Wave Optics
Dr. Pradeep Dewangan
Superposition of waves
and interference of
light by wave front Fresnel bi-prism
splitting and amplitude
splitting
wedge shaped film Newton’s rings
The Rayleigh criterion
Fraunhofer diffraction for limit of resolution
from a single slit and its application to
vision
https://www.quora.com/What-causes-the-interference-pattern-that-
you-observe-in-glass-plates
Diffraction gratings and
their resolving power.
Interference of light
• When two waves of the same frequency travel
approximately in the same direction and have a https://www.coursehero.com/study-guides/austincc-
phase difference that remains constant with time, physics2/27-7-thin-film-interference/
the resultant intensity of light is not distributed
uniformly in space. The non-uniform distribution
of light intensity due to the superposition of two
waves is called interference.
• At some point the intensity is maxima and the
interference at these points is called constructive
interference.
• At some other points the intensity is minimum
and the interference at these points is called
destructive interference.
https://kids.britannica.com/students/assembly/view/53869
Types of Interference
• There are two methods of obtaining interference bands or fringes:
• Division of Wave front: The incident wave front is divided into two parts, either by reflection , refraction
or diffraction.
Example: Fresnel’s biprism, Fresnel’s double mirror.
• Division of Amplitude: The amplitude of the incident light is divided into two parts, either by partial
reflection or refraction.
Example: Newton’s ring, wedge shaped film, Michelson interferometer.
• Geometrical Path - The shortest physics distance (L) between two points is known as geometrical path.
• Optical Path ( Δ ) - The distance experienced by light waves in a medium is related to the refractive index
of the medium, is called optical path .
Optical path Δ = Refractive index × Geometrical path
• Thick Film - A film is said to be thick film when its thickness is about 10 µm to 50 µm.
• Thin Film - A film is said to be thin film when its thickness is about 5500 Å.
• Coherent Sources – Two sources are said to be coherent if they emit continuous light waves of the same
frequency of wavelength , nearly the same amplitude and same phase difference with constant time.
Fringes are equidistant
Fringe at the apex is dark
• Wedge angle θ
Newton’s Ring
• Diameter of Bright and Dark Rings
Dark Central
Spot
• Dark central spot: The central spot is dark as seen by reflection. Newton’s rings are produced due to
superposition of light rays reflected from the top and bottom surface of a thin air film enclosed between a
plano-convex lens and a plane glass plate. The occurrence of brightness or darkness depends on the optical
path difference arising between the reflected rays. The optical path difference is given by
Δ =2t – λ/2
At the point of contact ‘O’ of the lens and glass plate, the thickness of air film is negligibly small compared
to a wavelength of light. So t = 0 then Δ = - λ/2
Thus, the superposition waves are out of step by which is equivalent to a phase difference of 180o (π rad).
Thus, the two interfering waves at the center are opposite in phase and produce a dark spot.
The fringes are circular: The fringes are circular because of air film is symmetrical about the point of
contact of the lens with the plane glass plate.
• Rings get closer away from the center: The diameters of the dark rings are proportional to the square
root of natural numbers while the diameters of the bright rings are proportional to the square root of odd
natural numbers. As the order of rings increases, the diameter does not increases in same proportion
with the result that the rings get closer and closer at an increasing rate.
Application
s of
Newtons
rings
• Determination of refractive index of liquids
Fresnel’s Biprism
Fresnel’s biprism consists of two right angled prisms each of refracting angle nearly 30` kept base to base. The
three angles of the prism are respectively 30’, 30’ and 179o
Experimental setup and Theory
To obtain well defined interference fringes following adjustments of
apparatus are required.
1. The optical bench should be levelled.
2. Slit, biprism and eyepiece should be adjusted to the same height.
3. Eyepiece should be adjusted to make fine image at crosswires.
4. The slit should be narrow and vertical.
5. Biprism is positioned in such away, may be by giving lateral movement that
overlapping region should be in field of view of eyepiece.
6. The fringes so obtained should be made clear by adjusting biprism slit and eyepiece.
7. Lateral shift of the fringes should be removed with the help of biprism and eyepiece.
The reason for lateral shift is that the line joining ·the slit and biprism is not parallel to
the length of optical bench.
Dr.Shubhra Mishra and Dr. D.S. Kshatri SSIPMT, Raipur
Determination of the thickness of a thin film of transparent material
Dr.Shubhra Mishra and Dr. D.S. Kshatri SSIPMT, Raipur
(1)
Dr.Shubhra Mishra and Dr. D.S. Kshatri SSIPMT, Raipur
Resolving Power
To distinguish the two close objects is called geometrical resolution and the ability of an
optical instrument to distinguish the images of two very close objects is called the resolving
power of that optical instruments.
To distinguish the spectral lines corresponding to two very close wavelengths of a light source
in its spectrum, is called the spectral resolution and the ability to resolve the spectral lines of
two close wavelengths by a prism or a grating is called the resolving of prism or the grating.
In spectral resolution, if an optical instrument just resolves the two spectral lines of
wavelength λ and λ+dλ, then its resolving power is equal to the ratio of the average value of
the just resolved wavelength to the difference of the two wavelengths i.e.
Resolving power of grating = λ / dλ
Dr.Shubhra Mishra and Dr. D.S. Kshatri SSIPMT, Raipur
Dr.Shubhra Mishra and Dr. D.S. Kshatri SSIPMT, Raipur
Dr.Shubhra Mishra and Dr. D.S. Kshatri SSIPMT, Raipur
