Final answer:
The process of creating identical light waves from an original wave is called laser, based on Einstein's theory of stimulated emission. Lasers produce coherent light and are explained by the wave-like properties of light, which include interference, diffraction, and polarization.
Step-by-step explanation:
The process of using a light wave to produce more waves with properties identical to those of the first wave is known as light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation, or laser, for short. In 1917, Albert Einstein proposed the concept of stimulated emission, where an excited atom emits a photon in the presence of another photon with the same energy, resulting in two in-phase photons. This phenomenon is what lasers are based on, creating a stream of coherent light.
Lasers embody the wave-like characteristics of light, which include interference and diffraction patterns. Constructive interference of light waves can amplify the resultant wave, exhibiting the wave model of light. Understanding the particle nature of light is also important, as it can explain how light can also be seen as a stream of photons.
By utilizing equations, one can calculate light-wave properties such as frequency, wavelength, and energy. These characteristics aid in distinguishing between line and continuous emission spectra and in explaining the behavior of light through polarization, where light waves vibrate in a single plane.