LIGHT TRAJECTORY IN GEOMETRICAL-OPTICS AND METRIC OPTICS

Authors
Citation
St. Zhu et Wd. Shen, LIGHT TRAJECTORY IN GEOMETRICAL-OPTICS AND METRIC OPTICS, Science in China. Series A, Mathematics, Physics, Astronomy & Technological Sciences, 40(7), 1997, pp. 755-760
Citations number
13
Categorie Soggetti
Multidisciplinary Sciences
ISSN journal
10016511
Volume
40
Issue
7
Year of publication
1997
Pages
755 - 760
Database
ISI
SICI code
1001-6511(1997)40:7<755:LTIGAM>2.0.ZU;2-D
Abstract
The light trajectory in an inhomogeneous medium is studied by the vari ation of Lagrangians L and L which correspond to Fermat's principle in the geometrical optics and the null geodesic in the metric optics, re spectively. The relation between the metric coefficients of the three- dimensional space and of the four-dimensional space-time is establishe d. The physical meaning of the equivalence and difference of both the descriptions is revealed. It is shown that Fermat's principle is a dir ect result of the null geodesic.