Interference of Light Waves

When two light waves of same frequency travel

simultaneously in the same direction then, due to their
superposition, the resultant intensity of light at any point
in space is different from the sum of intensities of two
waves. At some points the resultant intensity is maximum
while at some points it is minimum. The re-distribution of
light intensity due to the superposition of two light waves
is called interference of light.

The interference is said to constructive where the resultant

intensity is constructive and destructive at points where
the resultant intensity is minimum or zero.
 Conditions for Interference
Let the source be the monochromatic and S1 and S2 be the
two similar parallel sits very close together from source.
The two sources are in same phase.

Let a1 and a2 be the amplitudes of light waves from S1 and

S2 respectively.

The waves arrive at P having traversed different paths S1P

and S2P. Hence they are superposed at P with a phase
difference ϕ, given by

Where x is the path difference (S1P and S2P) between the

waves at P and λ is the wavelength of light. The
displacement at P due to the simple harmonic waves from
S1 and S2 may then e represented by

And ω/2π is the frequency of each wave.

By the principle of superposition, the resultant

displacement a position at P is given by,
On further solving,

Thus, the resultant intensity at any point depends upon the

phase difference ϕ between the two waves at that point.

For constructive interference:

Thus, at points where the two interfering waves meet in

the same phase (that is, the phase difference between
them is 0, 2π, 4π….) the resultant intensity is maximum.
This is constructive interference.

For destructive interference:

Thus, at points where the two interfering waves meet in
the opposite phase (that is, the phase difference between
them is 0, 3π, 5π….) the resultant intensity is minimum.