Plane of polarization: Difference between revisions

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{{Short description|Concept in optics}}
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[[File:Field-vectors-and-propagation-directions.svg|thumb|300px|'''Fig.{{nnbsp}}1''':{{big| }}Field vectors ('''E''',{{hsp}}'''D''',{{hsp}}'''B''',{{hsp}}'''H''') and propagation directions (ray and wave-normal) for linearly-polarized plane electromagnetic waves in a non-magnetic birefringent crystal.{{r|lunney-weaire-2006}} The plane of vibration, containing both electric vectors ('''E''' & '''D''') and both propagation vectors, is sometimes called the "plane of polarization" by modern authors. Fresnel's "plane of polarization", traditionally used in optics, is the plane containing the magnetic vectors ('''B''' & '''H''') and the ''wave-normal''. Malus's original "plane of polarization" was the plane containing the magnetic vectors and the ''ray''.  (In an isotropic medium,  {{math|''θ'' {{=}} 0}}  and Malus's plane merges with Fresnel's.)]]
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For [[light]] and other [[electromagnetic radiation]], the '''plane of polarization''' is the [[plane (geometry)|plane]] spanned by the direction of propagation and either the [[electric vector]] or the [[magnetic vector]], depending on the convention. It can be defined for [[polarization (physics)|polarized]] light, remains fixed in space for ''[[linear polarization|linearly-polarized]]'' light, and undergoes [[axial rotation]] for ''[[circular polarization|circularly-polarized]]'' light.
&nbsp;
 
Unfortunately the two conventions are contradictory. As originally defined by [[Étienne-Louis Malus]] in 1811,<ref name=buch54>Buchwald, 1989, p.{{hsp}}54.</ref> the plane of polarization coincided (although this was not known at the time) with the plane containing the direction of propagation and the ''magnetic'' vector.<ref>Stratton, 1941, p.{{hsp}}280; Born & Wolf, 1970, pp.{{nnbsp}}43,{{tsp}}681.</ref> In modern literature, the term ''plane of polarization'', if it is used at all, is likely to mean the plane containing the direction of propagation and the ''electric'' vector,<ref name=luntz/> because the electric field has the greater propensity to interact with matter.<ref name="bw28">Born & Wolf, 1970, p.{{hsp}}28.</ref>
'''This page is UNDER CONSTRUCTION.&nbsp; Beware of loose bricks{{hsp}}!'''
 
For waves in a [[birefringence|birefringent]] (doubly-refractive) crystal, under the old definition, one must also specify whether the direction of propagation means the ray direction ([[Poynting vector]]) or the wave-[[normal (geometry)|normal]] direction, because these directions generally differ and are both perpendicular to the magnetic vector (Fig.{{nnbsp}}1). Malus, as an adherent of the [[corpuscular theory of light]], could only choose the ray direction. But [[Augustin-Jean Fresnel]], in his successful effort to explain double refraction under the [[wave theory of light|wave theory]] (1822 onward), found it more useful to choose the wave-normal direction, with the result that the supposed vibrations of the medium were then consistently perpendicular to the plane of polarization.<ref name=fh318>Fresnel, 1827, tr.&nbsp;Hobson, p.{{nnbsp}}318.</ref> In an [[isotropy|isotropic]] medium such as air, the ray and wave-normal directions are the same, and Fresnel's modification makes no difference.
&nbsp;
 
Fresnel also admitted that, had he not felt constrained by the received terminology, it would have been more natural to define the plane of polarization as the plane containing the vibrations and the direction of propagation.<ref name=fy406>Fresnel, 1822, tr.&nbsp;Young, part&nbsp;7, [https://books.google.com/books?id=N69MAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA406 p.{{nnbsp}}406].</ref> That plane, which became known as the '''plane of vibration''', is perpendicular to Fresnel's "plane of polarization" but identical with the plane that modern writers tend to call by that name!
{{Redirect|Fresnel}}
 
It has been argued that the term ''plane of polarization'', because of its historical ambiguity, should be avoided in original writing. One can easily specify the orientation of a particular field vector; and even the term ''plane of vibration'' carries less risk of confusion than ''plane of polarization''.<ref>Born & Wolf, 1970, pp.{{nnbsp}}28,{{hsp}}43.</ref>
{{Infobox scientist
| name = Augustin-Jean Fresnel
| image = Augustin Fresnel.jpg
| birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1788|5|10}}
| birth_place = [[Broglie, Eure|Broglie]], [[Kingdom of France]] (now&nbsp;[[Eure]], France)
| death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|1827|7|14|1788|5|10}}
| death_place = [[Ville-d'Avray]], [[Bourbon Restoration|Kingdom of France]] (now [[Hauts-de-Seine]], France),
| death_cause = of&nbsp;[[Tuberculosis]]
| resting_place = [[Père Lachaise Cemetery]]
| residence = [[France]]
| nationality = [[France|French]]
| fields = [[Physics]], [[Engineering]]
| workplaces = {{ublist
| [[Corps of Bridges, Waters and Forests|Corps des Ponts]]
| [[Athénée de Luxembourg|Athénée]] ({{smaller|1819}}){{r|brock-1909}}
| [[École Polytechnique|École Polytech.]] ({{smaller|1821–4}})}}
| education = {{ublist
| [[École Polytechnique|École Polytech.]] ({{smaller|1804–6}})
| [[École des ponts ParisTech|École des Ponts]]}}
| known_for = {{ublist
| [[Birefringence]]
| [[Diffraction]]
| [[Fresnel–Arago laws]]
| [[Fresnel equations]]
| [[Fresnel integral]]s
| [[Fresnel lens]]
| [[Fresnel number]]
| [[Fresnel rhomb]]
| [[Fresnel zone]]
| [[Huygens–Fresnel principle]]
| [[Phasor]] representation
| [[Polarization]]
| [[Physical optics|Wave optics]]}}
| influences = {{ublist
| [[Christiaan Huygens]]
| [[Thomas Young (scientist)|Thomas Young]]
| [[François Arago]]}}
| influenced = {{ublist
| [[James MacCullagh]]
| [[William Rowan Hamilton]]
| [[Humphrey Lloyd (physicist)|Humphrey Lloyd]]}}
| awards = {{ublist
| {{small|1819:}} [[French Academy of Sciences|Academy]] Grand Prix
| {{small|1824:}} ''[[Legion of Honour|Légion d'Honneur]]''
| {{small|1825:}} [[Fellow of the Royal Society|ForMemRS]]
| {{small|1827 for '24: }}[[Rumford Medal]]}}
}}
 
{{vpad|1=1ex|clear=none}}
'''Augustin-Jean Fresnel''' ({{IPAc-en|f|r|eɪ|ˈ|n|ɛ|l}}, {{respell|fray|NEL|'}}; {{IPA-fr|ɔ.ɡy.stɛ̃ ʒɑ̃ fʁɛ.nɛl|lang}}; 10 May 1788 – 14 July 1827) was a [[France|French]] civil [[engineer]] and [[physicist]] whose research in [[optics]] led to the almost universal acceptance of the wave theory of light, and the rejection of any remnant of [[Isaac Newton|Newton]]'s [[corpuscular theory of light|corpuscular theory]], from the 1830s<ref>Darrigol, 2012, pp.{{nnbsp}}220–23.</ref> until the end of the 19th century.
 
== Physics of the term ==
But he is perhaps better known for inventing the ''catadioptric'' (reflective/refractive) [[Fresnel lens]] and for pioneering the use of "stepped" lenses to extend the visibility of [[lighthouse]]s, saving unknown numbers of lives at sea. The simpler ''dioptric'' (purely refractive) stepped lens, first proposed by [[Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon|Count Buffon]]{{r|chisholm-1911-lighthouse}} and independently reinvented by Fresnel, is used in screen [[magnifying glass|magnifiers]] and in condenser lenses for [[overhead projector|overhead projectors]].
 
[[File:EM-Wave.gif|thumb|'''Fig.{{nnbsp}}2''':{{big|&nbsp;}}Linearly-polarized (plane-polarized) [[sine wave|sinusoidal]] electromagnetic wave in an ''isotropic'' medium, propagating in the ''x'' direction (the ray direction and wave-normal direction), with the electric field vectors '''E''' and '''D''' in the ''y'' direction, and the magnetic field vectors '''B''' and '''H''' in the ''z'' direction.&nbsp; (The situation in a {{nowrap|''non''-isotropic}} medium is more complicated; cf.&nbsp;Fig.{{nnbsp}}1.)]]
By expressing [[Christiaan Huygens|Huygens]]' principle of secondary waves and [[Thomas Young (scientist)|Young]]'s principle of [[interference (wave propagation)|interference]] in quantitative terms, and supposing that simple colors consist of ''[[sine wave|sinusoidal]]'' waves, Fresnel gave the first satisfactory explanation of [[diffraction]] by straight edges, including the first explanation of rectilinear propagation that would satisfy a modern physicist.<ref>Darrigol, 2012, p.{{hsp}}205.</ref> By further supposing that light waves are purely ''[[transverse wave|transverse]]'', he explained the nature of [[polarization]] and lack thereof, the mechanism of ''chromatic polarization'' (the colors produced when polarized light is passed through a slice of doubly-refractive crystal followed by a second polarizer), and the [[transmission coefficient|transmission]] and [[reflection coefficient]]s at a boundary between transparent [[isotropy|isotropic]] media (including [[Brewster's angle]]). Then, by generalizing the relationship between wave speed and polarization for [[calcite]], he accounted for the directions and polarizations of the refracted rays in [[birefringence|doubly-refractive]] crystals of the ''biaxial'' class (those for which Huygens' secondary wavefronts are not axisymmetric). The period between the first publication of his pure-transverse-wave hypothesis and the presentation of his solution to the biaxial problem was less than a year. Later, by allowing the reflection coefficient to be ''[[complex number|complex]]'', he accounted for the change in polarization due to [[total internal reflection]], as exploited in the [[Fresnel rhomb]]. Defenders of the established corpuscular theory could not match his quantitative explanations of so many phenomena on so few assumptions.
 
For [[electromagnetic radiation|electromagnetic (EM) waves]] in an ''isotropic'' medium (that is, a medium whose properties are independent of direction), the [[electric field]] [[Euclidean vector|vectors]] ('''E''' and '''D''') are in one direction, and the [[magnetic field]] vectors ('''B''' and '''H''') are in another direction, perpendicular to the first, and the direction of propagation is perpendicular to both the electric and the magnetic vectors. In this case the direction of propagation is both the ''ray'' direction and the ''wave-normal'' direction (the direction perpendicular to the [[wavefront]]). For a [[linear polarization|''linearly''-polarized]] wave (also called a ''plane''-polarized wave), the orientations of the field vectors are fixed (Fig.{{nnbsp}}2).
Fresnel's legacy is the more remarkable in view of his lifelong battle with [[tuberculosis]], to which he succumbed at the age of 39. Although he did not become a public celebrity in his short lifetime, he lived just long enough to receive due recognition from his peers, including (on his deathbed) the [[Rumford Medal]] of the [[Royal Society of London]], and his name recurs frequently in the modern terminology of optics and waves.
 
Because innumerable materials are [[dielectric]]s or [[electrical conductor|conductors]] while comparatively few are [[ferromagnetism|ferromagnets]], the [[reflection (physics)|reflection]] or [[refraction]] of EM waves (including [[light]]) is more often due to differences in the ''electric'' properties of media than to differences in their magnetic properties. That circumstance tends to draw attention to the ''electric'' vectors, so that we tend to think of the direction of polarization as the direction of the electric vectors, and the "plane of polarization" as the plane containing the electric vectors and the direction of propagation.
Inevitably, after the wave theory of light was subsumed by [[James Clerk Maxwell|Maxwell]]'s [[electromagnetism|electromagnetic]] theory in the 1860s and '70s, the magnitude of Fresnel's contribution was somewhat obscured. In the period between Fresnel's unification of physical optics and Maxwell's wider unification, a contemporary authority, Professor [[Humphrey Lloyd (physicist)|Humphrey Lloyd]], described Fresnel's transverse-wave theory as "the noblest fabric which has ever adorned the ___domain of physical science, Newton's system of the universe alone excepted."{{r|lloyd-1841}}<br style="margin-bottom: 1ex;" />
 
[[File:Screen dish antenna.jpg|thumb|left|'''Fig.{{nnbsp}}3''':{{big|&nbsp;}}Vertically polarized parabolic-grid [[microwave]] antenna. In this case the stated polarization refers to the alignment of the electric ('''E''') field, hence the alignment of the closely spaced metal ribs in the reflector.]]
== Early life ==
 
Indeed, that is the convention used in the online ''Encyclopædia Britannica'',{{r|luntz}} and in [[Richard Feynman|Feynman]]'s lecture on polarization.{{r|feynman-1963}} In the latter case one must infer the convention from the context: Feynman keeps emphasizing the direction of the ''electric'' ('''E''') vector and leaves the reader to presume that the "plane of polarization" contains that vector — and this interpretation indeed fits the examples he gives. The same vector is used to describe the polarization of radio signals and [[antenna (radio)#Polarization|antennas]] (Fig.{{nnbsp}}3).<ref name="auto">Stratton, 1941, p.{{hsp}}280.</ref>
[[File:Augustin Fresnel buste Broglie.jpg|thumb|Monument to Augustin Fresnel on the facade of his birthplace at 2&nbsp;Rue Augustin Fresnel, [[Broglie, Eure|Broglie]] (facing Rue Jean François Mérimée),{{r|martan-2014}} inaugurated on 14&nbsp;September 1884.{{r|bibmed|academie}} The inscription, when translated, says:<br style="margin-bottom: 0.6ex;" />"Augustin Fresnel, engineer of Bridges and Roads, member of the Academy of Sciences, creator of lenticular lighthouses, was born in this house on 10&nbsp;May 1788. The theory of light owes to this emulator of Newton the highest concepts and the most useful applications."{{r|martan-2014|perchet-2011}}]]
 
If the medium is magnetically isotropic but electrically ''non''-isotropic (like a [[birefringence|doubly-refracting]] crystal), the magnetic vectors '''B''' and '''H''' are still parallel, and the electric vectors '''E''' and '''D''' are still perpendicular to both, and the ray direction is still perpendicular to '''E''' and the magnetic vectors, and the wave-normal direction is still perpendicular to '''D''' and the magnetic vectors; but there is generally a small angle between the electric vectors '''E''' and '''D''', hence the same angle between the ray direction and the wave-normal direction (Fig.{{nnbsp}}1).{{r|lunney-weaire-2006}}<ref>Born & Wolf, 1970, p.{{hsp}}668.</ref>{{tsp}} Hence '''D''', '''E''', the wave-normal direction, and the ray direction are all in the same plane, and it is all the more natural to define that plane as the "plane of polarization".
=== Family ===
 
This "natural" definition, however, depends on the theory of EM waves developed by [[James Clerk Maxwell]] in the 1860s — whereas the word ''polarization'' was coined about 50 years earlier, and the associated mystery dates back even further.
Augustin-Jean Fresnel (also called Augustin Jean or simply Augustin), born in [[Broglie, Eure|Broglie]], [[Normandy]], on 10&nbsp;May 1788, was the second of four sons of the architect Jacques Fresnel (1755–1805){{r|favre}} and his wife Augustine, ''née'' Mérimée (1755?–1833).{{r|jeanelie}} In 1790, following the [[French Revolution|Revolution]], Broglie became part of the [[Departments of France|département]] of [[Eure]]. The family moved twice — in 1790 to [[Cherbourg-Octeville|Cherbourg]],<ref>Levitt, 2013, p.{{hsp}}23.</ref> and in 1794{{r|silliman-2008|p=166}} to Jacques' home town of [[Mathieu, Calvados|Mathieu]], where Madame Fresnel remained as a widow,{{r|boutry-1948|p=590}} outliving two of her sons.
 
== History of the term ==
The first son, Louis (1786–1809), was admitted to the [[École Polytechnique]], became a lieutenant in the artillery, and was killed at [[Jaca]], [[Spain]], the day before his 23rd birthday.{{r|jeanelie}} The third, Léonor (1790–1869),{{r|favre}} followed Augustin into civil [[engineer]]ing, succeeded him as Secretary of the Lighthouse Commission,<ref>Levitt, 2013, p.{{hsp}}99.</ref> and helped to edit his collected works.<ref>Fresnel, 1866–70.</ref> The fourth, [[Fulgence Fresnel]] (1795–1855), became a noted linguist, diplomat, and orientalist, and occasionally assisted Augustin with negotiations.<ref>Levitt, 2013, p.{{hsp}}72.</ref>
 
=== Three candidates ===
Their mother's brother Jean François "Léonor" Mérimée (1757–1836),{{r|jeanelie}} father of the writer [[Prosper Mérimée]] (1803–1870), was a [[painting|paint&nbsp;artist]] who turned his attention to the [[chemistry]] of painting. He became the permanent secretary of the [[École des Beaux-Arts]] (School of Fine Arts) and a professor at the École polytechnique, and was the initial point of contact between Augustin and the leading optical physicists of the day (see below).
 
Whether by accident or by design, the plane of polarization has always been defined as the plane containing a field vector and a direction of propagation. In Fig.{{nnbsp}}1, there are three such planes, to which we may assign numbers for ease of reference:
=== Education ===
:<span id="plane1"></span>(1)&nbsp; the plane containing both electric vectors and both propagation directions&nbsp; (i.e., the plane normal to the magnetic vectors);
 
:<span id="plane2a"></span>(2a)&nbsp; the plane containing the magnetic vectors and the wave-normal&nbsp; (i.e., the plane normal to '''D''');
Augustin and his brothers were initially home-schooled by their mother. Augustin, a sickly child, was considered the slow one, hardly beginning to read until the age of eight. At ten he was undistinguished except for his ability to turn tree-branches into toy bows and cannon that worked far too well, earning himself the title ''l'homme de génie'' (the man of genius) from his accomplices, and a united crackdown from their elders.<ref>Levitt, 2013, pp.{{nnbsp}}24–5.</ref>{{r|boutry-1948|p=590–91}}
 
:<span id="plane2b"></span>(2b)&nbsp; the plane containing the magnetic vectors and the ray&nbsp; (i.e., the plane normal to '''E''').
In 1801, Augustin was sent to the ''École centrale'' at [[Caen]], as company for Louis. But Augustin lifted his performance: in 1804 he was accepted into the École Polytechnique, being placed 17th in the entrance examination, in which his solutions to geometry problems impressed the examiner, [[Adrien-Marie Legendre]]. As the surviving records of the École Polytechnique begin in 1808, we know little of Augustin Fresnel's time there, except that he apparently excelled in geometry and drawing — in spite of continuing poor health — and made few if any friends. Graduating in 1806, he then enrolled at the [[École des ponts ParisTech|École Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées]] (National School of Bridges and Roads, also known as "ENPC" or "École des Ponts"), from which he graduated in 1809, entering the service of the [[Corps of Bridges, Waters and Forests|Corps des Ponts et Chaussées]] as an ''ingénieur ordinair aspirant'' (ordinary engineer in training). Directly or indirectly, the "Corps des Ponts" would be his sole or main employer for the rest of his life.{{r|chisholm-1911-fresnel}}<ref>Levitt, 2013, pp.{{nnbsp}}25–7.</ref>{{r|boutry-1948|p=591–2,601}}
In an isotropic medium, '''E''' and '''D''' have the same direction,<ref group=Note>This conclusion does not follow if the medium is [[optical rotation|optically rotating]] (see e.g. Darrigol, 2012, pp.{{nnbsp}}253n,{{nnbsp}}257n); however, throughout this article, the existence of a stable plane of polarization requires the absence of optical rotation.</ref> so that the ray and wave-normal directions merge, and the planes (2a) and (2b) become one:
:<span id="plane2"></span>(2)&nbsp; the plane containing both magnetic vectors and both propagation directions&nbsp; (i.e., the plane normal to the electric vectors).
 
=== ReligiousMalus's formationchoice ===
 
[[File:Calcite and polarizing filter.gif|frame|'''Fig.{{nnbsp}}4''':{{big|&nbsp;}}Printed label seen through a doubly-refracting calcite crystal{{hsp}} and a modern polarizing filter (rotated to show the different polarizations of the two images).]]
Fresnel's parents were [[Catholic Church|Roman Catholics]] of the [[Jansenism|Jansenist]] sect, characterized by an extreme [[Augustine of Hippo|Augustinian]] view of [[original sin]]. In the home-schooling that the boys received from their mother, religion took first place. In 1802, Mme&nbsp;Fresnel wrote to Louis concerning Augustin:{{quote|I pray God to give my son the grace to employ the great talents, which he has received, for his own benefit, and for the God of all. Much will be asked from him to whom much has been given, and most will be required of him who has received most.{{r|kneller-1911|p=147}} }}
Augustin Fresnel remained a Jansenist.<ref>Levitt, 2013, p.{{hsp}}24.</ref> He indeed regarded his intellectual talents as a gift from God, and considered it his duty to use them for the benefit of others.{{r|kneller-1911|p=148}} Plagued by poor health, and determined to do his duty before death thwarted him, he shunned pleasures and worked to the point of exhaustion.{{r|silliman-2008|p=166}} According to his fellow engineer Alphonse Duleau, who helped to nurse him through his final illness, Fresnel saw the study of nature as part of the study of the power and goodness of God. He placed virtue above science and genius. Yet in his last days he needed "strength of soul," not against death alone, but against "the interruption of discoveries… of which he hoped to derive useful applications."{{r|kneller-1911|p=148–9n}} Although Jansenism is considered [[heresy|heretical]] by the Roman Catholic Church, the brief article on Fresnel in the ''[[Catholic Encyclopedia]]'' (1909) does not mention his Jansenism, but describes him as "a deeply religious man and remarkable for his keen sense of duty."{{r|brock-1909}}
 
Polarization was discovered — but not named or understood — by [[Christiaan Huygens]], as he investigated the double refraction of "Iceland crystal" (transparent [[calcite]], now called [[Iceland spar]]). The essence of his discovery, published in his ''Treatise on Light'' (1690), was as follows. When a ray (meaning a narrow beam of light) passes through two similarly oriented calcite crystals at normal incidence, the ordinary ray emerging from the first crystal suffers only the ordinary refraction in the second, while the extraordinary ray emerging from the first suffers only the extraordinary refraction in the second. But when the second crystal is rotated 90° about the incident rays, the roles are interchanged, so that the ordinary ray emerging from the first crystal suffers only the extraordinary refraction in the second, and vice versa. At intermediate positions of the second crystal, each ray emerging from the first is doubly refracted by the second, giving four rays in total; and as the crystal is rotated from the initial orientation to the perpendicular one, the brightnesses of the rays vary, giving a smooth transition between the extreme cases in which there are only two final rays.<ref>Huygens, 1690, tr.&nbsp;Thompson, pp.{{nnbsp}}92–4.</ref>
== Engineering assignments ==
 
Huygens defined a ''principal section'' of a calcite crystal as a plane normal to a natural surface and parallel to the axis of the obtuse solid angle.<ref>Huygens, 1690, tr.&nbsp;Thompson, pp.{{nnbsp}}55–6.</ref> This axis was parallel to the axes of the [[spheroid]]al [[Huygens–Fresnel principle|secondary waves]] by which he (correctly) explained the directions of the extraordinary refraction.
He served as an engineer successively in the departments of Vendée, Drôme and Ille-et-Vilaine; but his espousal of the cause of the Bourbons in 1814 occasioned, on Napoleon’s reaccession to power, the loss of his appointment. On the second restoration he obtained a post as engineer in Paris.{{r|chisholm-1911-fresnel}}
 
[[File:Etienne-Louis Malus.jpg|thumb|left|<div style="text-align: center;">Étienne-Louis Malus (1775–1812).</div>]]
During the [[Hundred Days]] he was ''persona non grata'', but after [[Battle of Waterloo|Waterloo]] he returned to Paris to his former occupation.{{r|rines-1919}}
 
The term ''polarization'' was coined by [[Étienne-Louis Malus]] in 1811.<ref name=buch54/>&nbsp; In&nbsp;1808, in the midst of confirming Huygens' geometric description of double refraction (while disputing his physical explanation), Malus had discovered that when a ray of light is reflected off a non-metallic surface at the appropriate angle, it behaves like ''one'' of the two rays emerging from a calcite crystal.<ref>Buchwald, 1989, pp.{{nnbsp}}31–43; Darrigol, 2012, pp.{{nnbsp}}191–2.</ref><ref group=Note>The angle of reflection at which this modification occurs became known as ''[[Brewster's angle]]'', after its dependence on the refractive index was determined experimentally by [[David Brewster]] in 1815.</ref> As this behavior had previously been known only in connection with double refraction, Malus described it in that context. In particular, he defined the ''plane of polarization'' of a polarized ray as the plane, containing the ray, in which a principal section of a calcite crystal must lie in order to cause only ''ordinary'' refraction.<ref>Buchwald, 1989, p.{{hsp}}45.</ref> This definition was all the more reasonable because it meant that when a ray was polarized by reflection (off an isotopic medium), the plane of polarization was the [[plane of incidence]] and reflection — that is, the plane containing the incident ray, the normal to the reflective surface, and the polarized reflected ray. But, as we now know, this plane happens to contain the ''magnetic'' vectors of the polarized ray, not the electric vectors.<ref>Born & Wolf, 1970, pp.{{nnbsp}}43,{{tsp}}681.</ref>
== Contributions to physical optics ==
 
The plane of the ray and the magnetic vectors is the one numbered [[#plane2b|(2b)]] above. The implication that the plane of polarization contains the ''magnetic'' vectors is still found in the definition given in the online Merriam-Webster dictionary.{{r|merriamW}} Even [[Julius Adams Stratton]], having said that "It is customary to define the polarization in terms of '''E'''", promptly adds: "In optics, however, the orientation of the vectors is specified traditionally by the 'plane of polarization,' by which is meant the plane normal to '''E''' containing both '''H''' and the axis of propagation."<ref name="auto"/> That definition is identical with Malus's.
=== Historical context ===
 
=== Fresnel's choice ===
&nbsp;
 
[[File:Augustin Fresnel.jpg|thumb|<div style="text-align: center;">Augustin-Jean Fresnel (1788–1827).</div>]]
=== Interference ===
 
In 1821, [[Augustin-Jean Fresnel]] announced his hypothesis that light waves are exclusively ''[[transverse wave|transverse]]'' and therefore ''always'' polarized in the sense of having a particular transverse orientation, and that what we call ''[[unpolarized light]]'' is in fact light whose orientation is rapidly and randomly changing.<ref>Buchwald, 1989, pp.{{nnbsp}}227–9.</ref><ref name=fresnel-1821a>A. Fresnel, "Note sur le calcul des teintes que la polarisation développe dans les lames cristallisées" et&nbsp;seq., ''Annales de Chimie et de Physique'', Ser.&nbsp;2, vol.&nbsp;17, pp.&nbsp;102–11 (May&nbsp;1821), 167–96 (June&nbsp;1821), 312–15 ("Postscript", July&nbsp;1821); reprinted (with added section nos.) in H.&nbsp;de Sénarmont, E.&nbsp;Verdet, and L.&nbsp;Fresnel (eds.), ''Oeuvres complètes d'Augustin Fresnel'', vol.&nbsp;1 (1866), pp.&nbsp;609–48; translated as "On the calculation of the tints that polarization develops in crystalline plates, &amp;&nbsp;postscript", {{Zenodo|4058004}} (Creative Commons), 2021.</ref> Supposing that light waves were analogous to [[s-wave|shear waves]] in [[elasticity (physics)|elastic solids]], and that a higher [[refractive index]] corresponded to a higher [[density]] of the [[luminiferous aether]], he found that he could account for the partial reflection (including polarization by reflection) at the interface between two transparent isotropic media, provided that the vibrations of the aether were perpendicular to the plane of polarization.<ref>Darrigol, 2012, p.{{nnbsp}}212.</ref> Thus the polarization, according to the received definition, was "in" a certain plane if the vibrations were ''perpendicular'' to that plane!
In connexion with his study of the theory and phenomena of diffraction and interference he devised his double mirrors and biprism in order to obtain two sources of light independent of apertures or the edges of opaque obstacles.{{r|brock-1909}}
 
Fresnel himself found this implication inconvenient; later that year he wrote:
=== Diffraction ===
::Adopting this hypothesis, it would have been more natural to have called the plane of polarisation that in which the oscillations are supposed to be made: but I&nbsp;wished to avoid making any change in the received appellations.<ref name=fy406/><ref group=Note>The actual writing of this treatise (Fresnel, 1822) was apparently completed by mid 1821; see I.&nbsp;Grattan-Guinness, ''Convolutions in French Mathematics, 1800–1840'', Basel: Birkhäuser, 1990, vol.{{tsp}}2, p.{{nnbsp}}884.</ref>
But he soon felt obliged to make a less radical change. In his successful model of double refraction, the displacement of the medium was constrained to be tangential to the wavefront, while the force was allowed to deviate from the displacement and from the wavefront.<ref>Aldis, 1879, pp.{{nnbsp}}8–9.</ref> Hence, if the vibrations were perpendicular to the plane of polarization, then the plane of polarization contained the wave-normal but not necessarily the ray.<ref>Aldis, 1879, pp.{{nnbsp}}9,{{hsp}}20.</ref> In his "Second Memoir" on double refraction, Fresnel formally adopted this new definition, acknowledging that it agreed with the old definition in an isotropic medium such as air, but not in a birefringent crystal.<ref name=fh318/>
 
The vibrations normal to Malus's plane of polarization are electric, and the electric vibration tangential to the wavefront is '''D''' (Fig.{{nnbsp}}1). Thus, in terms of the above numbering, Fresnel changed the "plane of polarization" from [[#plane2b|(2b)]] to [[#plane2a|(2a)]]. Fresnel's definition remains compatible with the Merriam-Webster definition,{{r|merriamW}} which fails to specify the propagation direction. And it remains compatible with Stratton's definition,<ref name="auto"/> because that is given in the context of an isotropic medium, in which planes (2a) and (2b) merge into [[#plane2|(2)]].
In 1818 he read a memoir on diffraction for which in the ensuing year he received the prize of the Académie des Sciences at Paris.{{r|fresnel-1819b}}
 
What Fresnel called the "more natural" choice was a plane containing '''D''' and a direction of propagation. In Fig.{{nnbsp}}1, the only plane meeting that specification is the one labeled "Plane of vibration" and later numbered [[#plane1|(1)]] — that is, the one that ''modern'' authors tend to identify with the "plane of polarization". We might therefore wish that Fresnel had been less deferential to his predecessors. That scenario, however, is less realistic than it may seem, because even after Fresnel's transverse-wave theory was generally accepted, the direction of the vibrations was the subject of continuing debate.
The [[Fresnel diffraction]] equation is an approximation of [[Kirchhoff's diffraction formula|Kirchhoff-Fresnel diffraction]] that can be applied to the propagation of waves in the [[near and far field|near field]].<ref>[[Max Born|M. Born]] & E. Wolf, Principles of Optics, 1999, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge</ref> It is used to calculate the [[diffraction pattern]] created by waves passing through an aperture or around an object, when viewed from relatively close to the object. In contrast the diffraction pattern in the [[near and far field|far field]] region is given by the [[Fraunhofer diffraction]] equation.
 
=== Polarization"Plane of vibration" ===
 
The principle that refractive index depended on the density of the aether was essential to Fresnel's [[aether drag hypothesis]].<ref>Darrigol, 2012, pp.{{nnbsp}}258–60.</ref> But it could not be extended to birefringent crystals — in which at least one refractive index varies with direction — because density is not directional. Hence his explanation of refraction required a directional variation in [[stiffness]] of the aether ''within'' a birefringent medium, plus a variation in density ''between'' media.<ref>Whittaker, 1910, pp.{{nnbsp}}127,{{tsp}}132–5.</ref>
&nbsp;
 
[[James MacCullagh]] and [[Franz Ernst Neumann]] avoided this complication by supposing that a higher refractive index corresponded always to the same density but a greater elastic ''compliance'' (lower stiffness). To obtain results that agreed with observations on partial reflection, they had to suppose, contrary to Fresnel, that the vibrations were ''within'' the plane of polarization.<ref>Powell, 1856, pp.{{nnbsp}}4–5; Whittaker, 1910, p.{{nnbsp}}149.</ref>
=== Partial reflection ===
 
[[File:Portrait of George Gabriel Stokes (1819-1903), Physicist and Mathematician (2551115803).jpg|thumb|left|<div style="text-align: center;">George Gabriel Stokes (1819–1903).</div>]]
[[reflectance|reflectivity]], [[reflection coefficient]], [[Fresnel equations]], [[computer graphics]], rendering of water.
 
The question called for an experimental determination of the direction of vibration, and the challenge was answered by [[Sir George Stokes, 1st Baronet|George Gabriel Stokes]]. He defined the ''plane of vibration'' as "the plane passing through the ray and the direction of vibration"{{r|stokes-1849}} (in agreement with Fig.{{nnbsp}}1). Now suppose that a fine [[diffraction grating]] is illuminated at normal incidence. At large angles of diffraction, the grating will appear somewhat edge-on, so that the directions of vibration will be crowded towards the direction parallel to the plane of the grating. If the planes of polarization coincide with the planes of vibration (as MacCullagh and Neumann said), they will be crowded in the same direction; and if the planes of polarization are ''normal'' to the planes of vibration (as Fresnel said), the planes of polarization will be crowded in the normal direction. To find the direction of the crowding, one could vary the polarization of the incident light in equal steps, and determine the planes of polarization of the diffracted light in the usual manner. Stokes performed such an experiment in 1849, and it found in favor of Fresnel.{{r|stokes-1849}}<ref>Powell, 1856, pp.{{nnbsp}}19–20; Whittaker, 1910, pp.{{nnbsp}}168–9.</ref>
Circularly polarized light he obtained by means of a rhomb of glass, known as "Fresnel’s rhomb", having obtuse angles of 126°, and acute angles of 54°.{{r|chisholm-1911-fresnel}}
 
In 1852, Stokes noted a much simpler experiment that leads to the same conclusion. Sunlight scattered from a patch of blue sky 90° from the sun is found, by the methods of Malus, to be polarized in the plane containing the line of sight and the sun. But it is obvious from the geometry that the vibrations of that light can only be perpendicular to that plane.<ref>Whittaker, 1910, pp.{{nnbsp}}169–70.</ref>
=== Double refraction ===
 
There was, however, a sense in which MacCullagh and Neumann were correct. If we attempt an analogy between shear waves in a non-isotropic elastic solid, and EM waves in a magnetically isotropic but electrically non-isotropic crystal, the density must correspond to the magnetic [[permeability (electromagnetism)|permeability]] (both being non-directional), and the compliance must correspond to the electric [[permittivity]] (both being directional). The result is that the velocity of the solid corresponds to the '''H''' field,{{r|carcione-cavallini-1995}} so that the mechanical vibrations of the shear wave are in the direction of the ''magnetic'' vibrations of the EM wave. But Stokes's experiments were bound to detect the ''electric'' vibrations, because those have the greater propensity to interact with matter. In short, the MacCullagh-Neumann vibrations were the ones that had a mechanical analog, but Fresnel's vibrations were the ones that were more likely to be detected in experiments.<ref group=Note>Concerning the limitations of elastic-electromagnetic analogies, see (e.g.) Born & Wolf, 1970, pp.{{nnbsp}}xxiv–xxv; Darrigol, 2012, pp.{{nnbsp}}227–32.</ref>
and by modeling the medium as an array of particles subject to
[[restoring force|restoring forces]], with simplifying assumptions
inspired by sound waves,
 
=== <span id="History meets physics"></span> Modern practice ===
=== Ether drag ===
 
The electromagnetic theory of light further emphasized the ''electric'' vibrations because of their interactions with matter,<ref name=bw28/> whereas the old "plane of polarization" contained the ''magnetic'' vectors. Hence the electromagnetic theory would have reinforced the convention that the vibrations were normal to the plane of polarization — provided, of course, that one was familiar with the historical definition of the plane of polarization. But if one was influenced by physical considerations ''alone'', then, as Feynman{{r|feynman-1963}} and the ''Britannica''{{r|luntz}} illustrate, one would pay attention to the electric vectors and assume that the "plane" of polarization (if one needed such a concept) contained those vectors.
His first memoir (1814) was a
demonstration of the phenomenon of the stellar
aberration.{{r|ripley-dana-1879}}
 
However, it is not clear that a "plane of polarization" is needed at all: knowing what field vectors are involved, one can specify the polarization by specifying the orientation of a particular vector, or, as [[Max Born|Born]] and [[Emil Wolf|Wolf]] suggest, by specifying the "plane of vibration" of that vector.<ref name="bw28"/>&nbsp; [[Eugene Hecht|Hecht]] also prefers the term ''plane of vibration'' (or, more usually, ''plane-of-vibration''), which he defines as the plane of '''E''' and the wave-normal, in agreement with Fig.{{nnbsp}}1 above.<ref>Hecht, 2017, p.{{hsp}}338.</ref>
[[aberration of light]], not published; [[aether drag hypothesis]]
 
=== ReceptionRemaining uses ===
 
In an optically ''[[optical rotation|chiral]]'' medium — that is, one in which the direction of polarization gradually rotates as the wave propagates — the choice of definition of the "plane of polarization" does not affect the existence or direction ("handedness") of the rotation. This is one context in which the ambiguity of the term ''plane of polarization'' causes no further confusion.<ref>Indeed this is the only context in which Hecht (5th Ed., 2017) uses the term ''plane of polarization'' (pp.{{nnbsp}}386,{{tsp}}392).</ref>
&nbsp;
 
There is also a context in which the original definition might still suggest itself. In a non-magnetic non-chiral crystal of the ''[[optic axis of a crystal|biaxial]]'' class (in which there is no ordinary refraction, but both refractions violate [[Snell's law]]), there are three mutually perpendicular planes for which the speed of light is isotropic within the plane provided that the electric vectors are normal to the plane.{{r|jenkins-white-1976}} This situation naturally draws attention to a plane normal to the vibrations as envisaged by Fresnel, and that plane is indeed the plane of polarization as defined by Fresnel or Malus.
== Lighthouses and the Fresnel lens ==
 
In most contexts, however, the concept of a "plane of polarization" distinct from a plane containing the electric "vibrations" has arguably become redundant, and has certainly become a source of confusion. In the words of Born & Wolf, "it is… better not to use this term."<ref>Born & Wolf, 1970, p.{{hsp}}43.</ref>
=== Prior art ===
 
==See also==
Fresnel was not the first person to focus a lighthouse beam using a lens. That distinction apparently belongs to the London glasscutter Thomas Rogers, who proposed the idea to [[Trinity House]] in 1788.{{r|tag-prior}} The first Rogers lenses, 53cm in diameter and 14cm thick at the center, were installed at the [[Old Lower Lighthouse]] at [[Portland Bill]] in 1789.<ref>Levitt, 2013, p.{{hsp}}57.</ref> Further samples followed at [[Baily Lighthouse|Howth Baily]], [[North Foreland]], and at least four other locations.{{r|tag-prior}} But much of the light was wasted by absorption in the glass.
*[[E-plane and H-plane]]
*[[Plane of incidence]]
 
==Notes==
[[File:Fresnel lens.svg|thumb|upright|1: Cross-section of Buffon/Fresnel lens. 2:&nbsp;Cross-section of conventional [[Lens (optics)#Types of simple lenses|plano-convex lens]] of equivalent power. (Buffon's version was [[Lens (optics)#Types of simple lenses|biconvex]].<ref>Levitt, 2013, p.{{hsp}}59.</ref>)]]
 
{{reflist|group=Note}}
Nor was Fresnel the first to suggest replacing a convex lens with a series of concentric annular prisms, to reduce weight and absorption. In 1748, [[Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon|Count Buffon]] proposed grinding such prisms as steps in a single piece of glass.{{r|chisholm-1911-lighthouse}} In 1790{{r|condorcet-1790}} (although secondary sources give the date as 1773{{r|appleton-1861|p=609}} or 1788{{r|tag-2017}}), the [[Marquis de Condorcet]] suggested that it would be easier to make the annular sections separately and assemble them on a frame; but even that was impractical at the time.{{r|tag-fres}}<ref>Levitt, 2013, p.{{hsp}}71.</ref> These designs were intended not for lighthouses,{{r|chisholm-1911-lighthouse}} but for [[burning glass|burning glasses]].{{r|appleton-1861|p=609}} Brewster, however, proposed a system similar to Condorcet's in 1811,{{r|chisholm-1911-lighthouse|ripley-dana-1879|tag-2017}} and by 1820 was advocating its use in British lighthouses.{{r|chisholm-1911-brewster}}
 
=== Prototypes ===
 
Meanwhile, in June 1819, Fresnel was engaged by the ''Commission des phares'' (Commission of Lighthouses) on the recommendation of Arago (a member of the Commission since 1813), to review possible improvements in lighthouse illumination.{{r|tag-fres}} The Commission had been established by Napoleon in 1811, and placed under the Corps des Ponts — Fresnel's employer.<ref>Levitt, 2013, pp.{{nnbsp}}49–50.</ref>
 
On 29&nbsp;August 1819, unaware of the Buffon-Condorcet-Brewster proposal,{{r|ripley-dana-1879|tag-fres}} Fresnel presented his first report, in which he recommended what he called ''lentilles à échelons'' (lenses by steps) to replace the reflectors then in use, which reflected only about half of the incident light.<ref>Levitt, 2013, pp.{{nnbsp}}56,58.</ref> One of the assembled commissioners, [[Jacques Charles]], recalled Buffon's suggestion. Fresnel was disappointed to discover that he had again "broken through an open door".<ref>Levitt, 2013, p.{{hsp}}59.</ref> But, whereas Buffon's version was [[Lens (optics)#Types of simple lenses|biconvex]] and in one piece, Fresnel's was [[Lens (optics)#Types of simple lenses|plano-convex]] and made of multiple prisms for easier construction. With an official budget of 500 francs, Fresnel approached three manufacturers. The third, François Soleil, found a way to remove defects by reheating and remolding the glass. Arago assisted Fresnel with the design of a modified [[Argand lamp]] with concentric wicks (a concept that Fresnel attributed to [[Benjamin Thompson|Count Rumford]]{{r|fresnel-1822-phares|p=11}}), and accidentally discovered that fish glue was heat-resistant, making it suitable for use in the lens. The prototype, with a lens panel 55cm square, containing 97 polygonal (not annular) prisms, was finished in March 1820 — and so impressed the Commission that Fresnel was asked for a full eight-panel version. Completed a year later, largely at Fresnel's personal expense, this model had panels 72cm square. In a public spectacle on the evening of 13&nbsp;April 1821, it was demonstrated by comparison with the most recent reflectors, which it suddenly rendered obsolete.<ref>Levitt, 2013, pp.{{nnbsp}}59–66.</ref>
 
(Fresnel acknowledged the British lenses and Buffon's invention in a memoir published in 1822.{{r|fresnel-1822-phares|p=2–4}}. The date of that memoir may be the source of the claim that Fresnel's lighthouse advocacy began two years later than Brewster's;{{r|chisholm-1911-brewster}} but the text makes it clear that Fresnel's involvement began no later than 1819.{{r|fresnel-1822-phares|p=1}})
 
{{clear}}
 
=== Fresnel's innovations ===
 
[[File:Fresnel lighthouse lens diagram.png|thumb|246px|Cross-section of a first-generation Fresnel lighthouse lens, with sloping mirrors&nbsp;''m,n'' above and below the refractive panel&nbsp;''RC'' (with central segment&nbsp;''A''). If the cross-section in every vertical plane through the lamp&nbsp;''L'' is the same, the light is spread evenly around the horizon.]]
 
Fresnel's next lens was a rotating apparatus with eight "bull's-eye" panels, made in annular arcs by [[Saint-Gobain]],<ref>Levitt, 2013, p.{{hsp}}71.</ref> giving eight rotating beams — to be seen by mariners as a periodic flash. Above and behind each main panel was a smaller, sloping bull's-eye panel of trapezoidal outline with trapezoidal elements.{{r|gombert-2017}} This refracted the light to a sloping plane mirror, which then reflected it horizontally, 7&nbsp;degrees ahead of the main beam, increasing the duration of the flash.{{r|fresnel-1822-phares|p=13,25}} Below the main panels were 128 small mirrors arranged in four rings, stacked like the slats of a [[louver]] or [[Venetian blind]]. Each ring, shaped like a [[frustum]] of a [[cone]], reflected the light to the horizon, giving a fainter steady light between the flashes. The official test, conducted on the ''[[Arc de Triomphe]]'' on 20&nbsp;August 1822, was witnessed by the Commission — and by [[Louis XVIII of France|Louis XVIII]] and his entourage — from 32km away. The apparatus was stored at [[Bordeaux]] for the winter, and then reassembled at [[Cordouan Lighthouse]] under Fresnel's supervision. On 25&nbsp;July 1823, the world's first lighthouse Fresnel lens was lit.<ref>Levitt, 2013, pp.{{nnbsp}}72–3.</ref> It was about this time that Fresnel started coughing up blood.<ref>Levitt, 2013, p.{{hsp}}97.</ref>{{r|watson-2016|p=146}}
 
In May 1824,{{r|ripley-dana-1879}} Fresnel was promoted to Secretary of the ''Commission des phares'', becoming the first member of that body to draw a salary.<ref>Levitt, 2013, p.{{hsp}}82.</ref> He was also an examiner at the École Polytechnique (since 1821),{{r|brock-1909}} but poor health soon induced him to resign that post and save his energy for his lighthouse work.<ref>Levitt, 2013, p.{{hsp}}97.</ref>
 
In the same year he designed the first ''fixed'' lens — for spreading light evenly around the horizon{{r|tag-fres}} while minimizing waste above or below. This had the familiar reflecting (''catoptric'') rings above and below the refracting (''dioptric'') panels. But the curved refracting surfaces were segments of toroids about a common vertical axis, so that the dioptric panel looked like a cylindrical drum and the entire apparatus looked like a beehive.
 
In 1825 he unveiled the ''Carte des phares'' (Lighthouse Map), calling for a system of 51 lighthouses plus smaller harbor lights, in a hierarchy of lens sizes (called ''orders'', the first order being the largest), with different characteristics to facilitate recognition: a constant light (from a fixed lens), one flash per minute (from a rotating lens with eight panels), and two per minute (sixteen panels). On 1&nbsp;February 1825, the second lighthouse Fresnel lens entered service: a third-order fixed lens at Dunkirk.<ref>Levitt, 2013, pp.{{nnbsp}}83–4.</ref>
 
Also in 1825, Fresnel extended his fixed design by adding a rotating array outside the fixed array.{{r|tag-fres}} Each panel of the rotating array refracted part of the fixed light from a horizontal fan into a narrow beam.
 
[[File:MuseeMarine-phareFresnel-p1000466.jpg|thumb|left|First-order rotating catadioptric Fresnel lens, dated 1870, displayed at the ''[[Musée national de la Marine]]'', Paris. In this case the dioptric prisms (inside the bronze circles) and catadioptric prisms (outside) are arranged to give a purely flashing light with four flashes per rotation. The assembly stands 2.54 metres tall and weighs about 1.5 tonnes.]]
 
To reduce the loss of light in the reflecting elements, Fresnel proposed to replace each mirror with a ''catadioptric'' prism, through which the light would travel by refraction through the first surface, then [[total internal reflection]] off the second surface, then refraction through the third surface.<ref>Levitt, 2013, pp.{{nnbsp}}79–80.</ref> The result was the lighthouse lens as we now know it. In 1826 he assembled a small model for use on the [[Canal Saint-Martin]],{{r|musee}} but he did not live to see a full-sized version.
 
The first large catadioptric lenses were made in 1842 for the lighthouses at Gravelines and [[Île Vierge]]; these were fixed third-order lenses whose catadoptric rings (made in segments) were one metre in diameter. The first-order [[Skerryvore]] lens, installed in 1844, was only partly catadoptric; it was similar to the Cordouan lens except that the lower slats were replaced by French-made catadioptric prisms, while mirrors were retained at the top. The first ''fully'' catadioptric first-order lens, installed at Ailly in 1852, also gave eight rotating beams plus a fixed light at the bottom; but its top section had eight catadioptric panels focusing the light about 4 degrees ahead of the main beams, in order to lengthen the flashes. The first fully catadioptric lens with ''purely revolving'' beams — also of first order — was installed at [[Saint-Clément-des-Baleines]] in 1854, and marked the completion of Fresnel's original ''Carte des phares''.<ref>Levitt, 2013, pp.{{nnbsp}}108–10, 113–16.</ref>
 
[[File:Flat flexible plastic sheet lens.JPG|thumb|Close-up view of a thin plastic Fresnel lens.]]
 
=== Later developments ===
 
Production of one-piece stepped lenses (roughly as envisaged by Buffon) eventually became profitable. By the 1870s, in the [[United States]], such lenses were made of pressed glass and used with small lights on ships and piers.{{r|ripley-dana-1879}} Similar lenses, with finer steps, serve as condensers in [[overhead projector|overhead projectors]]. Still finer steps can be found in low-cost plastic "sheet" [[magnifying glass|magnifiers]].
 
{{clear}}
 
== Honors ==
 
[[File:Bust of Augustin Fresnel by David d'Angers-MnM 41 OA 256 D-IMG 8741.jpg|thumb|Bust of Augustin Fresnel by [[David d'Angers]] (1854), formerly in the lighthouse of [[Hourtin]], [[Gironde]], and now exhibited at the {{nowrap|''[[Musée national de la Marine]]''}}.]]
 
In 1823, Fresnel was unanimously elected a member of the [[French Academy of Sciences|Académie des Sciences]].{{r|brock-1909}}{{r|chisholm-1911-fresnel}} In 1824<ref>Levitt, 2013, p.{{hsp}}77.</ref> he was made a ''chevalier de la Légion d'honneur'' (Knight of the [[Legion of Honour]]).{{r|academie}} Meanwhile in Britain, the wave theory was yet to take hold; late in 1824, Fresnel wrote to Thomas Young, saying in part:<blockquote>I am far from denying the value that I&nbsp;attach to the praise of English scholars, or pretending that they would not have flattered me agreeably. But for a long time this sensibility, or vanity, which is called the love of glory, has been much blunted in me: I&nbsp;work far less to capture the public's votes than to obtain an inner approbation which has always been the sweetest reward of my efforts. Doubtless I&nbsp;have often needed the sting of vanity to excite me to pursue my researches in moments of disgust or discouragement; but all the compliments I&nbsp;received from MM.&nbsp;Arago, Laplace, and Biot never gave me as much pleasure as the discovery of a theoretical truth and the confirmation of my calculations by experiment.<ref>Fresnel to Young, 26&nbsp;November 1824, in Young, 1855, pp.{{nnbsp}}402–3</ref></blockquote>But the "praise of English scholars" soon followed. On 9&nbsp;June 1825, Fresnel was made a Foreign Member of the [[Royal Society|Royal Society of London]].{{r|royalS-2007}} In 1827{{r|chisholm-1911-fresnel|rines-1919}} he was awarded the Society's [[Rumford Medal]] for the year 1824, "For&nbsp;his Development of the Undulatory Theory as applied to the Phenomena of Polarized Light, and for his various important discoveries in Physical Optics."{{r|royalS-rumford}}
 
The monument to Fresnel at his birthplace (see [[#Early life|above]]) was dedicated on 14&nbsp;September 1884 with a speech by {{nowrap|[[Jules Jamin]]}}, permanent secretary of the Académie des Sciences.{{r|academie|jamin-1884}}&nbsp; "{{smaller|FRESNEL}}" is among the [[List of the 72 names on the Eiffel Tower|72 names embossed on the Eiffel Tower]] (on the south-east side, fourth from the left). In the 19th century, as every lighthouse in France acquired a Fresnel lens, every one acquired a bust of Fresnel, seemingly watching over the coastline that he had made safer.<ref>Levitt, 2013, p.{{hsp}}233</ref>
 
{{clear}}
 
== Decline and death ==
 
[[File:Tombe d'Augustin Fresnel - Père Lachaise.JPG|thumb|Fresnel's grave at [[Père Lachaise Cemetery]], Paris, photographed in 2014.]]
 
Fresnel's health, which had always been poor, deteriorated in the winter of 1822-3, increasing the urgency of his original research, and causing him to turn down an invitation from Thomas Young to write an article on double refraction for the ''[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]''. In the spring he recovered enough, in his own view, to supervise the installation at Cordouan. Soon afterwards, it became clear that his condition was [[tuberculosis]].<ref>Levitt, 2013, pp.{{nnbsp}}75–6,{{nnbsp}}97</ref>
 
In 1824 he was told that if he wanted to live longer, he needed to scale back his activities. Perceiving his lighthouse work to be his most important duty, he resigned from the École Polytechnique. His last note to the Académie, read on 13&nbsp;June 1825, described the first [[radiometer]] and attributed the observed repulsive force to a temperature difference.{{r|boutry-1948|p=601–2}} In 1826 he found time to answer some queries from the British astronomer [[John Herschel]] for an article on light, which was eventually published in the ''[[Encyclopædia Metropolitana]]''.<ref>Darrigol, 2012, pp.{{nnbsp}}220–21.</ref> It was Herschel who recommended Fresnel for the Royal Society's Rumford Medal.{{r|boutry-1948|p=603}}
 
Fresnel's cough worsened in the winter of 1826-7. In the spring, being too ill to return to Mathieu, he was carried to [[Ville-d'Avray]], 12km west of Paris, where he was joined by his mother. On 6&nbsp;July, Arago arrived to deliver the Rumford Medal. Sensing Arago's distress, Fresnel whispered that "the most beautiful crown means little, when it is laid on the grave of a friend." Fresnel did not have the strength to reply to the Royal Society. He died eight days later, on [[Bastille Day]].<ref>Levitt, 2013, p.{{hsp}}98.</ref>{{r|boutry-1948|p=602}}
 
Fresnel is buried at [[Père Lachaise Cemetery]], Paris. The [[commons:category:Grave of Augustin Fresnel (Père-Lachaise, division 14)|inscription on his headstone]] is partly eroded away; the legible part says, when translated, "To the memory of Augustin Jean FRESNEL, member of the [[Institut de France|Institute of France]]."
 
{{clear}}
 
== Posthumous publications ==
 
&nbsp;
 
== Unfinished business ==
 
=== Ether models ===
 
&nbsp;
 
=== Conical refraction ===
 
&nbsp;
 
== Legacy ==
 
[[File:Cordouan6.jpg|thumb|The lantern room of the [[Cordouan Lighthouse]], in which the first Fresnel lens entered service in 1823. The current fixed catadioptric "beehive" lens replaced Fresnel's original rotating lens in 1854.{{r|pharedeC}}]]
 
With a century after Fresnel's initial proposal, more than 10,000 lights with Fresnel lenses marked coastlines around the world.<ref>Levitt, 2013, p.{{hsp}}19.</ref> The numbers of lives saved can only be guessed at. Concerning the other benefits, the science historian Theresa H. Levitt has remarked:{{quote|Everywhere I looked, the story repeated itself. The moment a Fresnel lens appeared at a ___location was the moment that region becamed linked into the world economy.<ref>Levitt, 2013, p.{{hsp}}8.</ref>}}
 
In the history of physical optics, Fresnel's successful revival of the wave theory seems to identify him as the pivotal figure between Newton, who held that light consisted of corpuscles, and [[James Clerk Maxwell|Maxwell]], who established that light waves are electromagnetic. Whereas [[Albert Einstein|Einstein]] described Maxwell's work as "the most profound and the most fruitful that physics has experienced since the time of Newton,"{{r|jamesCMF}} commentators of the era between Fresnel and Maxwell made similarly strong statements about Fresnel:
 
* MacCullagh, as early as 1830, wrote that Fresnel's mechanical theory of double refraction "would do honour to the sagacity of Newton".{{r|macCullagh-1830|p=78}}.
 
* Lloyd, after his experimental confirmation of conical refraction, lived for another 48 years. In 1834, in his ''Report on the progress and present state of physical optics'' for the [[British Association for the Advancement of Science|British Science Association]], he wrote:<blockquote>The theory of Fresnel… will, I&nbsp;am persuaded, be regarded as the finest generalization in physical science which has been made since the discovery of universal gravitation.{{r|lloyd-1834|p=382}}</blockquote>In 1841 Lloyd published his ''Lectures on the Wave-theory of Light'', in which he described Fresnel's transverse-wave theory as "the noblest fabric which has ever adorned the ___domain of physical science, Newton's system of the universe alone excepted."{{r|lloyd-1841}} The same description was retained in the "second edition", published under the title ''Elementary Treatise on the Wave-theory of Light'' (1857), and in the "third edition",{{r|lloyd-1873}} which appeared in the same year as Maxwell's ''Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism'' (1873).<br style="margin-bottom: 1ex;" />
 
* [[William Whewell]], in all three editions of his ''History of the Inductive Sciences'' (1837, 1847, and 1857), at the end of Book&nbsp;IX, compared the histories of physical astronomy and physical optics and concluded:{{quote|It would, perhaps, be too fanciful to attempt to establish a parallelism between the prominent persons who figure in these two histories. If we were to do this, we must consider Huyghens and Hooke as standing in the place of Copernicus, since, like him, they announced the true theory, but left it to a future age to give it development and mechanical confirmation; Malus and Brewster, grouping them together, correspond to [[Tycho Brahe]] and [[Johannes Kepler|Kepler]], laborious in accumulating observations, inventive and happy in discovering laws of phenomena; and Young and Fresnel combined, make up the Newton of optical science.{{r|whewell-1857|p=370-71}} }}
 
What Whewell called the "true theory" has since undergone two major revisions. The first, by Maxwell, specified the physical fields whose variations constitute the waves of light. The second, initiated by Einstein's explanation of the [[photoelectric effect]], supposed that the energy of light waves was divided into [[quantum|quanta]], which were eventually identified with particles called [[photon|photons]]. But photons did not exactly correspond to Newton's corpuscles; for example, Newton's explanation of ordinary refraction required the corpuscles to travel faster in media of higher refractive index, which photons do not. Nor did photons displace waves; rather, they led to the paradox of [[wave–particle duality]].
 
Although Fresnel did not know that light waves are electromagnetic, he managed to construct the world's first coherent theory of light. In retrospect, this shows that his methods are applicable to multiple types of waves. And although light is now known to have both wavelike and particle-like aspects, it is the wavelike aspect that more easily explains the phenomena studied by Fresnel. In these respects, Fresnel's theory has stood the test of time, and Whewell's premature triumphalism contains an abiding truth.
 
== References ==
 
{{Reflist|30em|refs=
 
<ref name=carcione-cavallini-1995>J.M. Carcione and F. Cavallini, [http://www.lucabaradello.it/carcione/CC95b.pdf "On the acoustic-electromagnetic analogy"], ''Wave Motion'', vol.{{nnbsp}}21 (1995), pp.{{nnbsp}}149–62. (Note that the authors' analogy is only two-dimensional.)</ref>
<ref name=academie>Académie des Sciences, ''Membres…'' [http://www.academie-sciences.fr/pdf/dossiers/Fresnel/Fresnel_oeuvre.htm "Augustin Fresnel"], accessed 21&nbsp;August 2017; [https://web.archive.org/web/20170215201835/http://www.academie-sciences.fr/pdf/dossiers/Fresnel/Fresnel_oeuvre.htm archived] 15&nbsp;February 2017.</ref>
 
<ref name=feynman-1963>R.P. Feynman, R.B. Leighton, and M.&nbsp;Sands, ''The Feynman Lectures on Physics'', California Institute of Technology, 1963–2013, Volume&nbsp;{{serif|I}}, [https://feynmanlectures.caltech.edu/I_33.html Lecture&nbsp;33].</ref>
<ref name=appleton-1861>D. Appleton &amp; Co., "Sea-lights", ''Dictionary of Machines, Mechanics, Engine-work, and Engineering'', 1861, [https://archive.org/details/appletonsdiction02appl v.2].</ref>
 
<ref name=jenkins-white-1976>Cf.&nbsp; F.A. Jenkins and H.E. White, ''Fundamentals of Optics'', 4th&nbsp;Ed., New&nbsp;York: McGraw-Hill, 1976, {{ISBN|0-07-032330-5}}, pp.{{nnbsp}}553–4, including Fig.{{nnbsp}}26{{serif|I}}.</ref>
<ref name=bibmed>Bibliothèques et Médiathèque, [http://www.culture-evreux.fr/EXPLOITATION/Default/doc/ALOES/1587928/inauguration-a-broglie-le-14-septembre-1884-du-buste-d-augustin-fresnel "Inauguration à Broglie, le 14 septembre 1884 du buste d'Augustin Fresnel"], accessed 4&nbsp;September 2017.</ref>
 
<ref name=boutrylunney-1948weaire-2006>J.G.-A Lunney and D. BoutryWeaire, "AugustinThe Fresnel:ins Hisand time,outs lifeof and work,conical 1788–1827refraction", ''ScienceEurophysics ProgressNews'', vvol.36{{nnbsp}}37, no.144{{hsp}}3 (October 1948May–June&nbsp;2006), pp. 587–604;{{nnbsp}}26–9, [httphttps://wwwdx.jstordoi.org/stable10.1051/43413515epn:2006305 jstordoi.org/stable10.1051/43413515epn:2006305], at pp.{{nnbsp}}26–7.</ref>
 
<ref name=luntz>M. Luntz (?) et al., [https://www.britannica.com/science/radiation/The-structure-and-properties-of-matter#ref398787 "Double refraction"], ''Encyclopædia Britannica'', accessed 15&nbsp;September 2017.</ref>
<ref name=brock-1909>H.M. Brock, [[s:Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Augustin-Jean Fresnel|"Fresnel, Augustin-Jean"]], ''Catholic Encyclopedia'', 1907–12, v.6&nbsp;(1909).</ref>
 
<ref name=merriamW>Merriam-Webster, Inc., [https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/plane%20of%20polarization "Plane of polarization"], accessed 15&nbsp;September 2017.</ref>
<ref name=chisholm-1911-brewster>H. Chisholm (ed.), "Brewster, Sir David", ''Encyclopedia Britannica'', 11th&nbsp;Ed., 1911, [http://www.gutenberg.org/files/19699/19699-h/19699-h.htm v.4,&nbsp;pt.3].</ref>
 
<ref name=stokes-1849>G.G. Stokes, [https://archive.org/stream/transactionsofca09camb#page/n15/mode/2up "On the dynamical theory of diffraction"] (read 26&nbsp;November 1849), ''Transactions of the Cambridge Philosophical Society'', vol.{{nnbsp}}9, part&nbsp;1 (1851), pp.{{nnbsp}}1–62, at pp.{{nnbsp}}4–5.</ref>
<ref name=chisholm-1911-fresnel>H. Chisholm (ed.), [http://www.gutenberg.org/files/37736/37736-h/37736-h.htm#ar19 "Fresnel, Augustin Jean"], ''Encyclopedia Britannica'', 11th&nbsp;Ed., 1911.</ref>
 
<ref name=chisholm-1911-lighthouse>H. Chisholm (ed.), [http://www.gutenberg.org/files/41472/41472-h/41472-h.htm#ar2 "Lighthouse"], ''Encyclopedia Britannica'', 11th&nbsp;Ed., 1911.</ref>
 
<ref name=condorcet-1790>Nicolas de Condorcet, [https://books.google.com.au/books?id=o99ZAAAAcAAJ ''Éloge de M.&nbsp;le Comte de Buffon''], Paris: Chez Buisson, 1790, pp.&nbsp;11–12.</ref>
 
<ref name=favre>J.H. Favre, "Augustin Fresnel", gw.geneanet.org, accessed 30&nbsp;August 2017.</ref>
 
<ref name=fresnel-1819b>A. Fresnel, "Mémoire sur la diffraction de la lumière" (deposited 1818, "crowned" 1819), in ''Oeuvres complètes'', [https://books.google.com/books?id=1l0_AAAAcAAJ v.1], pp.&nbsp;247&ndash;364, partly translated as "Fresnel's prize memoir on the diffraction of light", in [https://archive.org/details/wavetheoryofligh00crewrich Crew, 1900], pp.&nbsp;81&ndash;144. (Not to be confused with the earlier memoir of the same title in ''Annales de Chimie et de Physique'', 1:239&ndash;81, 1816.)</ref>
 
<ref name=fresnel-1822-phares>A. Fresnel, "Mémoire sur un nouveau système d'éclairage des phares", read at the Académie des Sciences on 29&nbsp;July 1822, translated by T.&nbsp;Tag as [http://uslhs.org/sites/default/files/attached-files/Fresnel%27s%20Memoire%20-%20Translation.pdf "Memoir Upon A New System Of Lighthouse Illumination"], U.S. Lighthouse Society, accessed 26&nbsp;August 2017; [https://web.archive.org/web/20160819111647/http://uslhs.org/sites/default/files/attached-files/Fresnel's%20Memoire%20-%20Translation.pdf archived] 19&nbsp;August 2016.</ref>
 
<ref name=gombert-2017>D. Gombert, photograph of the [https://www.flickr.com/photos/gebete29/32970312394/in/photostream/ ''Optique de Cordouan''] in the [http://www.pnr-armorique.fr/Visiter/Musees-maisons-a-themes/Musee-des-Phares-et-Balises/collection-du-musee collection of the ''Musée des Phares et Balises''], [[Ushant|Ouessant]], France, 23&nbsp;March 2017.</ref>
 
<ref name=jamesCMF>James Clerk Maxwell Foundation, [http://www.clerkmaxwellfoundation.org/html/about_maxwell.html "Who was James Clerk Maxwell?"], accessed 6&nbsp;August 2017; [https://web.archive.org/web/20170630003106/http://www.clerkmaxwellfoundation.org/html/about_maxwell.html archived] 30&nbsp;June 2017.</ref>
 
<ref name=jamin-1884>J. Jamin, [http://www.academie-sciences.fr/pdf/dossiers/Fresnel/Fresnel_pdf/Fresnel_eloge_1884.pdf ''Discours prononcé au nom de l'Académie des Sciences à l'inauguration du monument de Fresnel''], Broglie, 14&nbsp;September 1884; accessed 6&nbsp;September 2017.</ref>
 
<ref name=jeanelie>'jeanelie' (author), "Augustine Charlotte Marie Louise Merimee" and "Louis Jacques Fresnel", gw.geneanet.org, accessed 30&nbsp;August 2017.</ref>
 
<ref name=kneller-1911>K.A. Kneller (tr. T.M. Kettle), [https://archive.org/details/christianitylead00knelrich ''Christianity and the Leaders of Modern Science: A contribution to the history of culture in the nineteenth century''], Freiburg im Breisgau: B.&nbsp;Herder, 1911, pp.&nbsp;147–9.</ref>
 
<ref name=lloyd-1834>H. Lloyd, "Report on the progress and present state of physical optics", [https://books.google.com/books?id=mtU4AAAAMAAJ ''Report of the Fourth Meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science''] (held at Edinburgh in 1834), London: J.&nbsp;Murray, 1835, pp.&nbsp;295–413.</ref>
 
<ref name=lloyd-1841>H. Lloyd, [https://archive.org/details/lecturesonwavet00lloygoog ''Lectures on the Wave-theory of Light''], Dublin: Milliken, 1841, Part&nbsp;II, Lecture&nbsp;III, p.26.</ref>
 
<ref name=lloyd-1873>H. Lloyd, ''Elementary Treatise on the Wave-theory of Light'', [https://archive.org/details/elementarytreati00lloyrich 3rd&nbsp;Ed.], London: Longmans, Green, &amp; Co., 1873, p.167. (Cf.&nbsp;[https://archive.org/details/wavetheorylight00lloyrich 2nd&nbsp;Ed.], 1857, p.136.)</ref>
 
<ref name=macCullagh-1830>J. MacCullagh, "On the Double Refraction of Light in a Crystallized Medium, according to the Principles of Fresnel", ''Trans. Royal Irish Academy'', v.16&nbsp;(1830), pp.&nbsp;65–78; [http://www.jstor.org/stable/30079025 jstor.org/stable/30079025].</ref>
 
<ref name=martan-2014>'martan' (author), [http://maisons.natales.over-blog.com/2014/05/eure-27.html "Eure&nbsp;(27)"], ''Guide National des Maisons Natales'', 30&nbsp;May 2014.</ref>
 
<ref name=musee>Musée national de la Marine, [http://mnm.webmuseo.com/ws/musee-national-marine/app/collection/record/9067 "Appareil catadioptrique, Appareil du canal Saint-Martin"], accessed 26&nbsp;August 2017; [https://web.archive.org/web/20170826030358/http://mnm.webmuseo.com/ws/musee-national-marine/app/collection/record/9067 archived] 26&nbsp;August 2017.</ref>
 
<ref name=perchet-2011>D. Perchet, [https://e-monumen.net/patrimoine-monumental/monument-a-augustin-fresnel-broglie/ "Monument à Augustin Fresnel – Broglie"], e-monumen.net, 5&nbsp;July 2011.</ref>
 
<ref name=pharedeC>Phare de Cordouan, [http://www.phare-de-cordouan.fr/lighting-systems.html "The lighting systems of the Cordouan Lighthouse"], accessed 26&nbsp;August 2017; [https://web.archive.org/web/20160922153001/http://www.phare-de-cordouan.fr/lighting-systems.html archived] 22&nbsp;September 2016.</ref>
 
<ref name=rines-1919>G.E. Rines (ed.), "Fresnel, Augustin Jean", ''Encyclopedia Americana'', 1918–20, v.12 (1919), [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=wu.89094370657;view=1up;seq=111 p.93]. (This entry inaccurately describes Fresnel as the "discoverer" of polarization of light and as a "Fellow" of the Royal Society, whereas in fact he ''explained'' polarization and was a "Foreign Member" of the Society; see text.)</ref>
 
<ref name=ripley-dana-1879>G. Ripley &amp; C.A.&nbsp;Dana (ed.), "Fresnel, Augustin Jean", ''American Cyclopedia'', [https://archive.org/details/americancyclopae07ripluoft v.7], pp.486–9.</ref> (Contrary to this entry&nbsp;[p.486], calcite and quartz were ''not'' the only doubly refractive crystals known before Fresnel; see text.)</ref>
 
<ref name=royalS-2007>Royal Society, ''List of Fellows of the Royal Society 1660–2007'', A–J, July 2001, p.{{hsp}}130.</ref>
 
<ref name=royalS-rumford>Royal Society, [https://royalsociety.org/grants-schemes-awards/awards/rumford-medal/ "Rumford Medal"] (with link to full list of past winners), accessed 2&nbsp;September 2017.</ref>
 
<ref name=silliman-2008>R.H.&nbsp;Silliman, "Fresnel, Augustin Jean", ''Complete Dictionary of Scientific Biography'', Detroit: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2008, v.5, pp.&nbsp;165–71. (The [http://www.encyclopedia.com/people/science-and-technology/physics-biographies/augustin-jean-fresnel version at ''encyclopedia.com''] lacks the diagram and equations.)</ref>
 
<ref name=tag-2017>T. Tag, [http://uslhs.org/chronology-lighthouse-events "Chronology of Lighthouse Events"], U.S. Lighthouse Society, accessed 22&nbsp;August 2017; [https://web.archive.org/web/20170408105558/http://uslhs.org/chronology-lighthouse-events archived] 8&nbsp;April 2017.</ref>
 
<ref name=tag-prior>T. Tag, [http://uslhs.org/lens-use-prior-fresnel "Lens use prior to Fresnel"], U.S. Lighthouse Society, accessed 12&nbsp;August 2017; [https://web.archive.org/web/20170520114102/http://uslhs.org/lens-use-prior-fresnel archived] 20&nbsp;May 2017.</ref>
 
<ref name=tag-fres>T. Tag, [http://uslhs.org/fresnel-lens "The Fresnel lens"], U.S. Lighthouse Society, accessed 12&nbsp;August 2017; [https://web.archive.org/web/20160722002916/http://uslhs.org/fresnel-lens archived] 22&nbsp;July 2017.</ref>
 
<ref name=watson-2016>B. Watson, ''Light: A Radiant History from Creation to the Quantum Age'', New York: Bloomsbury, 2016.</ref>
 
<ref name=whewell-1857>W. Whewell, ''History of the Inductive Sciences: From the Earliest to the Present Time'', 3rd&nbsp;Ed., London: J.W. Parker &amp; Son, 1857, [https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_cBSrVEkaR8EC v.2].</ref>
 
<ref name=whittaker-1910>E.T. Whittaker, [https://archive.org/details/historyoftheorie00whitrich ''A History of the Theories of Aether and Electricity: From the age of Descartes to the close of the nineteenth century''], Longmans, Green, &amp; Co., 1910.</ref>
 
<ref name=young-mw>T. Young (ed.&nbsp;G.&nbsp;Peacock), ''Miscellaneous Works of the late Thomas Young'', London: J.&nbsp;Murray, 1855, [https://books.google.com/books?id=GyzPAAAAMAAJ v.I].</ref>
 
}}
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== Bibliography ==
 
* HW.S. Crew (ed.)Aldis, 19001879, [https://archive.org/details/wavetheoryofligh00crewrichchapteronfresnel00aldirich ''TheA WaveChapter on Fresnel's Theory of Light:Double MemoirsRefraction''], by Huygens2nd&nbsp;Ed., YoungCambridge: andDeighton, Fresnel'']Bell, American Book& Co. / London: George Bell & Sons.
* M. Born and E. Wolf, 1970, ''[[Principles of Optics]]'', 4th&nbsp;Ed., Oxford: Pergamon Press.
* J.Z. Buchwald, 1989, ''The Rise of the Wave Theory of Light: Optical Theory and Experiment in the Early Nineteenth Century'', University of Chicago Press, {{ISBN|0-226-07886-8}}.
* O. Darrigol, 2012, ''A History of Optics: From Greek Antiquity to the Nineteenth Century'', Oxford, {{ISBN|978-0-19-964437-7}}.
* A. Fresnel, 1822, ''De la Lumière'' (''On Light''), in J.&nbsp;Riffault&nbsp;(ed.), [https://books.google.com/books?id=DOoTAAAAQAAJ ''Supplément à la traduction française de la cinquième édition du "Système de Chimie" par Th.{{tsp}}Thomson''], Paris: Chez Méquignon-Marvis, 1822, pp.{{nnbsp}}1–137,{{tsp}}535–9; reprinted in Fresnel, 1866–70, vol.{{nnbsp}}2, [https://books.google.com/books?id=g6tzUG7JmoQC&pg=PA3 pp.{{nnbsp}}3–146]; translated by T.&nbsp;Young as "Elementary view of the undulatory theory of light", ''Quarterly Journal of Science, Literature, and Art'', vol.{{nnbsp}}22 (Jan.–{{hsp}}Jun.{{tsp}}1827), pp.{{nnbsp}}[https://books.google.com/books?id=C7JMAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA127 127–41], [https://books.google.com/books?id=C7JMAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA441 441–54]; vol.{{nnbsp}}23 (Jul.–{{hsp}}Dec.{{tsp}}1827), pp.{{nnbsp}}[https://books.google.com/books?id=r7VMAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA113 113–35], [https://books.google.com/books?id=r7VMAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA431 431–48]; vol.{{nnbsp}}24 (Jan.–{{hsp}}Jun.{{tsp}}1828), pp.{{nnbsp}}[https://books.google.com/books?id=SbJMAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA198 198–215]; vol.{{nnbsp}}25 (Jul.–{{hsp}}Dec.{{tsp}}1828), pp.{{nnbsp}}[https://books.google.com/books?id=N69MAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA168 168–91], [https://books.google.com/books?id=N69MAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA389 389–407]; vol.{{nnbsp}}26 (Jan.–{{hsp}}Jun.{{tsp}}1829), pp.{{nnbsp}}[https://books.google.com/books?id=OyMFAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA159 159–65].<!-- Volume numbers extrapolated from biodiversitylibrary.org/bibliography/2259. -->
* A. Fresnel, 1827, "Mémoire sur la double réfraction", ''Mémoires de l'Académie Royale des Sciences de l'Institut de France'', vol.{{nnbsp}}{{serif|VII}} (for 1824, printed 1827), [https://archive.org/details/mmoiresdelacad07memo/page/44 pp.{{nnbsp}}45–176]; reprinted as "Second mémoire…" in Fresnel, 1866–70, vol.{{nnbsp}}2, [https://books.google.com/books?id=g6tzUG7JmoQC&pg=PA479 pp.{{nnbsp}}479–596]; translated by A.W.&nbsp;Hobson as [https://archive.org/details/scientificmemoir05memo/page/238 "Memoir on double refraction"], in R.{{nnbsp}}Taylor (ed.), ''Scientific Memoirs'', vol.{{nnbsp}}{{serif|V}} (London: Taylor & Francis, 1852), pp.{{nnbsp}}238–333. (Cited page numbers are from the translation.)
* A. Fresnel (ed.{{tsp}} H. de Senarmont, E.&nbsp;Verdet, and L.&nbsp;Fresnel), 1866–70, ''Oeuvres complètes d'Augustin Fresnel'' (3&nbsp;volumes), Paris: Imprimerie Impériale; [https://books.google.com/books?id=1l0_AAAAcAAJ vol.{{nnbsp}}1&nbsp;(1866)], [https://books.google.com/books?id=g6tzUG7JmoQC vol.{{nnbsp}}2&nbsp;(1868)], [https://books.google.com/books?id=Zm0VHAcxjV4C vol.{{nnbsp}}3&nbsp;(1870)].
* E. Hecht, 2017, ''Optics'', 5th Ed., Pearson Education, {{ISBN|978-1-292-09693-3}}.
* C. Huygens, 1690, ''Traité de la Lumière'' (Leiden: Van der Aa), translated by S.P.&nbsp;Thompson as ''[http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/14725 Treatise on Light]'', University of Chicago Press, 1912; Project Gutenberg, 2005. (Cited page numbers match the 1912 edition and the Gutenberg HTML edition.)
* B. Powell (July&nbsp;1856), [https://archive.org/stream/s4philosophicalmag12londuoft#page/n13/mode/2up "On the demonstration of Fresnel's formulas for reflected and refracted light; and their applications"], ''Philosophical Magazine and Journal of Science'', Series&nbsp;4, vol.{{nnbsp}}12, no.{{hsp}}76, pp.{{nnbsp}}1–20.
* J.A. Stratton, 1941, ''Electromagnetic Theory'', New York: McGraw-Hill.
* [[E. T. Whittaker]], 1910, [[A History of the Theories of Aether and Electricity|''A History of the Theories of Aether and Electricity: From the Age of Descartes to the Close of the Nineteenth Century'']], London: Longmans, Green, & Co.
 
{{vpad|1=1ex}}
* O. Darrigol, 2012, ''A History of Optics: From Greek Antiquity to the Nineteenth Century'', Oxford.
 
{{Portal bar|History of science|Physics}}
* A. Fresnel (ed. H. de Senarmont, E.&nbsp;Verdet, L.&nbsp;Frenel), 1866–70, ''Oeuvres complètes d'Augustin Fresnel'' (3 vols.), Paris: Imprimerie Impériale; [https://books.google.com/books?id=1l0_AAAAcAAJ v.1&nbsp;(1866)], [https://archive.org/details/oeuvrescompltes00fresgoog v.2&nbsp;(1868)], [https://archive.org/details/oeuvrescompltes01fresgoog v.3&nbsp;(1870)].
 
* T.H. Levitt, 2013, ''A Short Bright Flash: Augustin Fresnel and the Birth of the Modern Lighthouse'', New York: W.W.&nbsp;Norton.
 
* {{OL author|2296238A}}
 
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