The physics of light is relatively simple. Blender wants to look photorealistic, so cycles (a branched path tracer, commonly known as a ray tracer) almost perfectly models how light works. That means these emergent properties just work.

It wouldn't work under a rasteriser (Blender has one, called Eevee) as those operate using a complex series of approximations of reality that are more difficult to create but run far faster. But because Cycles (slower, but more realistic) operates by mimicking how light works this kind of thing is entirely possible.

Also keep in mind that Cycles and most renderers use a simplified version of physics—rather than pathtrace all wavelengths, they use a simplified RGB model, which means certain optical properties behave differently. For instance, you don’t get the chromatic aberration with the simulated lens.