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Interference and Diffraction
Interference and Diffraction
Diffraction
Young’s Double Slit
Experiment
Thomas Young
(1773 – 1829)
Is light…
a wave?
Young’s Double-Slit Experiment (1807)
Particles? Waves?
nb: Constructive and Destructive Interference
The effects of two particles cannot
add up to zero...
...but two waves that are out of phase
can (destructive interference).
Interference Patterns
a) Central fringe
Constructive interference
occurs at the centre
point.
The two waves travel the
same distance, therefore
they arrive in phase.
A bright fringe is
observed at point P.
Interference Patterns
b) First order fringe
The upper wave (S1)
travels further than the
lower one (S2).
If it travels exactly λ
further, then constructive
interference (and,
therefore, a bright
fringe) will occur at point
Q.
Interference Patterns
c) Dark fringe
If the upper wave travels
exactly half a wavelength
further than the lower,
then the two waves are
180° out of phase.
Therefore, a dark fringe
will appear at point R.
Interference Equation
• Rays coming from slits are parallel (fair if L >> d).
• For constructive interference to occur, path difference
must be integer wavelength.
where
w = fringe spacing (m)
λ = wavelength (m)
D = distance from slits to screen (m)
s = slit separation (m)
Worked example:
If the distance between two slits is 0.050 mm and
the distance to a screen is 2.50 m, find the spacing
between the first and second order bright fringes
for yellow light of 600 nm wavelength.
Conditions for diffraction patterns
1. Light must be monochromatic, i.e., involve just
a single frequency and single wavelength.