plane of incidence

American  

noun

Optics.

1. a plane determined by a given ray, incident on a surface, and the normal at the point where the incident ray strikes the surface.

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Etymology

Origin of plane of incidence

First recorded in 1825–35

Example Sentences

If the angle of incidence be small, and if the incident light be polarized in or perpendicularly to the plane of incidence, the reflected light is polarized in the opposite manner.

From Scientific American Supplement, No. 711, August 17, 1889 by Various

The secondary rays emitted by a metallic surface when struck by X rays vary, in fact, in intensity when the position of the plane of incidence round the primary pencil is changed.

From The New Physics and Its Evolution by Poincaré, Lucien