INTERFERENCE

Dr. Rajan Jha School of Basic Sciences IIT Bhubaneswar

Interference Youngs Double-Slit Experiment

If light is a wave, interference effects will be seen, where one part of a wave front can interact with another part One way to study this is to do a double-slit experiment:

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Interference Youngs Double-Slit Experiment

If light is a wave, there should be an interference pattern

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Interference Youngs Double-Slit Experiment 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
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Interference Youngs Double-Slit Experiment

The interference occurs because each point on the screen is not the same distance from both Slits. Depending on the path length difference the wave can interfere constructively (bright spot) or destructively (dark spot).
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Interference Youngs Double-Slit Experiment

SP - SP <
S

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Interference Youngs Double-Slit Experiment

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Interference Youngs Double-Slit Experiment

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Interference Youngs Double-Slit Experiment

SP - SP >

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Interference Youngs Double-Slit Experiment

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Transverse Section: Straight fringes

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Longitudinal section: Circular fringes

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Interference Equations

The path difference, , is found from the tan triangle = r2 r1 = d sin

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Youngs double slit experiment

What happens when two waves are superposed?

At the point P

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Intensity

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Intensity

Maximum

Minimum

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Intensity

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Fringes
Small angle

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Realisations of Youngs double slit interference

Lloyds mirror

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Realisations of Youngs double slit interference

Fresnels biprism

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Reflection Phase Change

Reflected light will experience a 180 degree phase change when it reflects from a medium of higher index of refraction and no phase change when it reflects from a medium of smaller index.

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Newtons Ring

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Interferometer
Interferometry is the technique of diagnosing the properties of two or more waves by studying the pattern of interference created by their superposition. The instrument used to interfere the waves together is called an interferometer. Interferometry is an important investigative technique in the fields of astronomy, fiber optics, seismology, remote sensing, etc

Fabry Perot Interferometer MachZehnder interferometer Michelson Interferometer

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Fabry-Perot Interferometer
A Fabry-Perot is an arrangement of two parallel glass plates, called an etalon. Only the inner surfaces play a role. They have a reflective coating, and form a cavity in which light can be reflected back and forth.

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Fabry-Perot Interferometer
Constructive interference occurs if the transmitted beams are in phase, and this corresponds to a high-transmission peak of the etalon. The phase difference between each succeeding reflection or the incident ray will be completely transmitted, if the angle of incidence is such that If both surfaces have a reflectance R, the transmittance function of the etalon is given

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Fabry-Perot Interferometer
The interference created between mirrors creates standing waves. Theses standing waves will generate constructive interference when they will fit exactly with the cavity length. In other word, the cavity optical length is an integer number times the resonant wavelengths. So, there is a discrete number of resonant wavelengths. The transmitted intensity can then be expressed by the following equation :

where : TMAX is the maximum transmission of resonance peaks F is the finesse n is the refractive index of the gap material, d is the distance between mirrors, is the wavelength
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Fabry-Perot Interference Pattern

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Michelson Interferometer

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Diffraction

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Diffraction ``Any deviation of light rays from rectilinear path which is neither reflection nor refraction known as diffraction. (Sommerfeld)
Types or kinds of diffraction: 1. Fraunhofer (1787-1826)
2. Fresnel (1788-1827)

Refraction

>

Deviation for blue is larger than that for red

Diffraction

Deviation for red is larger than that for blue

Fraunhofer diffraction

Single slit diffraction

Principal maximum

First minimum

Second minimum

Superposition of large number of phasors of equal amplitude a and equal successive phase difference .

f
Problem: Obtain intensity formula by integration

Intensity for single slit

= b Sin /
I Minima at _m =+

Intensity for single slit

= b Sin /
Maxima at

tan =

Minima at _m =+

m = 1, 2, 3

Circular aperture

Airy disk
I = I0 [2 J1() / ]

= D Sin /

[ J1() / ]

First minimum = 1.22

Double slit

Double slit intensity pattern for d=5b

Single slit diffraction pattern X double slit interference pattern

Missing orders 5, 10, 15, 20.

d/b = 5

Minima at

b Sin = m m= /0
Maxima at

d Sin = n

N slit grating

Normal incidence
Transmission grating

= Number of slits Amplitude due to each single slit

= /2

Intensity pattern

for small b

Intensity