Roy Lewallen wrote:
K7ITM wrote:
. . .
It's a useful visualization tool and design aid; it's a poor analysis
tool at best. At worst, it will lull you into building something that
just won't work, wasting time and resources.

In my opinion, the potential harm can be much worse. If it causes you to
buy into the notion that traveling waves interact in a linear medium,
that opens the door to a whole universe of invalid conclusions.

Here is how Hecht described interference in "Optics":
"... interference corresponds to the *interaction* of two or
more lightwaves yielding a resultant irradiance that deviates
from the sum of the component irradiances."

If traveling waves cannot interact in a linear medium, why
does Hecht say they do indeed interact?

To deny the body of laws of physics regarding EM waves from
the field of optics is an example of extreme ignorance.
--
73, Cecil http://www.w5dxp.com