Q.Describe Young's double-slit experiment for the interference of light and derive expression for the fringe width. (3+4=7)
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Start your 14-day free trial to unlock the full solution →Two coherent slits illuminated by monochromatic light produce alternating bright/dark fringes on a screen; the spacing between consecutive fringes is β = λD/d.
Experimental setup: A monochromatic source illuminates a single narrow slit S, which produces a cylindrical wavefront falling on two further narrow, closely-spaced slits S_1 and S_2 (separation d), located a distance D away from the observation screen (D >> d). Because S_1 and S_2 are illuminated by the same original wavefront, they act as two coherent sources of light, and the light waves spreading out from them overlap and interfere on the screen, producing a pattern of alternating bright and dark fringes.
Derivation of fringe width: Let O be the point on the screen equidistant from S_1 and S_2 (directly opposite the midpoint of S_1S_2), and let P be a point on the screen at a distance y from O. The path difference between the two waves arriving at P is:
Δ = S_2P − S_1P
Using the geometry (with D >> d and y, so the small-angle/paraxial approximation applies), this path difference works out to:
Δ ≈ yd/D
(This follows from S_1P² − S_2P² = [D²+(y+d/2)²] − [D²+(y−d/2)²] = 2yd, so S_2P − S_1P = 2yd/(S_1P+S_2P) ≈ 2yd/2D = yd/D, since S_1P ≈ S_2P ≈ D for D >> d, y.)
Bright fringe (constructive interference) occurs where this path difference equals a whole number of wavelengths:
y_n d/D = nλ ⟹ y_n = nλD/d, n = 0, ±1, ±2, ...
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