wavefront

British

/ ˈweɪvˌfrʌnt /

noun

physics a surface associated with a propagating wave and passing through all points in the wave that have the same phase. It is usually perpendicular to the direction of propagation

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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wavefront

Broadband achromatic wavefront control is a key requirement for next-generation optical technologies, including full-color imaging and multi-spectral sensing.

From Science Daily ● Feb. 5, 2026

FROSTI, short for FROnt Surface Type Irradiator, is a precision wavefront control system designed to cancel out distortions produced when intense laser light heats LIGO's optics.

From Science Daily ● Dec. 4, 2025

The photonic lantern divides the incoming light into multiple channels based on how the light wavefront is shaped, much like separating the notes of a musical chord.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 25, 2025

The wavelets closer to the left have had time to travel farther, producing a wavefront traveling in the direction shown.

From Textbooks ● Aug. 12, 2015

Since the speed of light is smaller in the second medium, the waves do not travel as far in a given time, and the new wavefront changes direction as shown.

From Textbooks ● Aug. 12, 2015

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023