Wave Optics

Chapter 27
Wave Optics

 Linear Superposition and Interference

 The Double-Slit Experiment
 Interference in Thin Films
 Interferometers
 Interference and Diffraction
 Diffraction and Spatial Resolution
 Diffractive Spectral Dispersion: Gratings
Linear Superposition and Interference
If two waves from a coherent source travel two different paths to
arrive at a common point, their phase relationship at that point
depends on the difference in lengths between their paths.
Linear Superposition and Interference
 1
Condition for destructive interference:  path   m  
 2

Condition for constructive interference:  path  m

(where m is any integer)

Young’s Double-Slit Experiment

Image courtesy of
University of Toronto
physics department

Thomas Young, 1773 – 1829

English physicist, medical doctor, and Egyptologist
Also the inventor of Young’s modulus (strength of materials)
Young’s Double-Slit Experiment
Young’s experimental setup:
Young’s Double-Slit Experiment
Young’s result:
Young’s Double-Slit Experiment
Conditions for dark and bright fringes:

 1
 m  
m  2
bright fringes: sin   d dark fringes: sin  
d
Thin-Film Interference
For light, as for any electromagnetic wave, wavelength,
frequency, and speed are related by
c

f
This applies in vacuum, where the speed is c. In a material with
refractive index n,
c
n c 
n   
f nf n

The wavelength has been reduced by a factor of n.

Thin-Film Interference
But we also find out … 2

… that when a wave is reflected while trying to pass from a

lower index into a higher one, it experiences a change of
phase at the interface that is equivalent to 1/2  in the higher-
index material: n / 2.
Thin-Film Interference
How many “extra” wavelengths … 2

… does wave 2 experience, relative to wave 1?

2t 1

# of extra wavelengths:  2
extra distance phase change
Thin-Film Interference
Condition for constructive 2

interference: 1

# of wavelengths = m

2t 1 1 1
 m  t   m  
 2 2 2
Thin-Film Interference
2

1 1
t   m   1

2 2

We see another bright fringe (constructive interference) for

every half-wavelength change in the thickness of the air
wedge.
Thin-Film Interference
2
For destructive interference:
1 1
# of extra wavelengths = m 
2

2t 1 1 1
 m  t  m
 2 2 2
A dark fringe also occurs at half-wavelength intervals of air
wedge thickness.
Thin-Film Interference
Consider a soap bubble. Condition for
constructive interference between ray
that reflects from the outer surface and
ray that reflects from the inner surface:
1
2t   film  m film
2
1 1 1  1
t   m   film   m  
2 2 2n film  2

m
t
Destructive interference:
t
2n film
Thin-Film Interference
Film between two different materials:
n = n1 t
Both waves experience n = n2
/2 phase change at
n = n3
reflection.
n 3 > n2 > n 1

Constructive interference: Destructive interference:

  1  1 
2t  m film m 2t   m   film   m  
n2  2  2  n2
m  1
t  m  
2
2n2 t
2n2
Thin-Film Interference
1 2
Film between two different materials:

t
Wave 1 experiences n = n1

n = n2
/2 phase change at
n = n3
reflection. Wave 2 does not.
n2 > n3 > n1

Constructive interference: Destructive interference:

 
2t   m film  m
2 n2   1  1 
2t    m   film   m  
2  2  2  n2
 1
 m   m
2
t t
2n2
2n2
Interferometers
An interferometer separates a light wave into two parts and then
recombines them, so that they interfere. How they interfere
depends on what happened to them while they were separate.

Many uses:
 measure wavelength of light

 measure displacements

 measure wavefront errors

caused by optics under test

 fundamental experiments in physics
Diffraction: Huygens’ Principle
Consider a plane wavefront.

Each point can be considered a source

of spherical “wavelets” that move
forward at the speed of the wave.
The next wavefront is a plane
tangent to the wavelets.
Diffraction: Huygens’ Principle
Christiaan Huygens
1629 – 1695
Dutch physicist and
astronomer

Early telescope maker

First observed Saturn’s rings

and one of Saturn’s moons

Image from National Center for Atmospheric Research

Diffraction: Huygens’ Principle
For every direction except
“straight ahead”:

For each wavelet source

point, we can find
another one that will
interfere destructively.

l/2
That is, as long as the
wavefront goes on
forever …
Diffraction: Huygens’ Principle
If something limits or truncates
the wavefront, such as
passing through an opening,
points at and near the end
will lack “partners in
destruction” for some
directions.

The light spreads out:

diffraction.
Diffraction: Huygens’ Principle
For each point in the upper half of
the opening, in the direction ,
there is a point in the lower half
that interferes destructively with
it.

A dark fringe occurs in this direction.

Condition for dark fringes:


sin   m
W
Diffraction: Huygens’ Principle
Resulting far-field diffraction pattern from a single slit:
Diffraction: Circular Aperture
If light passes through a circular, rather than rectangular,
opening, a circular diffraction pattern results.

The angular radius of the first dark ring:

angle in radians


  1.22
D
aperture diameter
Diffraction and Spatial Resolution
What is the smallest angular distance between two objects, so
that we can look at an image of them and tell that there are
two instead of one? (Resolution)
Diffraction and Spatial Resolution
John William Strutt,
Lord Rayleigh (1842 – 1919)

English physicist

Nobel Prize in physics, 1904

(gas theory and discovery of argon)

Image from Nobel e-Museum

Diffraction and Spatial Resolution
Rayliegh’s Criterion for Resolution

Two point objects are resolved if their angular separation is at

least the radius of the first dark ring in their diffraction
patterns.

 min  1.22
D
Diffraction and Spatial Resolution
What does this mean to someone who designs optical systems?

 Increase aperture size: improve diffraction performance (min

gets smaller)
 Increase aperture size: geometric aberrations become worse
(blur circle due to spherical, coma, etc.)
 While geometric blur is large compared to diffraction pattern,
reducing aberrations strongly improves image quality
 When geometric blur has been made small compared to
diffraction … diminishing returns for correction
improvements. System is “diffraction-limited.”
Diffractive Spectral Dispersion
Diffraction grating: a large number of parallel slits or lines, each
of which acts as a diffracting aperture.

Condition for
bright fringes:
m
sin  
d
Diffractive Spectral Dispersion
m
Condition for bright fringes: sin  
d grating “pitch”
Diffractive Spectral Dispersion
Gratings can be either transmissive or reflective.

They are used to separate light by wavelength (color) in optical

instruments called spectrometers.

Many natural processes can be identified and characterized from

the discrete wavelengths of the light that they emit, or absorb,
or both.

The atomic structures of crystals can act as gratings and produce

X-ray diffraction patterns. (Also useful in analytic science.)