Young’s Double Slit Experiment

CASE closed?
English scientist Thomas
Young had a hunch that the
particle theory wasn't the end
of the story and set out to
prove that light was a wave
Interference:
The combination of two or more electromagnetic
waveforms to form a resultant wave in which the
displacement is either reinforced or canceled.
Coherent light must have the
same phase as well as the same
frequency. Monochromatic light
only has to have the same
frequency. A coherent source is
always monochromatic while a
monochromatic source may or
may not be a coherent source.

• Momo- one
• Chromatic- color
• Coherent- constant phase
difference
Constructive interference occurs where the lines (representing peaks), cross over each other. In other
words, when two waves are in phase, they interfere constructively. Destructive interference occurs where
two waves are completely out of phase (a peak lies at the midpoint of two waves.
• Longer wavelength diffracts more
• Shorter wavelength diffracts less
Sample problem 1
A first order bright fringe is
observed to be an angle of
1.5 degrees when a light
with wavelength of 600 nm
passes through to narrow
slits. A. How far are the two
slits? B. What is the distance
between the first bright
fringe on the screen and the
center if the screen is 4.5 m
away from the two slits?
Sample problem 2
Light with a wavelength of
650 nm passes through
two narrow slits that are
0.05 mm apart. If the
screen is 8.5 m away from
the slits, what is the
distance between the third
order bright fringe from
the central fringe?
Sample problem 3
Light with a wavelength of
650 nm passes through two
narrow slits that are 0.05
mm apart. If the screen is
8.5 m away from the slits,
what is the distance
between the third order
bright fringe from the
central fringe?
 Applications
1. CD

The surface of a CD is made of a polycarbonate layer with molded spiral tracks on the
top. The data are stored on the CD as a series of minute grooves which are known as
‘pits’ encoded on these spiral tracks. The areas between the ‘pits’ are known as
‘lands’. These pits and lands do not represent the 1s and 0s, rather each change from
pit to land or land to pit is interpreted as 0 while no change is read as 1.
 Applications

The burning process of a CD is nothing but creating a pattern of pits and lands over
the polycarbonate layer. But since the data must be accurately encoded on such a
small scale, the burning process must be extremely précised. A CD burner is used to
write (burn) the data on a CD. It incorporates a moving laser quite similar to a CD
player which is known as ‘Write Laser’. The Write Laser which is more powerful than
the ‘Read Laser’, has the capability to alter the surface of CD instead of just bouncing
the laser light off. During burning process, as per the data (binary values) the Write
Laser bounces the light beam over the CD surface and creates a series of pits on it.
 Applications

When you play the CD, the Read Laser bounces the light beams (not capable to
modify the surface of CD) on the surface and detects the pits and lands. Each change
between pit to land or vice versa is translated as zero and no change (pit to pit or
land to land) is translated as one. These binary values form the actual data.
2. Spectrometer:
So all waves propagate and have spectrum. Same goes
for light waves as well and spectrometer is the
instrument used in spectroscopy as the name suggest.
This instrument helps in the analysis of light wave of
the specific spectrum. With the study and observation
from this, we can have a detailed analysis of material
so this is also used to identification of different
material.

P.s: Spectroscopy is used in astronomy to identify the

element of which star is composed of.

In spectroscopy diffraction of light helps to

measure the accurate wavelength of light. By
measuring the wavelength of light from the stars
with the help of diffraction grating, astronomers
can tell the elements a star is composed of. 
3. X-ray diffraction:
So as we all know that X-ray is an electromagnetic wave
and this wave has a very helpful application from
taking X-rays of the human body to find some minor
defects in bones to find the structure of a material.

X-ray diffraction is used to identify the structure of

crystalline materials. This method is based on the
principle of dual way/particle nature of X-ray.