PraVegak] Education CSIR NET-JRF, GATE, lIT-JAM, JEST, TIFR and GRE for Physics Chapter Two Interference 2.1 Definitions Wavefront: A wavefiont cant be defined a3 surface containing he points vibrating i When we drop a small stone on a calm pool of water, we observe the formation of ripples or waves in the form of circular rings on its surface that spreads out from the point of impact. Every point on the surface starts oscillating with time, At any instant, a photograph of the surface would show circular rings on which the disturbance is maximum. Clearly, all points on such a circle are oscillating in phase because they are at the same distance from the source. Such a locus of points, which oscillate in phase is called a wavefront. Speed of wave: The speed of the wave is the speed with which the wavefront moves outwards from the source. The energy of the wave travels in a direction perpendicular to the wavefront. Coherent Beams: Two beams are said to be coherent if there’s a fixed relation between their phase and frequency. An example of coherent beam is a laser that we use in our daily life computer mouse. The code scanner used at the grocery store also uses the coherent laser beam. Incoherent Beams: Two waves are said to be incoherent if they do not have the same frequency and the phase difference between them is not constant. The light from the sun and a flashlight are examples of incoherent beams. One cannot see a steady stream of beam in this case as is produced by a laser. Fringe Width: The distance between two consecutive bright (or dark) fringes is called fringe width. H.N. 28 A/a, Jia Sarai, Near IIT-Delhi, Hauz Khas, New Delhi-110026 #: +91-89207-59559 Website: www pravegaseducation.com | Email: [email protected] 7PraVegael Education If we have a point source emitting waves uniformly in all directions, then the locus of plitude and vibrate wave. Ata large distance from the source, a the same phase are spheres and we have points which have the sami what is known as a spheri 2.2 Interference Before discussing about Interference or Diffraction, let us first discuss what is a wave and ‘what does a wave actually do. A Wave Is a Way energy can transfer itself trom one place to ‘another. For example, if I whack the one end ofa rope you will see a little compression wave bouncing back and forth. What happens is, if I push one end of the rope it compresses it. But it doesn’t want to compress, it wants to stretch out, so, it pushes on the piece next to it and ‘compresses it. Well, again it doesn’t want to be compressed so it pushes the piece next to and that way the energy travels down the rope. Another example of a wave my voice, as I talk to you my mouth is emitting energy and that energy is reaching your ears. It's not the actual air that’s getting to you it’s the energy that way you ean hear me without actually having to smell my breath, that’s one of the beautiful things about waves. Now, let’s talk about some of the properties of waves. Imagine I have a stereo and I play ‘a pure tone a pure frequency through both speakers. The speakers have a speaker cone that’s moving back and forth and it’s pushing/compressing the air. So, right next to the speaker cone you'll see the pressure of the air go up and down in time and can be represented by an sitting right between the two speakers and they are both doing exactly the same thing at the same time, then this can be represented by the following equations: {llating wave as shown in Fig. The pressure then travels outward. Now, imagine you are 2x1 = Acos(ar) 1) x» = Acos(or) (2.2) At this time what you hear is the combination of both the sound waves from both the speakers, so, you hear the sum of these two sound waves. When you add these together you will get an even bigger wave, Let's see what happens when we add the above equi xy -+x2 =Acos(or) + Acos(or) a = 2Acos(wr) “ From the above equation, we see that you will ear the sound with double the amplitude. ‘What would happen if one of the speaker is wired backward? Now, both the speakers will be moving in opposite direction at all times, i.e if one is moving up then the other will H.No. 28 AVI, Jia Sarai, Near IIT-Dethi, Hauz Khas, New Delhi-110016 18 #; +91-89207-59559 Website: www.pravegaa.com | Email: pravegaaeducation@ gmail.comPraVegal Education ‘be moving down and the pressure waves are out of syne (or phase). When you add these two together, when they reach your ear, they cancel out each other and you hear no sound. That means now, 22 = Acos(wr +2) = —Acos(wt) 4) Now their addition will result into x1-+an = Acox(«or) — Acos(nt) (2.5) = (A—A)cos(@t) = Now, let’s imagine another case where the speakers are wired correctly and they're both synchronised, but now you are sitting closer to one of the speaker than the other. In this scenario, the speaker that is further away it’s sound wave has to cover greater distance and takes more time fo reach your ears. As a result the wave is shifted in phase. 2 = Acos(@r + ¢) (2.6) where, 6 is the phase difference between the waves from the two speakers, Let's see what ‘happens when we add them now: Ay +42 = Acos(wr) +Acos(or +) 7) =A [cos(wr) +c0s (ar) cos() — Agcos (8) = Acos(0) +Acos(o) 8) Asin (8) = Asin(0) +Asin() ‘Squaring and adding the above equation, we get, Aj = 2A? +24? cos($) Aj = 2A?(1 +-cos()) (2.9) AB = 2A? c0s7( 9/2) So, now if you are sitting in just the right position then you can actually have these two 1g, ont each other at your ears even though both the speakers are exactly in phase. So, the phenomenon where waves can add together or can cancel out is known as imerference, Interference is something that waves do. Another example of wave is light. The light coming from the laser pointer and projecting, ‘an image on the screen is also a wave. How do we know that light is a wave? When we see the waves in the ocean then we can see them oscillating or going up and down and we H.No. 28 A/I, Jia Sarai, Near ITT-Dethi, Hauz Khas, New Delhi-I10016 19 #: +91-89207-59559 Website: www.pravegaa.com | Email: pravegaaeducation@ gmail.comPraVegael Education see the waves moving along. But with light the spacing between these waves is very very small and they oscillates really fast that we can't just measure the waves in the light. So then how do we know that itis wave? Well, we have just seen that waves interfere. So, if we can show that light interferes then it will answer our question that light is a wave. To show this, we take a laser, split it in twa parts and send thace together in different directions. Then by using mirrors we bring these two beams together and superimpose. When we do this, we observe strips on the screen and we see there are places where the two beams add together brightly and ta the places they cancel out and we soe a hoautifl interforence pattern. These interference fringes depends on the angle between the two beams, so, any small change made to the relative angle of the beams will make the interference pattern bigger or smaller. 2.3, Young’s Double Slit Experiment. Normally, we do not see the wave nature of light. In the year 1801 the famous physicist ‘Thomas Young demonstrated the wave nature of light through an experiment now known as Young’s Double Slit Experiment. The main idea behind any interference exper to first divide the incoming light into two parts and then later combine into a single wave. ‘The main condition to obtain interference pattern is that the two sources of light should be coherent. Young passed the light through two slits separated by a small distance ‘d’, usually, only a few orders of magnitude greater than the wavelength of light. Now, these two slits will ‘act a6 two sources (S1, $2) of eoherent light which will interfere with each other. A cereen oF photo-detector is placed at a large distance ‘D’ away from the slits as shown Fig. 2.1. For simplicity we will consider a monochromatic light source ‘S’ of wavelength A. S is kept at a considerable distance from °S,” and ‘S." such that it is equidistant from both the slits, “S1" and ‘S2" will now behave as coherent sources derived from *S". The light passes through these slits and falls on a sereen w slits $1 and $3. The interference pattern will only occur when both Sy and S> are open, as ‘you may remember that we require at least two waves to produce interference. ‘The two waves interfering at P have covered distances §}P = x and SP = x+Ax. The electric fields at P due to the two waves may be written as went is at a distance *D* from the position of Ey = Eyicos(kx— oon) and Ey = Ey2cos{k(x-+ Ax) ~ or] = Fo2cos|kr— aor +3] where 3 (2.10) H.No. 28 AVI, Jia Sarai, Near IIT-Delhi, Hauz Khas, New Delhi-110016 20 #; +91-89207-59559 Website: www.pravegaa.com | Email: pravegaaeducation@ gmail.comPraVegal Education Light Wave Interference Pattern > ore Page uot LEILA Deuse'sit Screen Sten View Fig.2.1 ‘The resultant field at P is, E 1 +E = Eq cos (kx — ot) + Eyacos (kx — 1) cos 5 Eo = cos (kx-+ Ax) [Eo1 + Eo: ¢08 8) — Evo sin (kx cor) sind ‘ocos kx — or +8] sin (x— oor) sind where, Focos@ = Fo, + Foacos 8 and E sin@ = Ey2sind Therefore, £5 = Ej +E}; +2Eoi Eo2cos 5 Eqosind Quy Eq) + Eqncos 5 ‘When the slit separation (d) and the screen distance (D) are kept unchanged, to reach P the light waves from $; and S> must travel different distances. It implies that there is a path difference, Ax in Young’s double slit experiment between the two light waves from Sy and S». and tan@= 2.3.1 Conditions and Pos ference n of Constructive and Destructive Inter- ‘The condi s for constructive (bright) and destructive (dark) interference pattern are, H.No. 28 A/I, Jia Sarai, Near IIT-Delhi, Hauz Khas, New Delhi-I10016 21 4: 491-89207-59559 Website: www.pravegaa.com | Email: pravegaaeducation@ gmail.comPraVegael Education 6 =2nn for bright fringes 1 for bright fringes on and S=(2n+1)" — fordark fringes where nis an integer. Using eq. 10, the above conditions can also be written as Ar=nh for bright fringes (2.13) and A= ne yya for dark fringes In Fig. (2.2), at point B Ax =O as S)B = corresponding ton = 0. . This point is the centre of the bright fringe 2.3.2 Intensity Variation If the two slits are identical, ie. Eo) = Eon = £5. Therefore, eq. 11 can now be written as, Ej =2E§(1+c0s8) As the intensity is proportional to the square of the amplitude, we get 1=21'(1 +c0sd) 5 (2.14) where, / is the resultant intensity and /’ is the intensity due to a single ‘The equation gives intensity as the function of 6. At the centre of a bright fringe, 6 = 2nm and J =41'. At the centre of a dark fringe, 5 = (2n +1) and J = 0. At other points, the intensity is between 0 and 41’ as given by eq. 14. 2.3.3 Approximations in Young’s double slit experiment Approximation 1: D >> d: Since D >> d, the two light rays are assumed to be parallel. H.No. 28 AVI, Jia Sarai, Near IIT-Delhi, Hauz Khas, New Delhi-110016 22 4: 491-89207-59559 Website: www.pravegaa.com | Email: pravegaaeducation@ gmail.comPraVegal Education Approximation 2: d/2 » 1: Often, d isa fraction of a millimetre and 2 is a fraction of a micrometre for visible light. Under these conditions @ is sma approximation sin @ = tan@ = 6 = A/d. path difference, Ax =A /d. ‘This ie the path difference between two waves meeting at @ paint an the sereen. Due ta are bright |, thus we can use the this path difference in Young’s double-slit experiment, some points on the se and some points are dark. Now, we will discuss the position of these light, dark fringes and fringe width 2.3.4 Fringe-width and Determination of Wavelength Pure constructive interference occurs where the waves are crest to crest or rough to trough. This ean be obtained when the phase difference between the two beams is an integral multiple of A, which can be written as: Avon (n= 0,41,42,43...) xd ie, Gam mad mara Thus, the distance of rf bright fringe from the centre is aD wd Similarly, the distance of (n~ 1)" brigh fringe from the centre is (n= Dav Xn a Therefore, fringe width, B is given by: Bax - nAD _(n—1)AD eee _ AD od ab b= 2.15) H.No. 28 A/I, Jia Sarai, Near ITT-Dethi, Hauz Khas, New Delhi-I10016 23 4: 491-89207-59559 Website: www.pravegaa.com | Email: pravegaaeducation@ gmail.comPraVegael Education Pure destructive interference occurs where they are crest to trough, i.e the phase difference is an half-integral multiple of 2. ‘This can be written as Ax=(2n+1)A/2 (n=0,41,42,43...) xd _ (Qn+1)A “ D 2 or roe Thus, the distance of n'" dark fringe from the centre is _ Qn+1)AD = Similarly, the distance of (n— 1)" dark fringe from the centre is 2(n—1) + )AD 2d Xn ‘Therefore, fringe width, f is given by: Qn+1)AD _ (2(n )+1)AD By measuring D, d, and B in an experiment, one can calculate the wavelength of the light used. From eq. 15, as the separation d between the slits is increased, the fringe-width is decreased. If d becomes much larger than 4, the fringe-width will be very small. The maxima and minima, will be so closely spaced that it will look like a uniform intensity pattern, This is an example of the general result that the wave effects are difficult to observe, if the wavelength is small compared to the dimensions of the obstructions or openings to the incident wavefront. Example 1; In a Young's double slit experiment, the separation between the slits is 0.10 mm, the wavelength of the light used is 600 nm, and the interference patter is observed ‘on a screen 1.00 m away, Find the separation between the successive bright fringes. H.No. 28 AVI, Jia Sarai, Near IIT-Delhi, Hauz Khas, New Delhi-110016 24 91 -89207-59559 Website: www.pravegaa.com | Email: pravegaaeducation@ gmail.comPraVegal Education Sol.: The separation between the successive bright fringes is 2D Tae 1.0 m x600 x 10-9 m 0.10% 10 > m 6.0 10-3 m= 0 man. Example 2: A double slit experiment is performed with sodium (yellow) light of wave- length 589.3 nm and the interference patter is observed on a screen 100 em away. The tenth bright fringe has its centre at a distance of 12 mm from the central maximum, Find the separation between the slits. Sol.: The distance of the n!" bright fringe from the centre is nhD a From the data given, Bq = 12 mm; n= 10; A = $89.3 nm; D = 100 em Thus, the separation between the slits naD 10x 589.3 x 10-9 x 100 x 10-2 2x10 7 4.9 104 m — 0.49 mm. ad Example 3: The intensity of light coming from one of the slits in a Young's double slit experiment is double the intensity from the other slit. Find the ratio of the maximum intensity to the minimum intensity in the interference fringe pattern observed Sol.: The intensity of light originating from the first slit is double the intensity from the second slit. The amplitudes of the two interfering waves are in the ratio V2: 1, say V2Ey and Eo. At the point of constructive interference, the resultant amplitude becomes (2+ 1)Ep. At the points of destructive interference, this amplitude is (y/2 — 1) Eo. The ratio of the resultant H.No. 28 A/I, Jia Sarai, Near ITT-Dethi, Hauz Khas, New Delhi-I10016 25 4: 491-89207-59559 Website: www.pravegaa.com | Email: pravegaaeducation@ gmail.comPraVegael Education intensities at the maxima to that at the minima is Imax _ (V2+ 1PES Tin (W2—1PES Example 4: The width of one of the slits in a Young's double slit experiment is double of the other slit. Assuming that the amplitude of the light coming from a slit is proportional to the slit-width, find the ratio of the maximum to the minimum intensity in the interference pattern, Sol.: Suppose the amplitude of the light wave coming from the narrower slit is Ey and that coming from the wider slit is 2&9. ‘The maximum intensity occurs at a place where constructive interference takes place. Then the resultant amplitude is the sum of the individual amplitudes. Thus, Emax = 2E9 + Eo = 3Eo ‘The minimum intensity occurs at a place where destructive interference takes place. The resultant amplitude is then difference of the individual amplitudes. Thus, Ennin = 2Ey ~ Ey = Eo As the intensity is proportional to the square of the amplitude, Imax _ Emax Inn Emin — (30)? 5 Example 5: Two sources $1 and $2 emitting light of wavelength 600 nm are placed a distance 1,0 x 10-? cm apart. A detector can be moved on the line S;P which is perpendicular to $15. (a) What would be the minimum and maximum path difference at the detector as it is moved along the line SP? (b) Locate the position of the farthest minimum detected. Sol: (a) The situation is shown in Fig. 2.3 . The path difference is maximum when the detector is just at the position of S; and its value is equal to d = 1.0.x 10 cm. H.No. 28 A/I, Ji Sarai, Near IT-Dethi, Hauz Khas, New Delhi-110016 26 #; +91-89207-59559 Website: www.pravegaa.com | Email: pravegaaeducation@ gmail.comPraVegal Education -—pD Fig. 2.3 ‘The path difference is minimum when the detector is at a large distance from S). The path difference is then close to zero. (b) The farthest minimum occurs at a point P where the path difference is 2/2. If SiP=D, SP-S\P=D or, VBP +d?—D on =150 x 107° m= 1.7 em Example 6: A beam of light consisting of two wavelengths, 6500 A and 5200 to obtai used interference fringes in a Young’s double slit experiment (1 A= 10! m), The distance between the slits is 2.0 mm and the distance between the plane of the slits and the screen is 120 cm. (a) Find the distance of the third bright fringe on the screen from the central maximum for the wavelength 6500 A. (b) What is the least distance from the central maximum where the bright fringes due to both the wavelengths coincide ? H.No. 28 A/I, Jia Sarai, Near ITT-Dethi, Hauz Khas, New Delhi-10016 27 #: +91-89207-59559 Website: www.pravegaa.com | Email: pravegaaeducation@ gmail.comPraVegael Education + (a) The centre of the nth bright fringe is at a distance y maximum, For the 3rd bright fringe of 650A, ™D from the central 6500 x 107"? m x 2x10 m =0-17emx 0-12 em (b) Suppose the m th bright fringe of 6500A coincides with the nth bright fringe of 520A. then, tegnhue map o 8-8B-4 ‘The minimum values of m and n that satisfy this equation are 4 and 5 respectively. The distance of the 4th bright fringe of 6500A or the Sth bright fringe of 5200A from the central 4x 6500 x 10-1 mx 1-2m 2x10 m = 0.156 em ~0.16 em. H.No. 28 AVI, Jia Sarai, Near IIT-Delhi, Hauz Khas, New Delhi-110016 28 #; +91-89207-59559 Website: www.pravegaa.com | Email: pravegaaeducation@ gmail.com