Diffraction and interference of light

Introduction
When waves counter a barrier with an opening of dimensions comparable to the
wavelength of the waves, the waves spread out, or diffract, after passing through. This
diffraction occurs as a result of interference of wavelets from different positions which
can be explained by Huygens principle.
Diffraction and interference are phenomena specific to waves, and light does exhibit
both. However, their observation was far more difficult than the case of other waves
such as the surface waves of water or sound waves duo to the short wavelength of the
visible spectrum and the lack of technology to prepare coherent light sources, until
Thomas Young bypassed these problems by splitting light waves from a single source
and recombining them to observe an interference pattern.
In this experiment, we will use a laser as a source of coherent, monochromatic light
waves and explore the diffraction patterns of light produced by various types of slits on
a screen.

Objective
- Observe the diffraction pattern of plane waves through a single slit and
investigate the relation between the slit width and the diffraction angle.
- Monitor interference patterns by multiple slits and examine how the patterns
depend on the number of slits to understand the principle that describe the
phenomenon of diffraction and interference.

Theory
Single slit interference:

Fig.1 plane waves incident normally on a single slit.

Monochromatic, coherent plane waves of light passing through a long narrow slit as
shown in fig.1 don’t make a sharp shadow on the screen, but produce a pattern consisting
of a series of bright and dark bands, called fringes, in a region wider than the width of
the slit. The intensity of the diffraction pattern is obtained from the Huygens’ principle
which states that “ all points on a wavefront at a moment act as point source of
secondary spherical wavelets, and the displacement at an observation point some time
later is given by the superposition of these wavelets”.
In this laboratory, the distance between the light source, the slit and the screen are
much larger than the slit width, and all the waves directed toward a point are assumed
to be parallel to one another. Diffraction under this condition is called the Fraunhofer
Diffraction.
Which is governed by

𝒂 𝒔𝒊𝒏𝜽 = 𝒎𝝀
m = ±1, ±2, ±3,… (destructive interference)
Double slit interference:
In 1801 Thomas Young carried out an experiment in which the wave nature of light was
demonstrated. The schematic diagram of the double-slit experiment is shown in Fig.2.

Fig.2 Youngs’ double slit interference

A monochromatic light source is incident on the first screen which contains a slit S0. The
emerging light then arrives at the second screen which has two parallel slits S and S .
1 2

which serve as the sources of coherent light. The light waves emerging from the two
slits then interfere and form an interference pattern on the viewing screen. The bright
bands (fringes) correspond to interference maxima, and the dark band interference
minima.
Consider light that falls on the screen at a point P a distance from the point O that lies
on the screen a perpendicular distance L from the double-slit system. The two slits are
separated by a distance d.
The light from slit 2 will travel an extra distance to the point P than the light from slit 1.
This extra distance is called the path difference λ.
From the following equation we can determine the slit width,

𝒅 𝒔𝒊𝒏𝜽 = 𝒎𝝀
m = 0, ±1, ±2, ±3,…. for constructive interference and m = ±0.5, ±1.5, ±2.5,…. For destructive
interference.

For small θ, we employ the approximation 𝒔𝒊𝒏𝜽 ≈ 𝒕𝒂𝒏𝜽 = 𝒚/𝑳.

Apparatus
1- He-Ne laser.
2- Optical bench with slit holder..
3- Set of slits.
4- Screen.

Procedure:
- Attach the single slight to the slit holder mounted on the optical bench. Set the
laser, the optical bench and the viewing screen so that the laser beam is
parallel to the bench and perpendicular to the slit.
- Measure distance L between the slit and the screen, L should be larger than 1m.
(Fraunhofer Diffraction)
- From the diffraction pattern, locate the position of the central maximum and
those of dark fringes up to m=3
- From the equation 𝒂 𝒔𝒊𝒏𝜽 = 𝒎𝝀 find the width of the slit.
- Repeat the same steps as single slit and calculate the slit width from 𝒅 𝒔𝒊𝒏𝜽 =
𝒎𝝀

References
- Tomayuki Nakayama, Tokyo-Kyogakuaha Co., Japan.