Chapter 24 - The Wave Nature of Light
Summary
• Four Consequences of the Wave nature of Light:
• Diffraction
• Dispersion
• Interference
• Polarization
• Huygens’ principle: every point on a wavefront is
a source of spherical wavelets
• Young’s double-slit experiment.
• Rainbows, Anti-Reflection Coatings
Light as a Wave
If Light is an electromagnetic wave, lets start by looking at
how waves behave.
Ocean Waves
entering a Cove
• Where the long ocean waves enter the opening of the cove,
they spread out in rings, as if from a point.
• This phenomenon is Diffraction
•Exactly the same thing happens to sound, and EM waves
(light, radio, X-rays etc)
24.1 Waves: Huygens’ Principle and Diffraction
Huygens’ principle:
Every point on a wave
front acts as a point
source; the wavefront
as it develops is
tangent to their
envelope
24.1 Waves Versus Particles; Huygens’
Principle and Diffraction
Huygens’ principle is consistent with
diffraction:
Large aperture
Small aperture
24.2 Huygens’ Principle and the Law of
Refraction
Huygens’ Principle and the Law of
Refraction
Highway mirages are due to a gradually
changing index of refraction in heated air.
The most bizzare thing you have likely
encountered in Physics so far!
– Young’s Double-Slit Experiment
24.3 Interference – Young’s Double-Slit
Experiment
If light is a wave,
there should be
an interference
pattern.
ConcepTest 24.2a Phase Difference I
The two waves shown are
1) out of phase by 180o
2) out of phase by 90o
3) out of phase by 45o
4) out of phase by 360o
5) in phase
ConcepTest 24.2a Phase Difference I
The two waves shown are
1/4λ
1) out of phase by 180o
2) out of phase by 90o
3) out of phase by 45o
4) out of phase by 360o
5) in phase
The two waves are out of phase by
1/4 wavelength (as seen in the
figure) , which corresponds to a
phase difference of 90o.
Follow-up: What would the waves look like for no. 4 to be correct?
Long straight ocean waves Diffracting and creating Interference Patterns
as they divide and recombine around an island-strewn coastline
Interference
Diffraction
Plane waves
Diffraction of Light by a Double Slit
• In this example, a laser shone through a piece of paper with
two small holes in it.
• Instead of 2 spots, you see a central bright spot flanked by
many alternating minima and maxima
•Even more Bizarrely, the effect persists when light is sent
through the slit ONE PHOTON AT A TIME
•Diffraction and Interference have now been demonstrated
with beams of electrons, atoms, and even Molecules!
•Try at Home -its easy!
•Thomas Young used sunlight and black paper
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_xd9hUZ2AY&feature=related
24.3 Constructive & Destructive Interference
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).
Condition for Bright and Dark Fringes
We can use geometry to find the conditions for
constructive and destructive interference:
(24-2a)
(24-2b)
Interference Pattern
Between each maxima and the minima, the
interference varies smoothly.
Summary of Chapter 24
• In the double-slit experiment
constructive interference when
destructive interference when
• Two sources of light are coherent if they have the same
frequency and maintain the same phase relationship
• Visible spectrum of light ranges from 400 nm to 750 nm
(approximately)
• Index of refraction varies with wavelength, leading to
dispersion