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Huygen’s Principle
•Any wave (including electromagnetic waves) is able to propagate because
the wave here affects nearby points there
•In a sense, the wave is the source for more of the wave
•A wave here creates waves in all the forward directions
•For a plane wave, the generated waves add up to make more plane waves
E E0 sin kx t E sin kr t
Interference Through Two Slits
•Now imagine we have two slits, equally sized
•Each slit creates its own waves
•In some directions, crests add with
crests to make bigger “brighter”
crests
•In others, crests combine with
troughs to make minimum areas
•In the end, what you get is a
pattern of alternating light and dark
bands
2
I E2
r1,2
•Diffraction gratings are another way to divide light into different colors
•More accurate way of measuring wavelength than a prism
•Commonly used by scientists
Resolution of Diffraction Gratings
m1
•Note that the angle depends on the wavelength sin 1
d
•With a finite number of slits, nearby wavelengths may overlap
m2
sin 2
d
N=8 •The width of the peaks is about
1.1
sin
dN
•The difference between peaks is
m
sin
d
•We can distinguish two peaks if:
m N
•This quantity (mN) is called the mN
resolving power d d
•Even if N is very large, effectively N is how
many slits the light beam actually falls on
Diffraction Through a Single Slit
•What if our slit is NOT small compared to a wavelength?
•Treat it as a large number of closely spaced sources, by Huygen’s principle
•Let the slit size be a, and rave the distance to the center
•Let x be the distance of some point from the center
•The distance r will be slightly different from here to P
x r rave x sin
a
E ~ sin kr t sin krave kx sin t
r
E 1 sin krave kx sin t dx
1a
2
rave 2a
1
cos krave kx sin t a / 2
a/2
k sin
1 cos krave 2 ka sin t
1
E
k sin cos krave 2 ka sin t
1
sin 12 ka sin
sin krave t P
2 k sin
1
Diffraction Through a Single Slit (2)
sin ka sin
2
sin a sin
1 2
I I max 1 2
I I max
2 ka sin
a sin
L
xbright m
x d
L L
xdark m
a
Diffraction and Interference Together
•Now go through two finite sized slits
•Result is simply sum of each slit
a
•Resulting amplitude looks like:
d
sin 12 ka sin
E sin kr1 t sin kr2 t
a 1
2 k sin
sin a sin
2
2 d sin
I I max sin
a sin
narrow
air gap
Michelson Interferometer
•Interference easy to measure
•Can see much smaller than one wavelength
•LIGO, state of the art, can see 10-15 m! Mirrors
Hanford, Washington
Laser
Detector
Crystal Scattering of X-rays
•Mysterious rays were discovered by Röntgen in 1895
•Suspected to be short-wavelength EM waves
•Order 1-0.1 nm wavelength
•Scattered very weakly off of atoms
•Bragg, 1912, measured wavelength accurately
2d cos m
•Scattering strong only
d
if waves are in phase
•Must be integer
multiple of wavelength
Polarization
B0
•Recall that light waves have electric and magnetic fields
perpendicular to the direction of motion E0
•But there are two independent ways of arranging this
•Called polarization E0
•Our eyes can’t tell these two polarizations apart
•But some instruments can measure or take advantage of B0
polarization
•We describe polarization by telling which direction the
electric field points, e.g. vertically or horizontally
Methods of Producing Polarization
Direct production +
•Antennas produce waves that are automatically polarized +
Scattering +
•Light waves of all orientations hit small targets +
•Target has vibrating charges, like an antenna +
Reflection and Brewster’s Angle: +
•When light hits a substance, some of it reflects and some refracts
•Fraction of each depends on polarization
•There’s a special angle – Brewster’s angle – n2 –
tan P –
where reflected is completely polarized n1
–
E0 –
n1 P –
–
n2
Methods of Producing Polarization (2)
Birefringent Crystals
•Index of refraction has to do with electric fields from the wave pushing atoms
around
•In some crystals, it is easier to push them one way than another
•Index of refraction depends on polarization
•You can use such birefringent crystals to sort light based on polarization
Selective absorption
•Similarly, some materials absorb one polarization better than another
E0
E0 E0 E0
E0
Some Uses for Polarization
Polarized Sun Glasses
•“Glare” comes mostly from light scattered in the atmosphere and
reflected from water
•Mostly polarized
•Sun glasses use selective absorption to eliminate it
Optical Activity
•Some materials are capable of rotating the plane of polarization
•These materials are not mirror-symmetric
•Enantiomers, especially biological molecules
•Studying rotation of polarized light detects presence of these molecules
•Someday use these to detect life on other planets?
E0 Sugar E0
water