EMANIM

EMANIM is an application for visualization of electromagnetic waves.

Its main features are:

• Live, three-dimensional presentation
• Interactive mouse rotation and zoom
• Continuous wave propagation animation
• Either or both of the two waves, and possibly their superposition, can be displayed
• The electric field vectors are displayed in two planes that intersect the path of light
• Wave parameters such as polarization type, wavelength, amplitude and phase difference can be interactively changed
• NEW: The direction of a single wave can be reversed
• To display the interaction of light and matter, a piece of material can be placed in the light path
• The properties of this piece of material, such as length, extinction coefficients and refractive indices, can be interactively changed
• User-configurable colours

EMANIM can help the user understand a wide range of phenomena related to electromagnetic waves, from the simplest, such as a single wave in a vacuum, to the most complex, such as circular dichroism. Its features that support learning are:

• 19 predefined parameter sets representing important physical phenomena
• A brief explanation of each phenomenon appears whenever the user selects a phenomenon from the menu
• Phenomena from the following basic categories:

- Types of polarization (linear, circular)
- Superposition of waves
- Wave interference, including standing waves (NEW)
- Interaction of light and matter (absorption, refraction)
- Light in anisotropic materials (dichroism and birefringence)
- Light in optically active materials (circular dichroism and birefringence) - Instructions are shown to indicate that the parameters vary in order to better understand the phenomenon
- Five predefined views to view the phenomena from the most optimal "camera angles"