Editing Huygens–Fresnel principle (section)

{{Short description|Method of analysis}}

The '''Huygens–Fresnel principle''' (named after [[Netherlands|Dutch]] [[physicist]] [[Christiaan Huygens]] and [[France|French]] physicist [[Augustin-Jean Fresnel]]) states that every point on a [[wavefront]] is itself the source of spherical wavelets, and the secondary wavelets emanating from different points mutually [[Wave interference|interfere]].<ref name="MathPages">{{cite web | title=Huygens' Principle | website=MathPages | url=https://www.mathpages.com/home/kmath242/kmath242.htm | access-date=2017-10-03}}</ref> The sum of these spherical wavelets forms a new wavefront. As such, the Huygens-Fresnel principle is a method of analysis applied to problems of luminous [[wave propagation]] both in the [[Far-field diffraction pattern|far-field limit]] and in near-field [[diffraction]] as well as [[Reflection (physics)|reflection]].