Photographic simulation

Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Resonance Fine Art, Lincoln, Massachusetts, United States

Rays of light from a point source have passed through two successive layers of water, each having a wavy surface. The rays are interrupted by a plane screen located below them. The bright patches, or "caustics," are similar to what would be observed when sunlight shines on a swimming pool that has recently been disturbed. Recent investigations exploring the motion of electrons in random landscapes of hills and valleys led to this curiosity in water wave patterns. The refraction of rays at wavy surfaces is a three-dimensional analog version of the two-dimensional electron flow that I have been studying.