Parameter definitions for "huygens"

The program simulates the wave propagation through vertical slits (along the Z axis) in a screen at X=0. There are two outputs displayed: a grey-scale ``wave tank'' view of the wave amplitude in the XY plane (default 10m by 10m), and the wave average intensity (or alternatively the instantaneous amplitude) at a screen at large X (default distance 100m).

There are two sliders for setting the properties of the waves:

Lambda sets the wavelength of the wave in meters, and
Phase sets the phase of the light incident as it passes through the slits.

There are two sliders for setting the properties of the slits:

d sets the overall height of the array of slits, in meters. If there is only one slit, d is irrelevant; if there are two slits, it gives the distance between their centers. If there are more than two slits, it gives the distance between the centers of the bottom-most and top-most slit. For more than two slits, it does NOT give the distance between centers of neighboring slits.
a gives the width of the slits in meters. Since we're often interested in slits of very small width, we treat a=0 in a special way. Of course, a slit of zero width should let in no waves! Instead, for a=0 we make the intensity of the waves equal to Amplitude Per Point Source (described under Configure below).

There is a button, a menu, and a text input to control the graph.

copy graph button to the right of the graph selection menu allows you to capture a plot; you can then combine plots, print plots, save plots, ...
intensity/amplitude menu lets you look at the average intensity incident on the screen, or the instantaneous amplitude of the wave at the screen.
Your Name: Type your name in here, so your graphs will be labelled correctly.

There are three number inputs, three buttons, and a menu for overall control of our simulation.

X Screen is the X-value of the intensity-plot screen position, in meters. Default 100m.
Screen size The width in meters of the intensity-plot screen. Default 150m.
Quit: Exit the program.
help... Hypertext help and discussion of the assignments and lab.
configure... Allows one to reset most of the parameters in the simulation. The parameters in the configuration file are described on a separate page.
presets Starts up one of various preset configurations, for various sections of the lab and/or for homework problems. You can save the current configuration of the system using ``save...'', and search for other presets (e.g., ones you stored in other directories) using ``load...''
Number of Slits allows you to study single slits, double slits, triple ...

Statistical Mechanics: Entropy, Order Parameters, and Complexity, now available at Oxford University Press (USA, Europe).