research.[15][16] In particular, it has
been discovered that Huygens' principle
holds on a large class of homogenous
spaces derived from the Coxeter group
(so, for example, the Weyl groups of
simple Lie algebras).[11][17]
The traditional statement of Huygens'
principle for the D'Alembertian gives rise to
the KdV hierarchy; analogously, the Dirac
operator gives rise to the AKNS
hierarchy.[18][19]

See also
Wikimedia Commons has media related to
Huygens' principle.

Fraunhofer diffraction
Kirchhoff's diffraction formula
Green's function
Green's theorem
Green's identities
 Near-field diffraction pattern
Double-slit experiment
Knife-edge effect
Fermat's principle
Fourier optics
Wave field synthesis

References
1. "Huygens' Principle" . MathPages.
Retrieved 2017-10-03.
2. Chr. Huygens, Traité de la Lumière
(drafted 1678; published in Leyden by Van
der Aa, 1690), translated by Silvanus P.
Thompson as Treatise on Light (London:
Macmillan, 1912; Project Gutenberg
edition , 2005), p.19.
3. OS Heavens and RW Ditchburn, Insight
into Optics, 1987, Wiley & Sons, Chichester
ISBN 0-471-92769-4
4. David A. B. Miller Huygens's wave
propagation principle corrected , Optics
Letters 16, pp. 1370-2 (1991).
doi:10.1364/OL.16.001370
5. A. Fresnel, "Mémoire sur la diffraction de
la lumière" (deposited 1818, "crowned"
1819), in Oeuvres complètes (Paris:
Imprimerie impériale, 1866–70), vol.1,
pp. 247–363; partly translated as "Fresnel's
prize memoir on the diffraction of light", in
H. Crew (ed.), The Wave Theory of Light:
Memoirs by Huygens, Young and Fresnel,
American Book Co., 1900,
archive.org/details/wavetheoryofligh00cre
wrich , pp. 81–144. (Not to be confused
with the earlier work of the same title in
Annales de Chimie et de Physique, 1:238–
81, 1816.)
6. Max Born and Emil Wolf, Principles of
Optics, 1999, Cambridge University Press
ISBN 978-0-521-64222-4
7. Huygens' Principle
8. MV Klein & TE Furtak, Optics, 1986, John
Wiley & Sons, New York
9. Baggott, Jim (2011). The Quantum Story.
Oxford Press. p. 116. ISBN 978-0-19-
965597-7.
10. Peter, Rodgers. "The double-slit
experiment" . www.physicsworld.com.
Physics World. Retrieved 10 Sep 2018.
11. Alexander P. Veselov, "Huygens'
principle and integrable systems ", Physica
D: Nonlinear Phenomena 87 (1995) 9-13
DOI 10.1016/0167-2789(95)00166-2
12. Alexander P. Veselov, "Huygens’
principle Archived 2016-02-21 at the
Wayback Machine.", 2002
13. "Wave Equation in Higher Dimensions "
Stanford University, Math 220a class notes.
14. M. Belger, R. Schimming and V. Wünsch,
"A Survey on Huygens’ Principle ",
ZEITSCHRIFT FÜR ANALYSIS UND IHRE
ANWENDUNGEN Volume 16, Issue 1, 1997,
pp. 9–36 DOI: 10.4171/ZAA/747
15. Leifur Ásgeirsson, "Some hints on
Huygens' principle and Hadamard's
conjecture" , Communications on Pure and
Applied Mathematics, Volume 9, Issue 3,
pages 307–326, August 1956
16. Paul Günther, "Huygens’ principle and
Hadamard’s conjecture" , The Mathematical
Intelligencer, March 1991, Volume 13, Issue
2, pp 56-63
17. Yu. Yu. Berest, A. P. Veselov,
"Hadamard's problem and Coxeter groups:
New examples of Huygens' equations ",
Functional Analysis and Its Applications
January 1994, Volume 28, Issue 1, pp 3-12
18. Fabio A. C. C. Chalub and Jorge P.
Zubelli, "Huygens’ Principle for Hyperbolic
Operators and Integrable Hierarchies "
19. Yuri Yu. Berest and Igor M. Loutsenko,
"Huygens’ Principle in Minkowski Spaces
and Soliton Solutions of the Korteweg-de
Vries Equation ", arXiv:solv-int/9704012 DOI
10.1007/s002200050235

Further reading
 Stratton, Julius Adams: Electromagnetic
Theory, McGraw-Hill, 1941. (Reissued by
Wiley – IEEE Press, ISBN 978-0-470-
13153-4).

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