Interference of Light

By: Michael Alston

Joseph Chandler
&
Brandon Ray
 Objectives

In this presentation, you will learn:

• How light waves create bright and dark
fringes.

• Requirements for interference to occur.

 Introduction
● Light has properties similar to sound waves.

• Its wave properties will help you understand

its interaction with objects close to its own
wavelength.
 Interference of Light Waves
• Occurs when two or more waves meet.

• In Constructive Interference:
o The waves can either match crest-crest or
trough-trough and add together to make a
bigger wave.
 Interference of Light Waves (con’t)
• In Destructive Interference:
o The waves will phase and the crest of one will
meet the trough of the other and will cancel
each other out partially or completely.
 Thomas Young
(1773-1829)
• Thomas Young
was the first to
describe properties
and interference of
light.
 Thomas Young (con’t)

● Light, because of its wave properties, will

have constructive and destructive
interference.

• He sent sunlight through two narrow slits

and recorded an interference pattern on a
screen behind the two slits.
 Double Slit Experiment
• The double slit experiment shows how light
waves interfere with each other

• There is a pattern of bright and dark fringes

on the screen
 Double Slit Experiment (con’t)
• The bright fringes
are areas where
the light travels the
same distance to
the screen and
creates
constructive
interference.
 Double Slit Experiment (con’t)
• The dark fringes are areas where the crest
of one wave matches up with the trough of
the other thus creating destructive
interference.
 Requirements For Interference
• In order for an interference pattern to be
stable the waves must…
o be emitted from a single consistent wavelength
or frequency.
o must maintain a constant phase relationship
with each other.
 Evaluation Questions
1. The double slit experiment was first
conducted by __________.

2. Bright fringes are formed when

____________ interference occurs.

3. Dark fringes occurs when the crest of one

wave matches with the _________ of another
wave.
 Evaluation Questions
4. What does the Double Slit Experiment
show?

5. How does Constructive Interference occur?

6. How does Destructive Interference occur?

7. What is one requirement for Interference?

 Evaluation Questions
8. What does it mean to have a constant
phase relationship?

9. Light has properties similar to

_______waves.

10. In order for an interference pattern to be

stable, light must be emitted from a
______________.
 Bibliography
·Interference. (n.d.). Interference. Retrieved October
29, 2013, from
http://physics.bu.edu/~duffy/py106/Interference.html
·Molecular Expressions Microscopy Primer: Physics of Light
and Color - Light: Particle or a Wave?. (n.d.). Molecular
Expressions Microscopy Primer: Physics of Light and Color -
Light: Particle or a Wave?. Retrieved October 29, 2013, from
http://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/primer/lightandcolor/particleorwav
ehome.html
·Two-Slit Experiments. (n.d.). Two-Slit Experiments. Retrieved
October 29, 2013, from
http://abyss.uoregon.edu/~js/21st_century_science/lectures/le
c13.html