Atomic, molecular, and optical physics the origin of the index of refraction treated an electron in an atomic system classically according to the model of Paul Drude and Hendrik Lorentz. The theory was developed to attempt to provide an origin for the wavelength-dependent refractive index "n" of a material. In this model, incident electromagnetic waves forced an electron bound to an atom to oscillate. The amplitude of the oscillation would then have a relationship to the frequency of the incident electromagnetic wave and the resonant frequencies of the oscillator. The superposition of these emitted waves from many oscillators would then lead to a wave which
Precursor (physics) a period corresponding to that of the highest-frequency component of the original impulse; with increasing time, components with lower and lower frequencies arrive, so the period of the precursor becomes longer and longer until the lowest-frequency component arrives. As more and more components arrive, the amplitude of the precursor also increases. The particular type of precursor characterized by increasing period and amplitude is known as the high-frequency Sommerfeld precursor. In a region of anomalous dispersion, where low-frequency components have faster group velocities than high-frequency ones, the opposite of the above situation occurs: the onset of the precursor is characterized by