Huygen’s Principle and Law

of Refraction

1
Christiaan Huygens
- seventeenth-century Dutch scientist and
mathematician
- In year 1678, proposed that every point
on the wave front is a source of a
spherical wave
- The resultant wave front is obtained by
combining all the spherical waves from
point sources

2
Huygens’ Principle

Every point of a wave

front may be considered
the source of secondary
wavelets that spread out
in all directions with
SPEED EQUAL to the
SPEED OF
PROPAGATION of the
WAVE

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What will happen?

A.

B.
4
 Wave front
construction
- Finding shape of a wave at time
interval t
- Assume v (speed of propagation
of the wave) same at all points
- Wave front travels a distance of
vt
- Construct circles with
radius=vt, at the points in AA’

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 and
Huygen’s
Law
Law of Refraction can be derived
from Huygen’s Principle

Material a and Material b with

indexes of refraction na and nb
and wave speeds va and vb
respectively
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7
8
Huygen’s Principle

- Snell’s Law shows the fundamental relationship for

electromagnetic wave propagation
- Huygen’s Principle provides a way to visualize this
propagation

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Young’s Double
Slit Experiment
Thomas Young
- English physician and physicist
- Established the principle of
interference of light
- Obtained convincing evidence for the
wave nature of light
- Able to measure the wavelengths for
visible light

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 SET UP

Arrive in phase at S1 and S2

- Arrive at their highest peaks
Also arrive in phase at the screen
simultaneously
- S1 and S2 are coherent sources
- Travel the same distance from S0

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 SET UP

Arrive in phase at S1 and S2

- Arrive at their highest peaks
2.
simultaneously Also arrive in phase at the screen
- Travel the same distance from S0 - S1 and S2 are coherent sources

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 SET UP

Arrive in phase at S1 and S2

- Arrive at their highest peaks
2.
simultaneously Also arrive in phase at the screen
- Travel the same distance from S0 - S1 and S2 are coherent sources

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 INTERFERENCE PATTERN

Much larger than d

- Brightest spots here
- Constructive interference
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 INTERFERENCE PATTERN

Path difference:

r2 - r1 = dsinθ
θ: angle between r1 or r2 with the normal The lines from S1 and S2 are
to the plane of the slits (horizontal line) almost identical (parallel)

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 INTERFERENCE PATTERN

=θ θ
r1
r2-

sinθ= (r2-r1) / d
(d) sinθ= ((r2-r1) / d) d
Path difference:
r2 - r1 = dsinθ
r2 - r1 = dsinθ
θ: angle between r1 or r2 with the normal
to the plane of the slits (horizontal line)

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CONSTRUCTIVE vs. DESTRUCTIVE INTERFERENCE

CONSTRUCTIVE DESTRUCTIVE
● Reinforcement ● Cancellation

● Bright regions ● Dark regions

● Happens at: ● Happens at:

Points where path difference is Points where the path

an integral number of difference is a half-integral
wavelengths number of wavelengths
dsinθ = mλ *m = 0, ±1, ±2, ±3...
d sinθ = (m + ½) λ
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 INTERFERENCE RIDGES

m m+½
● Succession of bright and dark
bands
3 5/2
● Parallel to S1 and S2 2 3/2
1 1/2
0
● Center is the brightest band, m= 0 -1 -
-2 1/2
● It is equidistant between S1 and S2 -3 -
3/2
-
5/2
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 INTERFERENCE RIDGES

● The bright fringes are maxima of

light intensity

● The dark fringes are minima

● Intensity decreases as the order

increases

● Intensity change depends on the

width of the two slits
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 INTERFERENCE RIDGES

The distance between adjacent bright bands is inversely

proportional to the distance d
- The farther S1 and S2 are from each other, the smaller the distance
between bright bands

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CENTER OF THE BRIGHT BANDS

- measured from the center of the pattern,

ym=Rtanθ
- ym : distance from the center (θ = 0) to the
center of the mth bright band
- θ m: θ

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CENTER OF THE BRIGHT BANDS

tanθ= ym/R
(R)tanθ = (ym/R) R
y
ym=Rtanθ
0
R

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CENTER OF THE BRIGHT BANDS

ym=Rtanθ
If the values for ym are smaller than R by a large
amount,

- θm is very small
- tan θm ≈ sinθm

ym=Rsinθ
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CENTER OF THE BRIGHT BANDS

ym=Rsinθ

Combining with: dsinθ = mλ

ym=R (mλ/d)
Constructive Interference in DSE

Only works for:

- Small angles
- When R is much larger than both d and ym 25
VIDEO

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 Coherent Light

The two slits in the previous problems are coherent sources because the
waves leaving them have the same wavelength and frequency. They also bear the
same phase relationship to each other at all times. An interference pattern is only
observed when the sources are coherent.

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 Examples

A screen with two slits that are 0.1mm apart is 1.2m away from the viewing
screen. Light of wavelength equals 500nm passes through the slits. Approximately
how far apart will adjacent bright interference fringes be on the viewing screen?

Solution:

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 Examples

What happens to the interference pattern if the incident light’s wavelength

increases?

a. Angle for bright fringes decreases and the interference pattern moves closer.
b. Angle for bright fringes increases and the interference pattern spreads out.
c. Everything remains the same.

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 Examples

What happens if the wavelength stays the same but the distance between the two
slits increases?

a. Angle for bright fringes decreases and the interference pattern moves closer.
b. Angle for bright fringes increases and the interference pattern spreads out.
c. Everything remains the same.

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 Examples

White light passes through two slits that are 0.5mm apart and 2.5m away from
the viewing screen. The red light of the first-order fringe is 3.5mm from the center.
Estimate the wavelength of the red light.

Solution:

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http://www.pstcc.edu/departments/natural_behavioral_sciences/Web%20Physics/
Chapter27.htm

Sears and Zemansky's university physics : with modern physics. -- 13th ed. / Hugh
D. Young, Roger A. Freedman

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