09 Chapter-9
09 Chapter-9
09 Chapter-9
9. Physical Optics
WAVE FRONT AND RAYS
Wave front is a locus of points which have same phase of vibrations.
Following are the types of wave front;
Spherical Wave Front
Set of points, which determine the surface of sphere.
Cylindrical Wave Front
Set of points, which determine the surface of cylinder.
Plane Wave Front
A small part of spherical or cylindrical wave front at very large distance from source of light
HUYGEN’S PRINCIPLE
(i) Every point on wave front acts as a source of secondary spherical wavelets, which propagate in
forward direction with speed of light.
(ii) Position of new wave front is tangent envelope to all of secondary wavelets.
(iii) Radius of hemisphere = ct
mλL
ym = (position of mth bright fringe)
d
λL
y m = 2m+1 (position of mth dark fringe)
2d
y md
= (wavelength from bright fringe)
mL
2y m d
= (wavelength from dark fringes)
2m+1 L
Distance between centers of two consecutive dark fringes or bright fringes is called fringe width.
L
Fringe spacing (Y) = (applicable both for bright or dark fringes)
d
Suggestions to widen the interference fringes
Y (to increase )
Y L (to increase L)
Y 1/d (to decrease d)
INTERFERENCE IN DIFFERENT TYPES OF THIN FILMS
Thin film of refracting medium having thickness comparable to the wavelength of light rays e.g.
(i) Oil film on water (ii) Soap film (iii) Air film
When exposed to white light, thin film produces colorful pattern due to interference.
When exposed to monochromatic light, only bright and dark fringes are obtained
Classification of Thin Films
Uniform or Parallel Thin Films
Whose thickness is uniform. It gives straight interference pattern.
Wedge-Shaped Films
Whose thickness is zero at one end and then increases uniformly. Its interference
pattern comprises a set of parallel fringes all parallel to the edge of wedge.
Wedge shaped films can be obtained using a spacer between the two slides of glass.
The thinnest part of wedge film shaped is always dark, due to additional path difference of /2,
caused by phase reversal, at denser medium.
NEWTON’S RINGS
Newton’s rings are practical study of interference in wedge shaped thin films.
(i) When sodium light is incident on the Plano convex lens system, light rays reflect from upper and
lower layers of the air present between lens and the glass plate. The sodium light source is almost
monochromatic.
(ii) There is no phase change at the lens-air surface, because the wave is going from a higher to a lower
refraction index medium. At the air-plate surface, however, there is a phase shift of 1800 with the
reflection from a medium of higher refractive index.
(iii) Waves reflected from these two surfaces interfere, forming bright bands where the path length in
air produces two waves in phase and dark bands where the waves are out of phase.
(iv) The Centre of the pattern is black.
(v) The fringes are circular as the locus of points of equal thickness of air is a circle.
Conditions for interference are reversed for Newton’s rings as;
Path difference = m (for dark ring)
Path difference 2m 1 (for bright ring)
2
λ
This is due to phase reversal by 180° which is equivalent to an extra path difference of .
2
Point of contact is always dark due to phase reversal at point of contact. Here actual physical path
difference is zero.
PRIMARY AND SECONDARY COLOURS
Red, green and blue colours are called primary colours. Complementary colours of white light are
those two colours, whose combined effect is to produce white light on eye. They are;
(i) Red and blue - green
(ii) Yellow and blue - violet
(iii) Green and purple (mixture of red and blue)
If two primary colours of white light are mixed, we get complementary colours. e.g. red and green
primary colours are mixed, we get yellow, which is complementary colours of blue-violet.
DIFFERENCES BETWEEN LUMINOUS, NON-LUMINOUS AND INCANDESCENT OBJECTS
A luminous object is one that emits its own light e.g. sun
A non-luminous object is that which is visible by light it reflects. e.g. moon
Incandescent object is that which emits light due to heating, e.g. filament of electric bulb.
MICHELSON INTERFEROMETER
Michelson interferometers is an optical instrument used for following purposes;
(i) Testing lenses, mirrors and prisms.
(ii) Measurement of refractive indices.
(iii) Thickness of thin plate through which light can pass.
The diffraction pattern on the screen is the result of the combined effects of diffraction and
interference. Each slit causes diffraction, and the diffracted beams in turn interfere with one another
to produce the pattern. The path difference between waves from any two adjacent slits can be found
by dropping a perpendicular line between the parallel waves. By geometry, this path difference is d
sin θ . If the path difference equals one wavelength or some integral multiple of a wavelength, waves
from all slits will be in phase and a bright line will be observed. Therefore, the condition for
maxima in the interference pattern at the angle θ is d sin θ = m λ where m = 0,1,2,3…..
Because d is very small for diffraction grating, a beam of monochromatic light passing through a
diffraction grating splits into very narrow maxima (bright fringes) at large angles θ.
Lines are opaque while separation between them is transparent, so space between two engraved
lines behaves as slit.
Distance between two slits is called grating element. d = l/N
where ‘N’ is the number of lines in one unit length.
Grating equation is given as d sin = m
where ‘m’ is called the order of diffraction pattern.
For white light, we see colored fringes.
Resolving power of grating is its ability to separate two wavelengths of light in given order of their
spectrum.
Resolving Power = / = N x m
N = number of lines ruled on grating
m = order of diffraction
= difference in two wavelengths to be resolved by the grating.
The material, which produces polarization, is called polarizer. e.g. tourmaline crystal is a polarizer.
Polaroid (polarizer) absorbs all magnetic vectors as well as randomly oriented electric vectors
leaving only those electric vectors, which are in one plane.
Tourmaline crystal has internal molecular structure such that their interaction with incident light is
to;
(i) absorb all magnetic vectors
(ii) put (confine) all electric vector in one plane.
Polarization is possible only in e.m waves because their electric and magnetic vectors are to each
other as well as well to direction of propagation. Thus, polarization has established that light is a
transverse wave.
Analyzer is used to test plane polarization.
Plane determined by direction of propagation and polarized electric vectors of light is called plane
of polarization.
Mauls Law: I = I0cos2θ
Different methods for producing plane polarized light are given below;
(i) Selective absorption technique (e.g. tourmaline crystal, calcite, crystal)
(ii) Polarization by reflection.
(iii) Polarization by scattering.
Uses of Polarized Light
(i) Determination of concentration of optically active substance in a solution, e.g. sugar in blood &
urine by using polarimeter in medical diagnostic labs.
(ii) Curtain less window.
(iii) To enhance effect of clouds & sky in photograph.
(iv) Headlights of vehicles to control the glare in night driving.
EXERCISE
(1) Two coherent sources produce a dark fringe when the phase difference between interfering waves is:
(a) Zero (b) 2
(c) n (d) (2n–1), n = 1, 2, 3, 4
(2) Monochromatic light of wavelength is incident normally on a diffraction grating with the
grating element d. At which angle with the normal to the grating is 2 nd order diffracted beam
observed?
2
(a) sin 1 (b) sin 1
d 2d
d 2d
(c) sin 1 (d) sin 1
(3) Huygens’ construction can be used only:
(a) for light (b) for an electromagnetic wave
(c) for transverse waves (d) for all of the above and other situations
(4) To demonstrate the phenomenon of interference, we require:
(a) two sources which emit radiation of the same frequency
(b) two sources which emit radiation of nearly the same frequency
(c) two sources which emit radiation of the same frequency and have a definite phase relationship
(d) they are not monochromatic
(5) The reason there are two slits, rather than one, in a Young’s experiment is:
(a) one slit is for frequency, the other for wavelength
(b) two slits in parallel other for less resistance
(c) to increase the intensity
(d) to create a path length difference
(6) A slit of size 0.15 cm is placed at 2.1 m from a screen. On illuminated it by a light of wavelength
5 x 10-5 cm. The width of central maxima will be
(a) 1.4 mm (b) 0.04 mm
(c) 0.4 mm (d) 70 mm
(7) In a diffraction pattern by a wire, on increasing diameter of wire, fringe width
(a) remain same
(b) increases
(c) decreases
(d) increasing or decreasing will depend on wavelength
(8) Two coherent sources of light can be obtained by
(a) two different lamps
(b) two different lamps but of the same power
(c) two different lamps of same power and having the same colour
(d) none of these
(9) Which of the following is conserved when light waves interfere with each other?
(a) energy (b) amplitude
(c) intensity (d) momentum
1 d 11 d 21 d 31 c 41 d
2 a 12 d 22 a 32 a 42 c
3 d 13 c 23 a 33 b 43 c
4 c 14 c 24 b 34 a 44 d
5 d 15 a 25 c 35 c 45 a
6 a 16 c 26 c 36 c 46 b
7 c 17 d 27 b 37 d 47 a
8 d 18 b 28 d 38 d 48 a
9 a 19 b 29 c 39 a 49 d
10 b 20 c 30 d 40 d 50 b
Department of Physics STEM 171
FUNG Assignment Series Ch 9: Physical Optics
SOLUTION
L 1
(7) Fringe spacing = Y Y
d d
(8) The coherent source cannot be obtained from two different light sources.
(9) According to law of conservation of energy, energy cannot be created neither destroyed.
(10) Huygen's wave theory fails to explain the particle nature of light (i.e. photoelectric effect)
(11) Interference is shown by transverse as well as mechanical waves
(12) Definition of wave front.
(13) Torch is the source of white light-colored fringes are observed which are blurred due to
overlapping.
(14) Sound wave and light waves both show interference.
(15) Glare reduced by polaroid glass.
(16) For interference phase difference must be constant.
(17) For YDSE screen pattern, light should be monochromatic
(18) Polarization cannot be performed by diffraction
(19) d sin n
Path difference = n n 0, 1, 2, 3......
λL
(20) Δy bright = Δydark =
d
2L
(21) y 4y
d
2
c 3 108
(22) 3 106 m
v 100
(23)
1 1
(25) Intensity I I becomes one-fourth.
Distance
2
r2
o
(26) x ray 1010 m 1A
(27) 2dsin n
2 2 1010 m sin 30 n
1
2 2 1010 m 1
2
10
2 10 m
L 5 107 2
(28) Y 103 m 1mm
d 1103
(29)
(30) Sound wave cannot polarized because sound wave is longitudinal wave.
m
(31) 2d sin m d
2d sin
(32) Blue book will appear blue only in blue or white light otherwise it will appear black.
For other colours of light it will appear black because color of body is the color of reflected light
other colors are absorbed.
L
(33) y
d
1
y
d
Where, d q = distance between two slits
(34) For interference two monochromatic beam light required
(35) Michelson.
(36) In air speed of light increase. As v
L
Hence, Y Y
d
L
(37) y
d
L 1102
(38) d 2 104 cm
N 5000
(39) Energy is distributed but remains conserved.
L
(40) y y Red Green
d
(41) Speed of light will change. According v f all factor will be change.
Department of Physics STEM 173
FUNG Assignment Series Ch 9: Physical Optics
(42) Huygen’s principle is used to find position and location of new wave front.
(43) Central fringe will white, then violet to red.
(44) Sources are not coherent
(45) I A2
(46) Path difference n 2 n 2
n L
(47) y n constant
d
n11 n2 2
m 6500 n 5200
m 5200 4
n 6500 5
L
(48) y y , violet colour wavelength minimum so fringe spacing for violet colour is
d
minimum.
2 2
(49) x 3 6 x 3
(50) I I o cos
2
45o
I
I o
2