Name – Punit

Palial
Class – 12th
Board Roll No.
–

PHYSICS
INVESTIGATO
RY PROJECT
 CERTIFICATE
This is to certify Mr. Punit Palial
Of Class XII, Board Roll No.___________
has worked under my supervision on
The Project________________________
______________________ and completed it
to my total satisfaction.

Teacher
______________
(Shweta Saroch)
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
It is my duty to record my sincere
thanks and deep sense of gratitude to
my respected teacher______________.
For his/her valuable guidance and
constant encouragement for the
fulfillment of the project.

I am also highly obliged to our lab

assistant Mr. Surinder who provided
me the required apparatus and
materials along with encouragement.
 INDEX
Name Page No. Signature
Aim
Certificate
Introduction
to Topic
Material
Required
Procedure
Diagram
Observation
Uses
Bibliography

AIM
 To observe the interference pattern
by performing Double Slit
Experimenent.
 To derive the expression for fringe
width.
 To draw the intensity vs. path
difference graph.
 THEORY
 COHERENT SOURCES
The sources of light, which emit
continuous light waves of the same
wavelength, same frequency and in
the same phase difference are called
coherent sources.
Conditions to obtain coherent light :
1. Two sources should be single
source or by same device.
2. Two sources should give
monochromatic light.
3. The path difference b/w light
waves from 2 sources should be
small.

 INTERFERENCE OF LIGHT
It is the phenomenon of
redistribution of light energy in a
medium on account of superposition
 of light wave from 2 coherent
sources. There are 2 types:
1. Constructive Interference.
2. Destructive Interference

EXPERIMENT
Young’s Double Slit
Experiment
Set up the apparatus as in the Figure 1.
The appearance of bright and dark
fringes on screen can be explained on
the basis of interference of light.
According to Huygens principle, the
monochromatic source of light
illuminating the slit S sends out
spherical wavefronts. Let the solid arcs
represent the crests ant the dotted arcs
represents the troughs. These
wavefronts reach the slits A and B
simultaneously which in turn, become
sources of secondary wavelets. Thus
the 2 waves on superposition produce
interference.
The dots (.) represent the positions of
constructive interference, where crests
of one wave falls on crests of the other
and trough falls on trough. The
resultant Amplitude and hence intensity
of light is maximum at these positions.
The lines joining the dots lead to points
C, E, G on the screen.
Similarly, the crosses (x) represent the
positions of destructive interference,
where crest of one wave falls on trough
of the other and vice-versa. The
resultant amplitude and hence intensity
of light is minimum at these positions.
The lines joining the crosses lead to
points D, F on the screen.
Thus we have Bright Fringes at C, E,
and G and Dark Fringes at D and F.
These bright and dark fringes are
placed alternatively and they are
equally spaced. These are called
INTEFERENCE FRINGES.

INTERFERENCE
PATTERNS
Let the waves from 2 coherent sources
of light be represented as
y1 = a sinωt…………………………(1)
y2 = b sin (ωt + θ)……………………..(2)
where a and b ate the respective
amplitudes of 2 waves and θ is the
constant phase angle by which second
wave leads the first wave.
According to superposition principle,
the displacement y of the resultant
wave at time t would be given by
y=y1 + y2 = a sinωt + b sin(ωt + θ)
= a sinωt + b sinωt cosθ + b cosωt sinθ
y = sinωt(a+b cosθ) + cosωt.b
sinθ……………..(3)
put a + b cosθ = A
cosФ…………….(4)
b sinθ = A
sinФ……………..(5)
Therefore y = sinωt.AcosФ +
cosωt.AsinФ
= A(sinωt cosФ + cosωt sinФ)
y = A sin (wt +Ф)………………..(6)
Thus the resultant wave is a harmonic
wave of amplitude A.
Squaring (4) and (5) and adding
We get,
A = √a2 + b2 + 2ab cosθ ……….(7)

As resultant intensity I is directly

proportional to the square of the
amplitude of the resultant wave
Thus I α A2 i.e. I α a2 + b2 + 2ab
cosθ…….(8)
 Conditions for
constructive and
Destructive
Interference,

Constructive
Interference
I should be maximum, for which
Cosθ = max = +1 so, θ = 0,2 π,4π,…..
i.e. θ = 2nπ ; where n = 0, 1, 2……
if x is the path difference, then
x=λθ/2π
x = λ (2n π)/2π i.e. x=nλ

Hence, condition for constructive

interference at a point is that phase
difference b/w the 2 waves reaching the
point should be zero or an even integral
multiple of π.
Or
Path difference b/w the 2 waves
reaching the point should be 0 or an
integral multiple of full wavelength.
So Amax=(a+b)

Destructive
Interference
I should be minimum, for which
Cosθ = min = -1 so, θ = π ,3π,5π,…..
i.e. θ = (2n-1)π ; where n =
1,2,3……
if x is the path difference, then
x=λθ/2π
x = λ ((2n-1) π)/2π
x=(2n-1)λ/2
Hence, condition for constructive
interference at a point is that phase
difference b/w the 2 waves reaching the
point should be an odd integral multiple
of π.
Or
Path difference b/w the 2 waves
reaching the point should be an odd
integral multiple of half the
wavelength. So
Amin= (a-b)

DERIVATION
Expression for Fringe Width
in Inerference
Looking at Figure 2,
The intensity of light at the point on the
screen will depend on the path
difference b/w the 2 waves arriving at
that point.the point C is at equal
distance from A and B.therefore, the
path difference b/w 2 waves reaching C
is 0 and the point C is of maximum
intensity. It is called CENTRAL
MAXIMUM.
Consider a point p at a distance x from
C. The path difference b/w 2 waves
arriving at P,
= BP – AP…….(9)
Let O be the mid point of AB, and
AB = EF = d, AE = BF = D
From the figure,
PE = PC – EC= x-d/2
and PF = PC + CF = x+d/2
By Pythagoras and Binomially,
BP= D[1 + (x + d/2)2/2D2]……..(10)
and AP= D[1 + (x - d/2)2/2D2]
………(11)

Putting these values in (9), we get, path

difference
BP-AP= D[1 + (x + d/2)2/2D2 - 1 - (x -
d/2)2/2D2]
BP - AP= xd/D……………..(12)

For Bright Fringes

Path Difference = xd/D = nλ where n=
0,1,2…
or x=nλD/d ……..
(13)

For Dark Fringes

Path Difference = xd/D = (2n-1)λ/2
where n=1,2,3…
or x=(2n-1)λD/2d
……..(13)

Comparison shows that dark

interference fringes are situated in b/w
bright interference fringes and vice-
versa

Separation b/w the centers of 2

consecutive bright fringes is the width
of dark fringe.
β = xn – xn-1 = nλD/d- (n-1)λD/d
β= λD/d……….(14)
Similarly, separation b/w the centers of
2 consecutive bright fringes is the
width of dark fringe.

Β’ = x’n – x’n-1 = [(2n-1)λD/2d]-[(2(n-

1)-1) λD/2d]
β = β’= λD/d……….(15)
So, all bright and dark fringes are of
equal width.
 OBSERVATIONS
S.No. Wavele Distance Slit Fringe
ngth of screen Distan Width
λ (cm) & source ce β (cm)
D (cm) d (cm)
1. 7 x 10-5 25 0.1 0.175
2. 7 x 10-5 50 0.1 0.35
 GRAPH
Intensity Vs Path Difference

Angular separation of the fringes is just

(λ/d). It is independent of the position
on the screen.

Further, at sites of constructive

interference,
Imaxα R2max α (a+b) 2 = constant
Hence all bright interference bands
have same intensity

At sites of destructive interference,

Imaxα R2max α (a-b) 2 = constant = 0
(at a=b)
Hence all dark interference bands have
same (zero) intensity.
Figure 3 represents the intensity of
double slit interference pattern as a
function of path difference θ b/w the
waves of the screen.

CONDITIONS
(For Sustained Inerference)
1. The 2 sources of light must be
coherent i.e. they continuous light
waves of same wavelength or
frequency, which have either same
phase of constant path difference.
2. The 2 sources should be strong
with least background.
3. The amplitudes of waves from 2
sources should preferably be equal.
4. The 2 sources should preferably
be monochromatic.
5. The coherent sources must be
very close to each other.
6. The 2 sources should be point and
narrow sources.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
 SITES
1. http://www.google.com
2. http://vsg.quasihome.com/interf
er.htm
 BOOKS
1. Pradeeps Physics Practical
2. Physics N.C.E.R.T textbook.
3. Comprehensive Chemistry
Practical.
4. Resnick and Halliday.
USES AND
APPLICATIONS
Application of the wave particle duality
are electron microscopes. Since
electrons are also waves, a beam of
electrons seem to create the same kind
of interference pattern like light in the
double slit experiment. So we use
electrons instead of light to look at
smaller objects in high detail.
The entire field of quantum computing
is based on same two key phenomena
that double slit experiment exhibits
Parallelism or
superposition.
The phenomenon of a
photon/electron virtually going
through both slits simultaneously is
exactly what we make use of in a
quantum bit. Unlike a classical bit,
which can only be in one state 0 or
1 (but not both simultaneously), a
quantum bit, qubit, can be in both
states simultaneously (similar to the
photon/electron passing virtually
through both slits).
This simultaneous existence in both
0 and 1 state can be made use of to
compute in parallel. 

Paths culling or
destructive interference.
The ability for a single photon to
pass through both slits virtually and
then interfere with itself, leaving
physically observable locations of
bright and dark regions is also
leveraged off in quantum
computing.
Parallel traversal of paths and the
cancelling of negative and positive
paths (amplitudes can be negative)
can lead to culling of outcomes.
This is key in quantum computation.
Without paths culling, the power of
parallelism cannot be harnessed for
computation - there is no way to
extract the outcome of parallel
computation paths unless we
eliminate paths that don’t yield
results. This is also one reason in
part for the sparsity of problems we
have heard solved using quantum
computing (not many of us can
name more than a couple of
quantum algorithms, Grover’s
search and Shor’s factoring) - we
need to be able to cleverly craft it
so that paths can cancel to yield
desired results. The figure below
illustrates this in the simple case of
a quantum coin toss.
A qubit in a deterministic state of
0/1 (but not both) can be nudged to
a superposition state, and then
nudged again to a deterministic
single state. The superposition state
allows for all four paths of the tree
below to be traversed in parallel
leading to paths to cancel each
other, unlike the classical case,
where only one path of the tree can
be traversed each time.
MATERIAL REQUIRED
1. A laser beam as a coherent light
source of wavelngeth 7 x 10-5 cm.
2. An apparatus with double slit with
small distance between the slits.
3. A screen to observe the
interference pattern.
4. Centimeter scale.