Physics II

DAS 14203
Chapter 8: Wave Optics
Presented by: Dr. Muhammad Sufi Bin Roslan
CeDS, Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia
[email protected]
 Physical Optics
Learning Outcomes
• At the end of this chapter, student should be able to:
o The wave nature of light
o Interference phenomena- Young double slit Experiment-Constructive
and Destructive Interference.
o Diffraction-Franhoufer Diffraction Single slit and Double Slit.
o Polarization of Light.

PUSAT PENGAJIAN DIPLOMA

What make the colour changes?
This page was copied from Nick Strobel's Astronomy Notes. Go to his site at www.astronomynotes.com
for the updated and corrected version.
• The wave characteristic of light obey the equation
𝑐 = 𝑓𝜆
• Where c is the speed of light in vacuum c=3x108 m/s, f is frequency of
electromagnetic waves, and  is wavelength.

• The range of wavelength for visible light is from 380 nm to 780 nm.
• Light travel in straight line
Huygen’s Principle
• The Dutch Scientist, Huygens (1629-1695) developed a useful
technique in determining how an where wave propagate.

• Huygen’s principle states that;

“Every point on a wavefront is a source of wavelets that spread out in

the forward direction at the same speed as the wave itself. The new
wavefront is a line tangent to all of the wavelets."
• Ib Al-Haytam (Al-Hazen, AD 1011-21) describe
the optics in the Kitab al-Manazir “Books of
Optics”
• Al-Haytham presented many experiments in
Optics that upheld his claims about light and its
transmission.
• He also claimed that color acts much like light,
being a distinct quality of a form and travelling
from every point on an object in straight lines.
• Through experimentation he concluded that
color cannot exist without air.
Interference-Superposition of waves
constructive interference occur when destructive interference occur when
waves perfectly in phase waves perfectly out of phase.
Young Double’ slit experiment
• Thomas Young’s famous doubleslit experiment, worked out for the
first time at the very beginning of the 19th century
Analysing Young’s double slit experiment

Constructive Interference Destructive Interference

• Path difference between the two rays
• 𝛿 = 𝑟2 − 𝑟1 = 𝑑 sin 𝜃
• Whether the two waves are in phase or out of phase is determined by
the value of δ. Constructive interference occurs when δ is zero or an
integer multiple of the wavelength
• For constructive Interference
𝛿 = 𝑑 sin 𝜃 = 𝑚𝜆 m = 0, ±1 ± 2 ± 3 …
• where m is called the order number. The zeroth-order (m = 0)
maximum corresponds to the central bright fringe at θ=0, and the
first-order maxima (m=±1) are the bright fringes on either side of the
central fringe.
• when δ is equal to an odd integer multiple of λ/2, the waves will be
180o out of phase at P, resulting in destructive interference with a
dark fringe on the screen.
• For destructive interference
1
• 𝛿 = 𝑑 sin 𝜃 = 𝑚 + 𝜆 m = 0, ±1 ± 2 ± 3 …
2
Path difference

Destructive Interference Constructive Interference

• For a very small angle, we can assume that

𝑦
• sin 𝜃 ≈ tan 𝜃 =
𝐿
Determining distance of dark and bright
fringes
• Using the small angle approach thus
𝑦
• 𝑚 = 𝑑 𝑠𝑖𝑛 𝜃 = for bright fringe
𝐿
• Thus the distance from center for bright fringe, yb
𝜆𝐿
𝒚𝒃 = 𝑚
𝑑
• And for dark fringes,
1 𝜆𝐿
𝒚𝒅 = 𝑚 +
2 𝑑
Intensity distribution for Double Slit
Experiment
Diffraction of waves
• Diffraction is defined as the bending of waves as they pass by some
objects or through an aperture
• Propagation of waves based on Huygen’s Principle
Diffraction pattern of waves
Single-Slit Franhoufer Diffraction
• Waves emerges from aperture
• In diffraction of Fraunhoufer type, all rays passing through the slit are
approximately parallel.
• In addition, each portion of the slit will act as a source of light waves
according to Huygens’s principle.
• For simplicity we divide the slit into two halves.
• At the first minimum, each ray from the upper half will be exactly
180o out of phase with a corresponding ray form the lower half.
• We can write the equation for single slit with aperture width a
𝑎 𝜆
• sin 𝜃 =
2 2

• Thus equal to
𝑎 sin 𝜃 = 𝜆
• Therefore, the determination of minimum order (destructive
interference or dark fringe) for single slit diffraction
𝑎 sin 𝜃 = 𝑚𝜆
• where m = ±1 ± 2 ± 3 …
• However, for central of the fringe 𝜃 = 0 result in bright fringe
Intensity of Single Slit diffraction pattern

*Note: D is aperture, a
Intensity of double-slit diffraction pattern
Exercise
• A monochromatic light is incident on a single slit of width 0.800 mm,
and a diffraction pattern is formed at a screen which is 0.800 m away
from the slit. The second-order bright fringe is at a distance 1.60 mm
from the center of the central maximum. Determine the wavelength
of the incident light?
Solution
• The general condition for destructive interference is
𝑚𝜆 𝑦
sin 𝜃 = ≈
𝑎 𝐿

• Thus, the position of the m-th order dark fringe measured from the
central axis is
𝑚𝜆𝐿
𝑦𝑚 =
𝑎
• Let the second bright fringe be located halfway between the second
and the third dark fringes.
• That is,
1 1 𝜆𝐿 5𝜆𝐿
𝑦2𝑏 = 𝑦2𝑑 + 𝑦3𝑑 = 2 + 3 =
2 2 𝑎 2𝑎
• Therefore the wavelength of the incident light can be calculated as

2𝑎𝑦2𝑏 2 0.800 × 10−3 𝑚 1.60 × 10−3 𝑚

𝜆= = = 6.40 × 10−7 𝑚
5𝐿 5(0.800 𝑚0
Application of interference of wave
• Diffraction grating-Spectrometer
Polarization of light
• Light is one type of electromagnetic (EM) wave. As noted earlier, EM
waves are transverse waves consisting of varying electric and
magnetic fields that oscillate perpendicular to the direction of
propagation.
• There are specific directions for the oscillations of the electric and
magnetic fields.
• Polarization is the attribute that a wave’s oscillations have a definite
direction relative to the direction of propagation of the wave.
• Waves from ordinary light sources (our Sun, light bulb, etc.) consists
of wave trains with the direction of E0 varying randomly. This is called
unpolarised light.
• Waves having such a direction are said to be polarized.
Polarization by reflection
Polarization by scattering
Application of Polarization
• Reducing sun glare

Without polarizer With polarizer

• Light filtration
• sunglass
Summary
• Light behave as wave that travel as speed of light c = 2.99792458 × 108 m/s
≈ 3.00 × 108 m/s ..

• According to Huygens’s principle, every point on a wave front is a source of wavelets

that spread out in the forward direction at the same speed as the wave itself. The new
wave front is tangent to all of the wavelets.

• The bending of a wave around the edges of an opening or an obstacle is called

diffraction.

• Young double slit experiment shows light shows the interference phenomena of light
as wave behaviour.

• Fresnel diffraction shows combination of diffraction and interference phenomena of

light wave.

• Polarization is the attribute that wave oscillations have a definite direction relative to
the direction of propagation of the wave. The direction of polarization is defined to be
the direction parallel to the electric field of the EM wave.
• Unpolarized light is composed of many rays having random polarization directions.
Reference
1. Fundamental of Physics , 8th Edition, Halliday and Resnick
2. College Physics, 3rd Edition, Pearson Education Inc.
Q&A