Interference of light Interference of light

History of light.
Theories of light propagation in the 17th and 18th centuries During this period, many scientists proposed a wave theory of light based on experimental observations, including Robert Hooke, Christian Huygens and Leonhard Euler.[2] However, Isaac Newton, who did many experimental investigations of light, had rejected the wave theory of light and developed his corpuscular (or particle) theory according to which light is emitted from a luminous body in the form of tiny particles. This theory held sway until the beginning of the nineteenth century despite the fact that many phenomena, including diffraction effects at edges or in narrow apertures, colours in thin films and insect wings, and the apparent failure of light particles to crash into one another when two light beams crossed, could not be adequately explained by the corpuscular theory which, nonetheless, had many eminent supporters, including Pierre Simon de Laplace and Jean Baptiste Biot. [edit]Young's work on wave theory While studying medicine at Gttingen in the 1790s, Young wrote a thesis on the physical and mathematical properties of sound[3] and in 1799, he presented a paper to the Royal Society where he argued that light was also a wave motion. His idea was furiously opposed because it contradicted Newton, whose views were considered sacred. Nonetheless, he continued to develop his ideas. He believed that a wave model could much better explain many aspects of light propagation than the corpuscular model: A very extensive class of phenomena leads us still more directly to the same conclusion; they consist chiefly of the production of colours by means of transparent plates, and by diffraction or inflection, none of which have been explained upon the supposition of emanation, in a manner sufficiently minute or comprehensive to satisfy the most candid even of the advocates for the projectile system; while on the other hand all of them may be at once understood, from the effect of the interference of double lights, in a manner nearly similar to that which constitutes in sound the sensation of a beat, when two strings forming an imperfect unison, are heard to vibrate together.[4] Thomas Young's sketch of two-slit interference based on observations of water waves.[5] He demonstrated the phenomenon of interference in water waves. In 1803, he performed his famous double-slit experiment (strictly speaking, a double hole experiment) that he later described in a paper entitled "On the nature of light and colours": Supposing the light of any given colour to consist of undulations of a given breadth, or of a given frequency, it follows that these undulations must be liable to those effects which we have already examined in the case of the waves of water and the pulses of sound. It has been shown that two equal series of waves, proceeding from centres near each other, may be seen to destroy each other's effects at certain points, and at other points to redouble them; and the beating of two sounds has been explained from a similar Page 1 of 9

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interference. We are now to apply the same principles to the alternate union and extinction of colours. In order that the effects of two portions of light may be thus combined, it is necessary that they be derived from the same origin, and that they arrive at the same point by different paths, in directions not much deviating from each other. This deviation may be produced in one or both of the portions by diffraction, by reflection, by refraction, or by any of these effects combined; but the simplest case appears to be, when a beam of homogeneous light falls on a screen in which there are two very small holes or slits, which may be considered as centres of divergence, from whence the light is diffracted in every direction. In this case, when the two newly formed beams are received on a surface placed so as to intercept them, their light is divided by dark stripes into portions nearly equal, but becoming wider as the surface is more remote from the apertures, so as to subtend very nearly equal angles from the apertures at all distances, and wider also in the same proportion as the apertures are closer to each other. The middle of the two portions is always light, and the bright stripes on each side are at such distances, that the light coming to them from one of the apertures, must have passed through a longer space than that which comes from the other, by an interval which is equal to the breadth of one, two, three, or more of the supposed undulations, while the intervening dark spaces correspond to a difference of half a supposed undulation, of one and a half, of two and a half, or more. From a comparison of various experiments, it appears that the breadth of the undulations constituting the extreme red light must be supposed to be, in air, about one 36 thousandth of an inch, and those of the extreme violet about one 60 thousandth ; the mean of the whole spectrum, with respect to the intensity of light, being about one 45 thousandth. From these dimensions it follows, calculating upon the known velocity of light, that almost 500 millions of millions of the slowest of such undulations must enter the eye in a single second. The combination of two portions of white or mixed light, when viewed at a great distance, exhibits a few white and black stripes, corresponding to this interval: although, upon closer inspection, the distinct effects of an infinite number of stripes of different breadths appear to be compounded together, so as to produce a beautiful diversity of tints, passing by degrees into each other. The central whiteness is first changed to a yellowish, and then to a tawny colour, succeeded by crimson, and by violet and blue, which together appear, when seen at a distance, as a dark stripe; after this a green light appears, and the dark space beyond it has a crimson hue; the subsequent lights are all more or less green, the dark spaces purple and reddish; and the red light appears so far to predominate in all these effects, that the red or purple stripes occupy nearly the same place in the mixed fringes as if their light were received separately.[6]

Light is an electromagnetic radiation we can see with our eyes, light has the properties of a wave. One of these properties if interference, caused by the addition of waves.

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Introduction: If two or more waves cross one another in the same medium, each wave produces own effect totally independent of the effects due to the other. Principle of super position tells that at any instance the resultant displacement is equal to vector sum of individual displacement produced by each wave. This is based on the theory of interference of light discovered by Thomas Young in 1801.

** Bold lines are crest and dotted lines are trough. with reference to above figure. With the single source of light the energy distribution in the surrounding medium is uniform. But when there are two adjacent sources of light giving out light waves of same wavelength, amplitude and having zeroed or constant phase difference. The distribution of energy is no longer uniform. At some points where the crest of one wave falls upon the crest of the other or the trough of one wave falls on the trough of other. The resultant amplitude is large and hence intensity becomes maximum. At other point where the crest of one wave falls on trough of the wave and vice versa, the resultant amplitude is reduced to zero and intensity becomes minimum. The modification in the distribution of light energy due to superposition of two or more waves of light is called interference of light. It should be noted that in this phenomenon there is only transparence of energy from one region to another. The energy missing at one region reappears at the other region. There Page 3 of 9

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is no creation destruction of energy in any region as a result of superposition of waves of light. Because of interference there are alternate bright and dark regions observed, they are called Interference bands or Interference fringes. The colour pattern observed on soap bubbles and oil on the wet roads are due to interference of light. If a convex lens of large radius of curvature is placed on a glass plate and illuminated with mono chromatic light source, alternately bright and dark concentric rings(called as Newton rings) are observed because of interference. Similarly if a wet shape air film between two plane glass plates (air wedge) is illuminated with monochromatic light. Alternate bright and dark bands are formed because of interference, the bands being parallel to edge of wedge. Incase of interference for light if amplitude is same then we get complete bright and dark fringes. The interference fringes appear as shown in diagram below. At centre we get the central bright fringe followed by dark and then again bright. In case of interference the distance between two bright or two dark is always same. This distance is known as fringe width.

Physics Notes: By S. K. Roy for royphysics.net

Concepts: Light travels in waves. Sometimes, two or more waves joined together. Interference is the addition, are coming together, of several waves. Constructive interference happens when two or more waves come together to form a larger and stronger waves, matching their crest and trough. Destructive interference is when two or more waves come together and cancel each other out to make a weaker wave.

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Principles: Since light has wave property it will experiences interference. This interference is like that seen with water waves. Whether we get constructive or destructive interference depends on wavelength of light (color) of light. While light is made up of many colors, these different colors have different wavelengths. We can see many colors of light on bubbles. The separation of white light into many colors on a bubble happens because of interference.

Necessary conditions for Interference: 1. 2. 3. 4. The sources should be coherent. [When two sources are having zero phase difference or constant phase difference and no path difference we say they are coherent] There should be no path difference. Amplitude should be almost same. Sources of light should be monochromatic.

Conditions for sustained interference: Light waves from 2 sources can farm sustained (well defined and observable). Interference pattern where they meet, only if they satisfy following condition Two light waves superposing at a point must have the same wavelength or frequency. Amplitude of superposing light waves should be equal or almost equal. Two light waves superposing at a point should wither have the same phase or constructive phase difference. The two sources emitting light waves should be very narrow. The sources emitting light waves should be very close to each other.

Coherent Sources: Any two sources of light continuously emitting light waves having zeroed or constant phase difference are called Coherent sources. These coherent sources have definite phase relation between them and emit light waves of equal frequency or wavelength. Page 5 of 9

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Interference can occur only with coherent sources, but two independent sources cannot be coherent because even though they may emit light waves of equal wavelength and equal amplitude, they may not have constant phase difference. Therefore, to obtain two interfering beams a single source is used and its beam is split into two by following ways. Division of wave front. In this case wave front is divided into two parts by reflection and refraction or diffraction so that those two parts reunite at a small angle and produce interference. Ex. Fresnels biprism , Lloyds mirror. Division of amplitude. In this case wave front is split up into two parts by partial refraction and reflection at surface and these two parts are later made to reunite to produce interference. Ex. Air wedge, Newton rings.

Thomas Youngs Double Slit experiment:

History: In 1801, an English physicist named Thomas Young performed an experiment that strongly inferred the wave-like nature of light. Because he believed that light was composed of waves, Young reasoned that some type of interaction would occur when two light waves met. This interactive tutorial explores how coherent light waves interact when passed through two closely spaced slits. The tutorial initializes with rays from the sun being passed through a single slit in a screen to produce coherent light. This light is then projected onto another screen that has twin (or double) slits, which again diffracts the incident illumination as it passes through. The results of interference between the diffracted light beams can be visualized as light intensity distributions on the dark film. The slider labeled Distance Between Slits can be utilized to vary the distance between the slits and produce corresponding variations in the interference intensity distribution patterns. Young's experiment was based on the hypothesis that if light were wave-like in nature, then it should behave in a manner similar to ripples or waves on a pond of water. Where two opposing water waves meet, they should react in a specific manner to either reinforce or destroy each other. If the two waves are in step (the crests meet), then they should combine to make a larger wave. In contrast, when two waves meet that are out of step (the crest of one meets the trough of another), the waves should cancel and produce a flat surface in that area. In order to test his hypothesis, Young devised an ingenious experiment. Using sunlight diffracted through a small slit as a source of coherent illumination, he projected the light Page 6 of 9

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rays emanating from the slit onto another screen containing two slits placed side by side. Light passing through the slits was then allowed to fall onto a screen. Young observed that when the slits were large, spaced far apart and close to the screen, then two overlapping patches of light formed on the screen. However, when he reduced the size of the slits and brought them closer together, the light passing through the slits and onto the screen produced distinct bands of color separated by dark regions in a serial order. Young coined the term interference fringes to describe the bands and realized that these colored bands could only be produced if light were acting like a wave. Fig

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The basic setup of the double slit experiment is illustrated in Figure 1. Red filtered light derived from sunlight is first passed through a slit to achieve a coherent state. Light waves exiting the first slit are then made incident on a pair of slits positioned close together on a second barrier. A screen is placed in the region behind the slits to capture overlapped light rays that have passed through the twin slits, and a pattern of bright red and dark interference bands becomes visible on the screen. The key to this type of experiment is the mutual coherence between the light waves diffracted from the two slits at the barrier. Although Young achieved this coherence through the diffraction of sunlight from the first slit, any source of coherent light (such as a laser) can be substituted for light passing through the single slit. The coherent wavefront of light impacting on the twin slits is divided into two new wavefronts that are perfectly in step with each other. Light waves from each of the slits must travel an equal distance to reach point A on the screen illustrated in Figure 1, and should reach that point still in step or with the same phase displacement. Because the two waves reaching point A possess the necessary requirements for constructive interference, they should add together to produce a bright red interference fringe on the screen. In contrast, neither of the points B on the screen is positioned equidistant from the two slits, so light must travel a greater distance from one slit to reach point B than from the other. The wave emanating from the slit closer to point B (take for example the slit and point B on the left-hand side of Figure 1) does not have as far to travel to reach its destination, as does a wave traveling from the other slit. As a consequence, the wave from the closest slit should arrive at point B slightly ahead of the wave from the farthest slit. Because these waves will not arrive at point B in phase (or in step with each other), they will undergo destructive interference to produce a dark region (interference fringe on the screen. Interference fringe patterns are not restricted to experiments having the double slit configuration, but can be produced by any event that results in the splitting of light into waves that can be canceled or added together. The success of Young's experiment was strong testimony in favor of the wave theory, but was not immediately accepted by his peers. The events in place behind phenomena such as the rainbow of colors observed in soap bubbles and Newton's rings (to be discussed below), although explained by this work, were not immediately obvious to those scientists who firmly believed that light propagated as a stream of particles. Other types of experiments were later devised and conducted to demonstrate the wave-like nature of light and interference effects. Most notable are the single mirror experiment of Humphrey Lloyd and the double mirror and bi-prism experiments devised by Augustin Fresnel for polarized light in uniaxial and birefringent crystals. Fresnel concluded that interference between beams of polarized light could only be obtained with beams having the same polarization direction. In effect, polarized light waves having their vibration directions oriented parallel to each other can combine to produce interference, whereas those that are perpendicular do not interfere.

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