CHAPTER ONE

Fundamental Concepts of Optics

 Historical background of optics
➢Optics is the branch of physics that deals with light and its properties and behavior.
➢ It is a vast science covering many simple and complex subjects ranging from the
reflection of light off a metallic surface to create an image, to the interaction of
multiple layers of coating to create a high optical density rugate notch filter.
➢As such, it is important to learn the basic theoretical foundations governing the
electromagnetic spectrum, interference, reflection, refraction, dispersion, and
diffraction before picking the best component for one's optics, imaging, and/or
photonics applications.
➢There are two major branches of optics, physical and geometrical.
❑In physical optics, light is considered to propagate as a wave. This model predicts
phenomena such as interference and diffraction, which are not explained by
geometric optics
❑Geometrical optics, or ray optics, describes the propagation of light in terms of
"rays" which travel in straight lines, and whose paths are governed by the laws of
reflection and refraction at interfaces between different media.
 THE ELECTROMAGNETIC SPECTRUM

✓Light is a type of electromagnetic radiation usually characterized by the length of

the radiation of interest, specified in terms of wavelength, or lambda (λ).
✓ Wavelength is commonly measured in nm (10-9 meters) or μm (10-6 meters).
✓The electromagnetic spectrum encompasses all wavelengths of radiation ranging
from long wavelengths (radio waves) to very short wavelengths (gamma rays);
Figure 1 illustrates this vast spectrum. The most relevant wavelengths to optics are
➢
❖Visible rays, defined as 400 - 750nm, comprise the part of the spectrum that can
be perceived by the human eye and make up the colors people see.
❖The visible range is responsible for rainbows and the familiar ROYGBIV.
❖ Lastly, infrared (IR) rays, defined as 750nm – 1000μm, are used in heating
applications.
➢Isaac Newton (1643 - 1727) was one of the first physicists to propose that light
was comprised of small particles.
➢A century later, Thomas Young (1773 - 1829) proposed a new theory of light
which demonstrated light's wave qualities.
➢In his double-slit experiment, Young passed light through two closely spaced slits
and found that the light interfered with itself.
➢This interference could not be explained if light was purely a particle, but could if
light was a wave.
➢Though light has both particle and wave characteristics, known as the wave-
particle duality, the wave theory of light is important in optics while the particle
theory in other branches of physics.
❖Interference occurs when two or more waves of light add together to form a new
pattern.
❖Light waves interfere with each other much like mechanical waves do.
❖All interference associated with light waves arises when the electromagnetic fields
that constitute the individual waves combine.
Conditions for Interference
For sustained interference between two sources of light to be observed, there are
two conditions which must be met
✓The sources must be coherent
➢They must maintain a constant phase with respect to each other
✓The waves must have identical wavelengths
Producing Coherent Sources
➢Two waves, a and b, have
the same frequency and
amplitude.
➢Are in phase
➢The combined wave, c, has
the same frequency and a
greater amplitude
❖Two pulses are traveling
in opposite directions.
❖The net displacement
when they overlap is the
sum of the displacements
of the pulses.
❖Note that the pulses are
unchanged after the
interference
 Destructive Interference

.
✓They are 180° out of
phase.
✓When they combine, the
waveforms cancel
Destructive Interference in a String
❖Two pulses are traveling in
opposite directions.
❖The net displacement when
they overlap is decreased
since the displacements of
the pulses subtract.
❖Note that the pulses are un
changed after the
interference
✓Thomas Young first
demonstrated interference in
light waves from two sources in
1801.
✓Light is incident on a screen
with a narrow slit, So
✓The light waves emerging from
this slit arrive at a second screen
that contains two narrow, parallel
slits, S1 and S2
❖The narrow slits, S1 and
S2 act as sources of
waves.
❖The waves emerging
from the slits originate
from the same wave front
and therefore are always
in phase
Resulting Interference
Pattern
oThe light from the two slits form
a visible pattern on a screen.
oThe pattern consists of a series of
bright and dark parallel bands
called fringes.

.
oDestructive interference results
in a dark fringe
 Fringe Pattern
➢The fringe pattern
formed from a Young’s
Double Slit Experiment
would look like this.
➢The bright areas
represent constructive
interference.
➢The dark areas represent
destructive interference
 Interference Patterns

✓Constructive interference
occurs at the center point.
✓The two waves travel the
same distance.
✓Therefore, they arrive in
phase
 Cont’d
The upper wave has to travel
farther than the lower wave
The upper wave travels one
wavelength farther
Therefore, the waves arrive in
phase
A bright fringe occurs
The upper wave travels one-
half of a wavelength farther
than the lower wave
The trough of the bottom
wave overlaps the crest of the
upper wave
This is destructive
interference
A dark fringe occurs
 Interference Equations
The path difference, 𝛿 is found
from the tan triangle
𝛿 = r2 − r1 = dsinθ
This assumes the paths are
parallel
Not exactly parallel, but a very
good approximation since L is
much greater than d
 Cont’d
For a bright fringe, produced by The positions of the fringes can be
constructive interference, the path measured vertically from the
difference must be either zero or zeroth order maximum
some integral multiple of the 𝑦 = 𝐿𝑡𝑎𝑛𝜃 ≈ 𝐿𝑠𝑖𝑛𝜃
wavelength Assumptions
𝛿 = d sin 𝜃bright = m 𝝀 L>>d
m = 0, ±1, ±2, … d>>𝝀
m is called the order number Approximation
When m = 0, it is the zeroth order 𝜃 is small and therefore the
maximum approximation tan 𝜃 ≈ sin 𝜃 can
When m = ±1, it is called the first be used
order maximum
 cont’d
When destructive interference occurs, a dark
fringe is observed
This needs a path difference of an odd half For dark fringes
wavelength
𝛿 = d sin 𝜃dark = (m + 1/2) 𝝀
m = 0, ±1, ±2,
For bright fringes
1. Two narrow parallel slits separated Solution
by 0.25mm are illuminated by a green Given d=0.25mm required
light 𝝀 = 546.1𝑛𝑚. The interference
pattern is observed on screen 1.2 m 𝝀=546.1nm 𝑦𝑏𝑟𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 and 𝑦𝑑𝑎
away from the slits. Calculate l=1.2m
a) From the central maxima to the M=1
first bright fringe on either side of
the central maxima
b) b/n the first and second dark bands

546.1𝑚 × 1 ×
1.2m
= ±2.62𝑚𝑚
0.25mm
 Cont’d
1
b) 𝑦1𝑑𝑎𝑟𝑘 = 1 + 546.1 × 3. A young’s double slit experiment is
2 performed with 589nm light and a
10−9 m1.2m/.25 × 10−3 𝑚 distance of 2 m b/n the slit and screen.
= 3.9𝑚𝑚 The 10𝑡ℎ interference minimum is
𝑦 1 −9 1.2𝑚 observed 7.26mm from the central
2𝑑𝑎𝑟𝑘=(2+2)×546.1×10 𝑚×
.25×10−3 maximum. Determine the spacing of
= 2.65𝑚𝑚 the slit?
2. A young’s interference experiment is
performed with monochromatic light
the separation the slit is 0.5mm and the
interference pattern on screen is 3,3m
away from shows the first maximum
3.4mm from the center of the pattern.
What is the wave length of the light?
A single slit placed between a distant The results of the single slit cannot be
light source and a screen produces a explained by geometric optics
diffraction pattern Geometric optics would say that light
It will have a broad, intense central rays traveling in straight lines should
band cast a sharp image of the slit on the
The central band will be flanked by a screen
series of narrower, less intense
secondary bands
Called secondary maxima
The central band will also be flanked
by a series of dark bands
Called minima
 Fraunhofer Diffraction

Fraunhofer Diffraction occurs

when the rays leave the diffracting
object in parallel directions
Screen very far from the slit
Converging lens (shown)
A bright fringe is seen along the
axis (𝜃 = 0) with alternating bright
and dark fringes on each side.
 Single Slit Diffraction
▪ According to Huygen’s
principle, each portion of the
slit acts as a source of
waves.
▪ The light from one portion
of the slit can interfere with
light from another portion.
▪ The resultant intensity on the
screen depends on the
direction 𝜃
 Single Slit Diffraction, 2
All the waves that originate at the
slit are in phase
Wave 1 travels farther than wave 3
by an amount equal to the path
difference (a/2) sin 𝜃.
If this path difference is exactly
half of a wavelength, the two
waves cancel each other and
destructive interference results.
In general, destructive interference
occurs for a single slit of width a
when sin 𝜃dark = m𝝀 /a
m = ±1, ±2, ±3, …
Doesn’t give any information
about the variations in intensity
along the screen.
 Single Slit Diffraction, 3
The general features of the
intensity distribution are shown
A broad central bright fringe is
flanked by much weaker bright
fringes alternating with dark
fringes
The points of constructive
interference lie approximately
halfway between the dark fringes
 Diffraction Grating
➢Diffraction grating is a device which is If the incident radiation contains several
used for analyzing light source that wavelengths, each wavelength deviates
consists of a large number of equally through a specific angle.
spaced parallel slits.
➢A typical grating contains several
thousand lines per centimeter
➢The intensity of the pattern on the
screen is the result of the combined
effects of interference and diffraction.
The condition for maxima is
d sin 𝜃bright = m 𝝀
m = 0, 1, 2, …
The integer m is the order number of the
diffraction pattern
Monochromatic light from He-Ne laser 𝝀= 632.8𝑛𝑚 is incident
normally on diffraction grating containing 6000grooves/cm.
a) find the angle at which the first and second order maxima are
observed
b) Is it visible third order bright fringes on the screen?
 Cont’d
All the wavelengths are focused at
m=0
This is called the zeroth order
maximum
The first order maximum
corresponds to m = 1
Note the sharpness of the principle
maxima and the broad range of the
dark area
This is in contrast to the broad,
bright fringes characteristic of the
two-slit interference pattern
 Polarization of Light Waves
Polarization is a general property of Each atom produces a wave with its
waves that describes the orientation own orientation of
of their oscillations. For transverse All directions of the electric field
waves such as many electromagnetic vector are equally possible and lie in a
waves, it describes the orientation of plane perpendicular to the direction of
the oscillations in the plane propagation.
perpendicular to the wave's direction
of travel. The oscillations may be This is an unpolarized wave.
oriented in a single direction (linear
polarization), or the oscillation
direction may rotate as the wave
travels (circular or elliptical
polarization).
 Polarization of Light, cont
A wave is said to be linearly polarized Uses a material that transmits waves
if the resultant electric field vibrates in whose electric field vectors in the
the same direction at all times at a plane are parallel to a certain
particular point direction and absorbs waves whose
electric field vectors are
Polarization can be obtained from an perpendicular to that direction
unpolarized beam by
➢selective absorption
➢Reflection
➢Scattering
Polarization by Selective Absorption
➢The most common technique
for polarizing light
 Selective Absorption, cont
E. H. Land discovered a material that polarizes
light through selective absorption. He called the
material Polaroid.
The molecules readily absorb light whose electric
field vector is parallel to their lengths and transmit
light whose electric field vector is perpendicular to
their lengths.
The intensity of the polarized beam transmitted
through the second polarizing sheet (the analyzer)
varies as
𝐼(𝜃) = 𝐼𝑜 𝑐𝑜𝑠 2 𝜃 which is called Malu’s law.
 the transmission axes of the polarized and analyzer are parallel
then the maximum intensity will observed where as when the
transmission axes of these material are perpendicular to each other
then the intensity of transmitted will be zero, such kinds of production
of polarized light from un polarized light is termed as polarization by
selective absorption.
Exercise plane polarized light is incident on a single polarizing disk
with the direction of 𝐸0 parallel to the direction of the transmission axes.
Through what angle should the disk be rotated, so that the intensity in
the transmitted beam is reduced by factor of
a) 3
b) 5
c) 10
 Polarization by Reflection
When an unpolarized light beam is The angle of incidence for which the
reflected from a surface, the reflected reflected beam is completely polarized is
light is called the polarizing angle, 𝜃𝑝
❖Completely polarized Brewster’s Law relates the polarizing
❖Partially polarized angle to the index of refraction for the
material
❖Unpolarized
It depends on the angle of incidence
➢If the angle is 0° or 90°, the reflected
beam is unpolarized
➢For angles between this, there is some
degree of polarization 𝜃𝑝 may also be called Brewster’s Angle
➢For one particular angle, the beam is
completely polarized
 Polarization by Scattering
When light is incident on a system The vertical part of the vector
of particles, the electrons in the simultaneously causes them to vibrate
medium can absorb and reradiate vertically.
part of the light. Horizontally and vertically polarized
This process is called scattering. waves are emitted.
An example of scattering is the
sunlight reaching an observer on
the earth becoming polarized.
The horizontal part of the electric
field vector in the incident wave
causes the charges to vibrate
horizontally.
Due to the interference of polarized light state of polarization can be
categorized as linearly polarized, circularly polarized and elliptically
polarized. The direction of electric field determines the direction of
polarization.
Exercise
Consider two electric field vectors 𝐸1 and 𝐸2 differing in phase by 𝛿 i.e
𝐸1 = Acos ω𝑡 − 𝑘𝑧 and 𝐸2 = 𝐵𝑐𝑜𝑠(𝜔𝑡 − 𝑘𝑧 − 𝛿) then under what
condition does the state of polarization should be
a) Linearly polarized
b) Circularly polarized
c) Elliptically polarized
 Introduction to Laser
A laser is a device that emits light
through a process of optical
amplification based on the
stimulated emission of
electromagnetic radiation.
The word "laser" is an acronym
for "light amplification by
stimulated emission of radiation"
 Cont’d
A laser is a device that emits light, Because the microwave equivalent
a kind of electromagnetic of the laser, the maser, was
radiation, through a process called developed first, devices that emit
stimulated emission. microwave and radio frequencies
Laser light is usually spatially are usually called masers.
coherent, which means that the
light either is emitted in a narrow,
low-divergence beam, or can be
converted into one with the help of
optical components such as lenses.
END OF CHAPTER ONE !!!!!!!