When was the interference of light proposed?

In May of 1801, while pondering some of Newton's experiments, Young came up

with the basic idea for the now-famous double-slit experiment to demonstrate the
interference of light waves. The demonstration would provide solid evidence that
light was a wave, not a particle.

Who invented interference phenomenon?

Thomas Young, (born June 13, 1773, Milverton, Somerset, England—died May 10,
1829, London), English physician and physicist who established the principle of
interference of light and thus resurrected the century-old wave theory of light. He
was also an Egyptologist who helped decipher the Rosetta Stone.

Condition of a Steady Interference Pattern

i. A1 = A2 . The amplitude of two waves must be equal.

ii.  λ1 = λ2. The two waves interfering must have same color i.e they must be of the same
wavelength.

iii. Sources must be narrow.

iv. The distance between source should be less.

v. Source and screen should be at large distance.

vi. We should get coherent sources.

Path difference for constructive and destructive interference

Suppose there are two coherent sources S1 and S2. There is also a point source P. The point source P is
located at the same distance from the sources  S1 and S2. When both the sources are in the same phase, the
constructive path difference will be 0, λ, 2λ……. The destructive path difference will be λ/2, 3λ/2,
5λ/2……

Young’s experiment
Young’s performed an experiment to prove the wave nature of light by explaining the phenomenon of
interference. He used two coherent sources to perform in this experiment. He used a light bulb and two
small slits, S1 and S2 and source S.

Here in the above figure, we can see that the slits are placed very close to each other and are separated by
the distance ‘ d ‘. There is a screen placed in front of this setup. He observed that alternate dark and light
bands were formed on the screen. Why did this kind of pattern come on the screen?

The source S illuminate the source S1 and S2 .Therefore the light from S1 and S2 becomes coherent. Why
did they become coherent? This is because both S1 and S2 receive their light from the same source S. So if
there is any change in the phase, the change will reflect in both S1 and S2. When both the slits are open
fringes are formed.

Suppose you have two taps in your house and water that comes in both the taps is coming from both the
source. So if you put some mud at the source of the water, the moment you open the taps, you will see
that water from both the taps will be muddy. Whatever changes you make in the source, the same
changes are seen in the taps too.

∴  we can say that S1 and S2 will always remain in phase.

In the double-slit experiment consecutive bright as well as dark fringes are seen on the screen as a
consequence of the type of interference of light waves.

 The interference fringe maxima occur for path difference = n λ

 The interference fringe minima occur for path difference = (2n+1)

Interference of light is the phenomena of multiple light waves interfering with one another under
certain circumstances, causing the combined amplitudes of the waves to either increase or
decrease. In this piece, we discuss both the constructive and destructive interference of light
waves, what causes interference, and some real-world examples and experiments that
demonstrate this phenomenon.  

What Is Light Wave Interference?

An important characteristic of light waves is their ability, under certain circumstances, to interfere
with one another. The definition of interference in physics is the superposition of waves, causing
an increase or decrease in the amplitude of the resulting wave. Most people observe some type
of optical interference every day, but do not realize what is occurring to produce this
phenomenon. One of the best examples of the interference of light is demonstrated by the light
reflected from a film of oil floating on water. Another example is the soap bubble illustrated in
Figure 1 that reflects a variety of beautiful colors when illuminated by natural or artificial light
sources.

What Is the Difference Between Constructive and

Destructive Interference?
This dynamic interplay of colors derives from the simultaneous reflection of light from both the
inside and outside surfaces of the bubble. The two surfaces are very close together (they are
only a few microns thick), and light reflected from the inner surface interferes
both constructively and destructively with light reflected from the outer surface. This is
because light reflected from the inner surface of the bubble must travel further than light reflected
from the outer surface. When the light waves reflected from the inner and outer surface combine,
they will interfere with each other, removing or reinforcing some parts of white light by destructive
or constructive interference. This results in color. If the extra distance traveled by the inner light
waves is exactly the wavelength of the outer light waves, then they will recombine constructively,
and bright colors of those wavelengths will be produced. In places where the waves are out of
step, destructive interference will occur, canceling the reflected light (and the color).

How Does the Interference of Light Occur?

The following is an explanation of how light waves interfere with each other. Consider a pair of
light waves from the same source that are traveling, for example, in direction D. This is the
propagation direction (as illustrated in Figure 2), and if the vibrations (which are perpendicular to
the propagation direction as represented by C in Figure 2) are parallel to each other and are also
parallel with respect to the direction of vibration, then the light waves may interfere with each
other. If the vibrations are not in the same plane and are vibrating at 90 degrees to each other,
then they cannot interfere with one another.
Constructive Interference

Assuming all of the criteria listed above are met, then the waves can interfere either
constructively or destructively with each other. If the crests of one of the waves coincide with the
crests of the other, the amplitudes are additive. If the amplitudes of both waves are equal, the
resultant amplitude would be doubled. Bear in mind that light intensity varies directly as
the square of the amplitude. Thus, if the amplitude is doubled, intensity is quadrupled. Such
additive interference is called constructive interference (illustrated in Figure 2).

Destructive Interference

If the crests of one wave coincide with the troughs of the other wave, the resulting amplitude is
decreased or may even be completely canceled, as illustrated in Figure 3. This is
called destructive interference. The result is a drop in intensity, or in the case of total
cancellation, blackness.

Interference Examples
Thomas Young was an early 19th century physicist who demonstrated interference by showing
that light is a wave phenomenon, and he also postulated that different colors of light were made
from waves with different lengths. This was contrary to common opinion at the time, which was
widely biased toward the theory that light is a stream of particles. In 1801, Young conducted an
experiment providing important evidence that visible light has wave-like properties. This classic
experiment, often termed "the Double-Slit experiment," originally used sunlight that had first been
diffracted through a single slit as a light source, but we will describe the experiment using
coherent red laser light.

The Double Slit Experiment

The basic setup of the double-slit experiment is illustrated in Figure 4. Coherent laser light is
allowed to illuminate a barrier containing two pinhole apertures that allow only some of the light
to pass through. A screen is placed in the region behind the slits, and a pattern of bright red and
dark interference bands becomes visible on the screen. The key to this experiment is the mutual
coherence between the light diffracted from the two slits at the barrier. Young achieved this
coherence through the diffraction of sunlight from the first slit, and we are using a coherent laser
source for the purposes of this discussion.

What Are Interference Fringes?

As laser light is diffracted through the two barrier slits, each diffracted wave meets the other in a
series of steps, as illustrated in Figure 4 (and graphically in the interactive tutorial described
above). Sometimes the waves meet in step (or in phase; constructive interference), sometimes
they meet out of step (or out of phase; destructive interference), and sometimes they meet
partially in step. When the waves meet in step, they add together owing to constructive
interference, and a bright area is displayed on the screen. In areas where the waves meet totally
out of step, they will subtract from each other towing to destructive interference, and a dark area
will appear in that portion of the screen. The resulting patterns on the screen, a product of
interference between the two diffracted beams of laser light, are often referred to as
interference fringes.
Other types of experiments have been devised to demonstrate the wave-like nature of light and
interference effects. Most notable are the single mirror experiment of Lloyd and the double mirror
and biprism experiments devised by Augustin Fresnel. These experiments are described in detail
in many of the physics books listed in our bibliography.

Newton’s Rings Experiment

Sir Isaac Newton, the famous 17th century mathematician and physicist, was one of the first
scientists to study interference phenomena. In his famous Newton's Rings experiment, he
placed a convex lens of large curvature radius on a flat glass plate and applied pressure to hold
the lens and glass plate together. When he viewed the plates through reflected sunlight, he
observed a series of concentric light and dark highly colored bands of light similar to those
illustrated in Figure 5. Newton recognized that the rings indicated the presence of some degree
of periodicity and used this observation to suggest a wave theory of light. Despite this, Newton
regarded light as a stream of particles.

The rings occur because of a thin layer of air that exists between the curved convex and flat
glass surfaces. Light reflected from the top and bottom surfaces of the glass is superimposed
(combined) and produces interference patterns that appear as the colored rings. This principle is
often used by lens manufacturers to test the uniformity of large polished surfaces.

Interference Intensity and Fringe Distribution

Interference intensity distribution fringes (such as those observed in Young's double slit
experiment) vary in intensity when they are presented on a uniform background. The visibility (V)
of the intensity was defined by Albert Michelson, an early 20th century physicist, as the
difference between the maximum and minimum intensity of a fringe divided by their sum:
V = I(max) - I(min)/I(max) + I(min)
where I(max) is the maximum intensity and I(min) is the minimum intensity. From the equation,
idealized fringe intensity always lies between zero and one, however in practice fringe visibility is
dependent upon the geometrical design of the experiment and the spectral range used. This is
responsible for the myriad of interference patterns observed in naturally occurring events.
Interference colors arising from stressed regions in materials can be easily observed in polarized
light. The ruler in Figure 6 is made of plastic and is being observed through crossed polarizers.
Under normal light, the ruler appears translucent with its graduations plainly visible. However,
when viewed under polarized light, the ruler exhibits stress patterns that appear more profound in
areas that are more highly deformed. This is due to a high degree of alignment of the long-chain
polymer molecules that comprise the ruler. Note that the greatest degree of birefringence occurs
near the hole on the left side of the ruler.

Real-World Uses of Interference

Other uses of the interference of light are measurements made over long distances with lasers.
In this case, the lasers can be used to measure very small distances over a range of many miles.
This is accomplished by splitting the laser beam and reflecting it back from different surfaces.
Analysis of the resulting interference fringes (upon recombining the separate laser beams) will
yield a remarkably accurate calculation of the distance between the two objects.
Holograms also depend upon the interference of light to produce their three-dimensional-like
images. In reflection holograms, both a reference and object-illuminating beam are reflected onto
a thick film from opposite sides. These beams interfere to produce light and dark areas that
correspond to an image that appears three-dimensional. Transmission holograms use both the
reference and object-illuminating beams on the same side of the film to produce a similar type of
effect.
Interference also occurs with sound waves and waves induced in a standing pool of water. A
very concise and easy interference experiment can be performed at home using a sink full of
water and two marbles. First, let the water become very still, then simultaneously drop the
marbles into the water (about 10-14 inches apart) from a height of about a foot. Just as with light
waves, the two marbles will induce a series of waves in the water emanating in all directions.
Waves formed in the area between where the marbles entered the water will eventually collide.
Where they collide in step, they will constructively add together to make a bigger wave and
where they collide out of step, they will destructively cancel each other out. Try it!

What is needed for interference?

To set up a stable and clear interference pattern, two conditions must be met: The
sources of the waves must be coherent, which means they emit identical
waves with a constant phase difference. The waves should be monochromatic
- they should be of a single wavelength.

Thomas Young's Double Slit Experiment

Among the pioneers in early physics was a nineteenth century English scientist
named Thomas Young, who convincingly demonstrated the wave-like character of
light through the phenomenon of interference using diffraction techniques. Young's
experiments provided evidence in contrast to the popular scientific opinion of the
period, which was based on Newton's corpuscular (particle) theory for the nature of
light. In addition, he is also responsible for concluding that different colors of light are
made from waves having different lengths, and that any color can be obtained by
mixing together various quantities of light from only three primary colors: red, green,
and blue.

In 1801, Young conducted a classical and often-cited double-slit experiment

providing important evidence that visible light has wave-like properties. His
experiment was based on the hypothesis that if light were wave-like in nature, then it
should behave in a manner similar to ripples or waves on a pond of water. Where
two opposing water waves meet, they should react in a specific manner to either
reinforce or destroy each other. If the two waves are in step (the crests meet), then
they should combine to make a larger wave. In contrast, when two waves meet that
are out of step (the crest of one meets the trough of another), the waves should
cancel and produce a flat surface in that area.
In order to test his hypothesis, Young devised an ingenious experiment. Using
sunlight diffracted through a small slit as a source of semi-coherent illumination, he
projected the light rays emanating from the slit onto another screen containing two
slits placed side by side. Light passing through the slits was then allowed to fall onto
a third screen (the detector). Young observed that when the slits were large, spaced
far apart and close to the detection screen, then two overlapping patches of light
formed on the screen. However, when he reduced the size of the slits and brought
them closer together, the light passing through the slits and onto the screen
produced distinct bands of color separated by dark regions in a serial order. Young
coined the term interference fringes to describe the bands and realized that these
colored bands could only be produced if light were acting like a wave.

Figure 5 - Thomas Young's Double Slit Experiment

The basic setup of the double slit experiment is illustrated in Figure 5. Red filtered
light derived from sunlight is first passed through a slit to achieve a semi-coherent
state. Light waves exiting the first slit are then made incident on a pair of slits
positioned close together on a second barrier. A detector screen is placed in the
region behind the slits to capture overlapped light rays that have passed through the
twin slits, and a pattern of bright red and dark interference bands becomes visible on
the screen. The key to this type of experiment is the mutual coherence of the light
diffracted from the two slits at the barrier. Although Young achieved this coherence
through the diffraction of sunlight from the first slit, any source of coherent light (such
as a laser) can be substituted for light passing through the single slit.

The coherent wavefront of light impacting on the twin slits is divided into two new
wavefronts that are perfectly in step with each other. Light waves from each of the
slits must travel an equal distance to reach point A on the screen illustrated
in Figure 5, and should reach that point still in step or with the same phase
displacement. Because the two waves reaching point A possess the necessary
requirements for constructive interference, they should add together to produce a
bright red interference fringe on the screen.

In contrast, neither of the points B on the screen is positioned equidistant from the
two slits, so light must travel a greater distance from one slit to reach point B than
from the other. The wave emanating from the slit closer to point B (take for example
the slit and point B on the left-hand side of Figure 5) does not have as far to travel to
reach its destination, as does a wave traveling from the other slit. As a consequence,
the wave from the closest slit should arrive at point B slightly ahead of the wave from
the farthest slit. Because these waves will not arrive at point B in phase (or in step
with each other), they will undergo destructive interference to produce a dark region
(interference fringe) on the screen. Interference fringe patterns are not restricted to
experiments having the double slit configuration, but can be produced by any event
that results in the splitting of light into waves that can be canceled or added together.

The success of Young's experiment was strong testimony in favor of the wave
theory, but was not immediately accepted by his peers. The events in place behind
phenomena such as the rainbow of colors observed in soap bubbles and Newton's
rings (to be discussed below), although explained by this work, were not immediately
obvious to those scientists who firmly believed that light propagated as a stream of
particles. Other types of experiments were later devised and conducted to
demonstrate the wave-like nature of light and interference effects. Most notable are
the single mirror experiment of Humphrey Lloyd, and the double mirror and bi-prism
experiments devised by Augustin Fresnel for polarized light in uniaxial birefringent
crystals. Fresnel concluded that interference between beams of polarized light could
only be obtained with beams having the same polarization direction. In effect,
polarized light waves having their vibration directions oriented parallel to each other
can combine to produce interference, whereas those that are perpendicular do not
interfere.

Figure 6 - Newton's Ring Experiment

Coherent Sources and Sustained Interference

Interference is a natural phenomenon that happens at every place and at every moment. Yet we don’t see interference
patterns everywhere. Interference is the phenomenon in which two waves superpose to form the resultant wave of the
lower, higher or same amplitude. The most commonly seen interference is the optical interference or light interference.
This is because light waves are randomly generated every which way by most sources. This means that light waves
coming out of a source do not have a constant amplitude, frequency or phase.
The most common example of interference of light is the soap bubble which reflects wide colours when illuminated by a
light source.
Example, incandescent bulbs generate a wide range of frequencies of light, including all colours of the rainbow.
Moreover, the light coming out of the bulb is randomly generated every moment in all directions. This means that the
starting point of the wave generated may be a maximum, a minimum or any point in between. There is no way of
predicting in which phase the wave will start. Such a source is said to be incoherent.

What are Coherent Sources?

Two sources are said to be coherent when the waves emitted from them have the same frequency and constant phase
difference.
Interference from such waves happen all the time, the randomly phased light waves constantly produce bright and dark
fringes at every point. But, we cannot see them since they occur randomly. A point that has a dark fringe at one moment
may have a bright fringe at the next moment. This cancels out the effect of the interference effect, and we see only an
average brightness value. The interference is not said to be sustained since we cannot observe it.

Characteristics of Coherent Sources

Coherent sources have the following characteristics:

1. The waves generated have a constant phase difference

2. The waves are of a single frequency

Coherent Source Example

 Laser light is an example of coherent source of light. The light emitted by the laser light has the same frequency
and phase.
 Sound waves are another example of coherent sources. The electrical signals from the sound waves travel with
the same frequency and phase.

Types of Interference
Interference of light waves can be either constructive interference or destructive interference.
  Constructive interference: Constructive interference takes place when the crest of one wave falls on the crest
of another wave such that the amplitude is maximum. These waves will have the same displacement and are in
the same phase.
 Destructive interference: In destructive interference the crest of one wave falls on the trough of another wave
such that the amplitude is minimum. The displacement and phase of these waves are not the same.

Young’s Double Slit Experiment

The great scientist Young’s performed an experiment to prove the wave nature of light by explaining the phenomenon
of interference of light. In the Young’s double slit experiment, two coherent sources were generated using diffracted light
from a single slit. Note that the waves must have a constant phase difference, so the two slits need not be placed
symmetrically from the first slit to observe an interference pattern. 
Lasers are commonly used as coherent sources and use a phenomenon called Simulated Emission to generate highly
coherent light. Small sources of light are at least partially coherent. This is why we can observe interference patterns on
soap bubbles and appreciate the iridescence of butterfly wings. While sunlight is incoherent overall, small portions on
small areas are generally partially coherent.

Conditions for Interference of Light Waves

For sustained interference of light to occur, the following conditions must be met:

1. Coherent sources of light are needed.

2. Amplitudes and intensities must be nearly equal to produce sufficient contrast between maxima and minima.
3. The source must be small enough that it can be considered a point source of light.
4. The interfering sources must be near enough to produce wide fringes.
5. The source and screen must be far enough to produce wide fringes.
6. The sources must emit light in the same state of polarization.
7. The sources must be monochromatic.