Devlog #64 – Wave 44: Derivative Visualizer, Holography & Superconductivity

Wave 44 spans three very different physics scales — from freshman calculus to quantum condensed matter — with three richly interactive simulations: a Derivative Visualizer that animates the h → 0 limit, a dual-panel Holography lab that records and reconstructs interference patterns, and a multi-view Superconductivity simulator covering BCS Cooper pairs, Meissner levitation, and Abrikosov vortices. Platform now at 505 simulations.

Release Stats

505
Total simulations
64
Devlog entries
44
Release waves
3
Categories touched

New Simulations

📐

Derivative Visualizer

The limit definition of the derivative made visible. Drag the point, set h with a slider or press "Shrink h → 0" to animate the secant converging to the tangent. Eight functions: sin, cos, x², x³, eˣ, ln, √x, |x|.

Open simulation →
🔮

Holography

Record mode: object point source + tilted plane reference wave interfere as an animated pixel-by-pixel pattern. Reconstruct mode: the hologram diffracts the reference beam, reproducing the virtual image. Adjustable λ, angle, and object position.

Open simulation →
🧲

Superconductivity

Three views in one: BCS Cooper pairs gliding through a crystal lattice, Meissner effect expelling field lines, and Abrikosov vortices in the Type II mixed state. Five material presets from Hg (4.2 K) to YBCO (93 K).

Open simulation →

Technical Highlights

📐 Derivative Visualizer: h → 0 Animation

The simulation maintains two animated curve segments on a Canvas 740×440 frame: the dashed cyan secant line (x₀, f(x₀)) → (x₀+h, f(x₀+h)) with opacity scaled by h/0.5, and the solid yellow tangent line slope = f′(x₀). The "Shrink h → 0" animation multiplies h by 0.97 per requestAnimationFrame tick — a smooth exponential decay that visually demonstrates convergence. View bounds auto-adjust per function (e.g., exp uses x ∈ [−1.5, 2.5], ln uses x ∈ [−0.5, 5]).

The |x| function at x=0 intentionally shows a non-differentiable point: the analytic derivative is undefined (x/|x|) and the secant slope oscillates between +1 and −1 regardless of h — a striking visual illustration of why the cusp fails the limit test.

🔮 Holography: ImageData Wave Optics

Each animation frame calls ctxS.createImageData(360, 320) and fills all 115,200 pixels in two nested loops. The reference wave phase at pixel (px, py) is: φ_ref = k·(sin θ·px + cos θ·py), where k = 2π/(λ/40) maps nanometres to on-screen pixels (1 unit = 40 px). The object wave uses φ_obj = k·dist(px,py → ox,oy) with spherical decay ÷√(dist+1).

The hologram panel uses a static (non-animated) createImageData: it computes the interference intensity I = (1 + cos(φ_ref − φ_obj))/2 along the recording plane y position and spreads it vertically with a linear fade mask. The result accurately reproduces the fringe spacing expected from d = λ/(2 sin(θ/2)).

🧲 Superconductivity: Three-View Architecture

The superconductivity simulation renders two canvases simultaneously. The left canvas (380×320) alternates between three mode functions: drawBCS(), drawMeissner(), and drawVortex(). The right canvas (340×320) always shows the R(T) curve with the live temperature marker — a design decision that keeps the phase transition context always visible during exploration.

BCS mode uses 28 agent-electrons. Pairs have a fixed partner index and drift rightward at 0.6 px/frame, wrapping at canvas edge — simulating the ordered collective flow of the condensate. Normal electrons undergo Euler integration with random thermal kicks clamped to a speed that decreases as T → Tc. Vortex mode generates Abrikosov vortex objects only when Hc1(T) ≤ H ≤ Hc2(T) — correctly implementing the Type I/II thermodynamic distinction.

Note: The superconductivity simulator uses a phenomenological BCS gap as 2Δ = 3.52 k_B Tc (weak-coupling limit). Real materials like YBCO involve d-wave pairing and strong correlations beyond BCS — the simulation labels this clearly in the info panel.

What's Coming in Wave 45

The TODO backlog includes several fascinating candidates across underrepresented categories: Quantum Chromodynamics (colour confinement visualizer), Protein Folding (Ramachandran plot + energy landscape), Reaction Networks (Petri nets + stoichiometric matrices), and Topological Insulators (bulk-edge correspondence). We're also considering a deep-dive Fourier Series builder and an Enzyme Kinetics (Michaelis-Menten) simulation for biology students.

calculus derivative limit-definition holography wave-optics interference superconductivity BCS-theory Cooper-pairs Meissner-effect materials-science
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