Definition:Plane Wave

Definition

A plane wave is a wave in a medium in space such that:

the disturbance is constant over all points in a plane perpendicular to the direction of propagation of the wave.

Wavefront

Let $\phi$ be a plane wave.

The perpendicular plane $P$ on which the disturbance is constant over all points of $P$ is called the wavefront of $\phi$.

Also see

• Results about plane waves can be found here.

Sources

• 1955: C.A. Coulson: Waves (7th ed.) ... (previous) ... (next): Chapter $\text {I}$: The Equation of Wave Motion: $\S 4$