= Microwave
{wiki}
A <microwave> is a short-wavelength <radio wave>, commonly on millimetre-to-centimetre scales. Like other <electromagnetic waves>, it carries <energy> through coupled <electric fields> and <magnetic fields>; its scale makes conducting <waveguides> and resonant cavities practical.
A source, conducting guide, movable probe and detector can map a <standing wave> produced by reflection. Neighboring amplitude maxima are separated by half the guide <wavelength>, which need not equal the free-space <wavelength> because guided propagation has its own <dispersion relation>. Microwaves also drive suitable molecular or <spin> transitions, linking cavity apparatus to spectroscopy.
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