Exp.

#2

Title: Two-slit interference

1. Objective

To record and analyze two-slit interference using given slits.

2. Caution before starting the experiment:

(a) Never look directly into the laser beam or its reflections from any surface.
(b) The experimental setup must be switched ON properly following the procedure explained in
the lab.
(c) After completing the measurements, switch OFF all the devices properly following the
procedure explained in the lab.
(d) Never move the parts of the experimental setup away from the tables/place assigned for it.
All the components of the setup should be handled carefully. Specially, don’t touch the
optics, front of the diodes, slits, etc. For any mishandling of the instrument and its parts, the
student will be penalized.
(e) Make sure that the shutter to the PMT is closed before opening the lid of the set up
(f) Before plugging anything in, or turning anything ON confirm that the shutter which protects
the sensitive single-photon detector is closed.

3. Instruments/components used in the experiment

(a) Double slits of various sizes, distances,
(b) Laser source, detector, etc. all provided in a setup

4. Experimental setup, procedure and observations:

The experimental setup that you will find on the table for performing the experiment looks like
shown below.

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You can see that the apparatus consists of a long rectangular metal assembly, with a single-photon
detection box and photodiode attached to one end. The source end of the open U-channel setup
looks like shown below.

Ensure that the detectors do not receive any light then only open the cover of the long two-slit
assembly at the source side. At the left end there are two distinct light sources one a red laser and
the other a green filtered light bulb. Also there are controls for the light sources. Along the length
of the long box, there are various slits and apertures that form a Young's two-slit experiment and
needed for control of light. On the front of the box there are two 'micrometer drives', which allow
you to make mechanical adjustments to the two-slit apparatus. Finally, there are two distinct light
detectors at the other end of the apparatus box. One of these is the photodiode to be used with
much brighter laser light source. It is attached to the light shutter in such a way that it's “in” position
is used when the shutter is in its “down” position. The photodiode on the back of the shutter looks
like shown below.

The second detector is a photomultiplier tube (PMT) to be used with the much dimmer light-bulb
source. Note that this particular detector is safe to use only when the cover of the apparatus is in
place, and the light bulb is in use. To protect the PMT from unwanted light, a controllable shutter
(figure below) is placed in front of it.

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Note that PMT can be exposed to light only when the shutter is in its up position. Check the shutter
position at the detector end. You can control the shutter to get it in open or close condition for
detection of light on the PMT.

Electric power comes from a power module, plugged into your A.C. line and connected by a cable
to the left end of the apparatus. Two more cables run from this end to the detector box, and supply
the photodiode and PMT detectors. The Amplifier module with shutter to PMT closed is seen as
below.

The light source panel on the side of the U-channel setup is seen as below.

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Procedure: Make sure that the PMT shutter is in the down (closed) position. In the U-channel,
there are two baffles and four blocks with a circular aperture of <2cm diameter. Use micrometers
to make sure both the movable apertures are centred in the U-channel.
(A) Alignment of Laser:
 Turn the switch OFF to work with the Laser mode. A beam of red light emerges.
 Adjust the laser such that the beam is aimed directly down the centre of the U-channel all the
way to the detector.
 Two adjustments have to be done: 1) For the horizontal alignment, loosen the thumbscrew
located to the right on the underside of the U-channel, 2) for the vertical alignment use “5/64”
Allen head set screw located at the rear end of the base carrying the laser. (Alarm! Do not use
the set screw on the laser itself).
(B) Installing the slits:
 The slits provided to you have been cut into a non-magnetic sheet which is cemented to a
black-oxide steal frame. When mounting the slits into the U-channel, make sure black –oxide
surfaces face the rubberised magnetic layer on the slit carrier blocks.
 Four slits have to be installed. Nearest the sources- a single slit, referred to as the source slit.
 Near the centre of the track, two blocks for slits are set close together. These hold a double slit
and a wide slit (slit blocker) that can be moved with the help of micrometer. At the detector
end, a single slit is placed that can be moved with the help of micrometer screw.
 For installing the slits, mount the source slit on the first carrier block and fine adjust the slit
such that the central maxima of its single slit pattern is centred in the circular opening of the
two slit holder.
 For the double slit, record the number written on the metal film in which the slits are etched
(14, 16, 18) which indicates the centre to centre slit separation, e.g., 14 = 0.014 inches apart.
 Mount the double slit vertically with the magnetic material facing the downstream side its
support block. (Do not mount the double slit on the micrometer adjustable slit blocker holder).
 The slit blocker is a wide (2 mm) single slit which is mounted onto a block whose side to side
position can be adjusted by the micrometer located near the middle of the U-channel. The edges
of this slit can be positioned to cut off one or the other of the two ribbons which are observed
after the double slit.
 The slit blocker is aligned such that both the ribbons of light pass through the slit to reach the
detector.
 The detector slit (a single slit) is mounted in the last mount holder near the detector that can be
moved from side to side with the help of the micrometer.
(C) Connecting the photodiode detector:
 Make sure that the shutter assembly is fully closed (to be used with PMT detection for separate
experiment).
 Connect the BNC jack to the photodiode’s thin coaxial cable to the INPUT of I-to-V convertor.
 Connect a digital multi-meter or voltmeter to read the potential difference appearing at the
output of the I-to-V converter.
 Locate the central maxima by rotating the micrometer at the detector slit.
 Align the detector slit to get the maximum contrast by tilting the detector slit such that it aligns
with fringe pattern.

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A schematic face-on view of a fringe pattern and a mis-aligned detector slit is shown below for a
reference. Because the detector slit is not parallel to the fringes, it cannot be located so that it will
optimally overlap with either a minimum or maximum in the pattern.

Observations:
All the observations should be recorded properly in tables.
 slit blocker position for both slits are open =
 slit blocker position for near slits open =
 slit blocker position for far slit open =
 Set and leave the detector at the central maxima and measure the voltage at three setting of
the slit blocker
 Compare the two slit open intensity to the sum of the individual slits for any one slit

For two slit Micrometer Voltage for Voltage for Voltage for far
open reading two slit open near slit open slit open
Central
Maxima
1st minima
1st maxima

 In the two slit open position , record voltage values with the variation of the detector slit
locations (for the slits given, centre to centre separation for 14 = 0.356mm, 16= 0.406mm,
18= 0.457mm)

Detector slit position Voltage

Slit 1

Slit 2

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Calculations:
 Use the results to compute wavelength of the light source from the separation between
either bright or dark fringes,
y  y n 1  y n  D / d
𝜆 = Δ𝑦. 𝑑/𝐷
 Plot all the results in graphs.

Discussion:
Write a discussion about your results, close to far from expected values, how to improve, further
experiments, etc.

Further reading
All the reading material regarding above can be found in “Optics” by A. K. Ghatak or any other
reference book on optics. Briefly, it is given below.

1. Background: Wave–particle duality is the concept that every particle or quantic entity may be
partly described in terms not only of particles, but also of waves. It expresses the inability of the
classical concepts "particle" or "wave" to fully describe the behavior of quantum-scale objects.
The goal in this semester is to perform two slit interference quantitatively, recreating not only the
Young’s measurement of wavelength of light but also getting detailed information about intensities
in a two slit interference pattern which can be compared to wave theories of light.

2. Young’s double slit experiment: The wave nature of light led to a phenomena called
interference. In two slit interference experiment an electromagnetic wave is made to be incident
upon two apertures as shown in the diagram below. Let the separation between the two apertures
(slits, slit1 and slit2) be 𝑑. The electromagnetic wave will exit the two slits with approximately the
same amplitude and phase. If the screen is placed at some distance D away from our two slits, the
electromagnetic waves propagating from the two slits will combine to illuminate the screen.

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From the diagram, one can see that the difference in path length between the distance travelled by
the two beams from slit1 and slit2 is
L  d sin 
For a point of observation on the screen at distance y from the center such that the angle extended
𝜃 is very small, we have 𝑠𝑖𝑛𝜃 = 𝑦/𝐷. Therefore, the path difference can be written as
L  yd / D sin 
For constructive interference to take place at the point of observation so that a bright spot is
observed at that, the path difference should be integral multiple of the wavelength 𝜆. Thus the
positions 𝑦𝑛 of all the bright spots on the screen from the center can be given by
y n  nD / d
And the separation between the two bright fringes will be given by
y  y n 1  y n  D / d
Similarly, the condition for destructive interference, i.e., dark spots is to have path difference of
odd multiples of half wavelength or phase difference of odd multiples of . The separation between
the dark fringes is given by the same relation as above, i.e.,
y  y n 1  y n  D / d
Once Δ𝑦 , D , d are known, the wavelength of light ca be calculated.