Interference

Coherent Sources

Two sources are said to be coherent if they emit light of same frequency, same amplitude and
constant phase difference.

Principle of superposition

“At a particular point in the medium, the resultant displacement produced by a number of waves
is the vector sum of the displacements produced by each of the waves.”

If Y1 and Y2 are the equations of two waves

And

If Y2 and Y2 meet at a particular point, then the resultant wave is Y.

And,

Then the resultant intensity is

When two crests overlap, the superposition wave reaches a maximum height. This height
is the sum of their amplitudes. The same happens when the troughs overlap, creating a resultant
trough that is the sum of the negative amplitudes. This sort of interference is called constructive
interference because it increases the overall amplitude.

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Alternately, when the crest of a wave overlaps with the trough of another wave, the waves cancel
each other out to some degree. If the waves are symmetrical they will cancel each other
completely. This sort of interference is called destructive interference.

In constructive interference, the phase difference between the two interfering waves should be
integral multiple of 2π, equivalently, the path difference (p.d) should be integral multiple of the
wavelength λ.

In destructive interference, the phase difference should be (2n + 1)π where n is an integer or 0
and path difference should be (n + 1/2)λ where n is an integer or 0.

Types of interference

(1) Interference produced by division of wavefront

The incident wavefront is divided into two parts and

the two parts of the wavefront are made reunite to
produce interference fringes.
Eg: Young’s double slit experiment

(2) Interference produced by division of amplitude

The amplitude (Intensity) of the incident light is

divided into two parts and the divided amplitudes are
made reunite to produce interference fringes.
Eg: Newton’s rings

Interference in thin films

Interference between light reflected from the top and bottom surfaces of thin transparent films
(oil films, soap bubbles, etc.) results beautiful color effects. Let us examine these effects by
considering the case of reflection from a thin film of parallel top and bottom surfaces.

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Let us consider a transparent film of thickness “t” and refractive index µ. A ray SA incident on
the upper surface of the film is partially reflected along AP and partially refracted along AE. At
E, part of it is internally reflected along EB and finally emerges out BQ, parallel to AP.

Optical Path difference (p.d) between rays AEBQ and AP

Where

In triangle ANB,

Since (AM = MB, AB = 2AM)

We can write ,

In triangle AEM,

Therefore,

Further

Substitute eqn (4) in (3)

Substitute eqn 2 and eqn 5 in equation 1

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This is known as cosine law.

Whenever light is reflected from rarer to denser medium, the reflected wave undergoes a phase
change of  (i.e., a path difference of /2). When the light is reflected from a denser medium to a
rarer medium, there is no phase change.

Hence the effective path difference

The film will appear bright when







The film will appear dark when

 


 

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 

Colors in thin films

When sunlight falls on a soap bubble, different colors are seen. This can be explained on the
basis of equations (6) and (7). The portion of the film which satisfies the condition for
destructive interference (2µtcosr = n) will be dark for that value of . For instance, if red
satisfies this condition, then the spectrum will be devoid of red. A combination of other colors
(VIBGYOR) will be seen at that point. In case of oil film, where thickness (t) and angle of
refraction (r) vary with time, different colours are seen.

Wedge shaped films

A wedge shaped film is constructed using two glass plates with one end placed in contact and the
other end separated by a spacer of thickness, t. The spacer can be a piece of paper, a thin wire,
etc, so that a thin air film of varying thickness is formed between the two glass plates. The
interference takes place between the monochromatic light reflected from the upper and lower
surfaces of the film. The patterns obtained consist of straight alternate bright and dark bands of
equal thickness. Let xn represents the position of nth dark band from 0.

From fig.

When  is very small

or, 

The value t in the above equation is substituted in the condition for darkness in thin film
interference given by

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 

Hence,

 

Since, cos r = 1



Let xn+m represents the position of (n+m)th dark fringe, then




If n and (n+m) are adjacent fringes then band width  is






 
1

For air, µ=1




If monochromatic source of light is used alternate dark and bright bands of equal width will be
observed.

Applications - wedge shaped films

(i) Diameter of a thin wire

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Let a wire of diameter ‘d’ is used as the spacer in air wedge. Let l be the distance of the nth dark
fringes from the edges. Then

For small , tan  ≈ 

Giving


Substituting for equation in



Or,



This is the expression for diameter of a thin wire in air wedge experiment. The value of  can be
measured experimentally.

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 (ii) Optical Planeness of a surface

The surface to be tested is used as one of the plates in air wedge experiment. The other will be a
standard plane surface. If the surface is optically plane, then straight fringes of equal thickness is
observed. If the fringes are non-uniform and distorted, the given surface is not optically plane.

Newton’s Rings

When a plano-convex lens is placed on a plane glass plate with its convex surface touching the
plate, an air film of gradually increasing thickness is formed between the two. If monochromatic
light is allowed to fall normally and viewed as shown in figure, alternate dark and bright circular
fringes are observed. The fringes are circular because the locus of all points having same
thickness has circular shape. Newton’s rings are formed because of the interference between the
waves reflected from the top and bottom surfaces of the air film formed between the lens and the
glass plate. At the centre, the thickness of the air film is zero. But due to the phase change of 
occurring on reflection at the glass plate, there will be an effective path difference of /2
between the interfering waves. Thus a dark spot is observed at the centre of the ring.

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Theory

The curved surface LOL’ is part of the spherical surface. Let R be the radius of curvature of the
lens and at the point A, “t” be the thickness of the air film and rn be the radius of the ring.

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The condition for minimum intensity in thin film is

For air, µ = 1 and if the ray is incident normally, angle of refraction, r = 0, or cos r = 1.

The point A will appear dark when

From the above figure consider,  ABC

Neglect t2 term we get

or,

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Substitute equation 2 in 1 we get

, where n = 0,1,2,3…

√ 

Similarly for nth bright ring


√

If Dn and Dn+k are the diameters of the nth and (n+k)th dark rings

Then

 

Newton’s rings can be observed through the travelling microscope. The diameter of the nth and
(n+k)th rings are noted and  can be calculated.

Refractive index of a liquid

A liquid of refractive index µ is introduced between the lens and glass plate. Let dn and dn+k be
the diameters of nth and (n+k)th dark rings

Then

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 

The experiment is repeated with air film. Then

Eqn (i) divide by (ii)

Antireflection coating

In photographic objectives and many other optical instruments like telescope, optical range
finders etc., the incident light to undergo reflections in many lens surfaces. At each surface a part
of light is reflected backward, which cause a loss and reduce the quality of the image formed.

Let us consider a glass surface coated with a thin film of hard transparent material with an index
of refraction smaller than that of glass. Part of the light incident on the film gets reflected on both
sides of the film. These reflections can be suppressed.

Assuming normal incidence on the film, the path difference between rays (1) and (2) will be BC
+ CD = 2BC = 2t

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The optical path difference between the rays, =

Where, µf is the refractive index of the film.

Two waves interfere destructively, if

Taking n=0

λ
Thus the thickness of the coating should be equal to . Such coatings eliminate reflections and
allow more light to pass through the optical component. Since theses coatings suppress
reflections, they are called antireflection coatings.

Appendix

Syllabus

Interference of light-Principle of superposition of waves, Theory of thin films - Cosine

law (Reflected system), Derivation of the conditions of constructive and destructive
Interference, Interference due to wedge shaped films -Determination of thickness and
test for optical planeness, Newton’s rings - Measurement of wavelength and refractive
index, Antireflection coatings.

Interference

It is an effect due to superposition of two or more waves which comes from the same source,
travel unequal paths. The combined wave intensity at that point can be greater than or less than
the intensity of either of two waves. In interference it is necessary to calculate the phase
difference between two beams of light which started from same source and ended in another
common point by travelling through different paths.

Path difference is the difference in distance travelled by two waves. It can be say that

Conditions for Interference of Light Waves.

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 1. In order to maintain the order and nature of interference pattern the sources must be
monochromatic and coherent.
2. In order to increase the visibility of fringes (increase the width of fringes) the separation
between the coherent sources should be small. Also, the distance of the screen(black)
from two coherent sources should be large.
3. In order to increase the contrast (difference between maximum and minimum intensity),
the two sources must be narrow.

Optical Path length and Geometrical path length

In order to compare light paths in different media, we use optical path.
Optical path length (dop) equivalent for a distance ‘d’ in a medium of refractive index is
dop = µd.
Geometrical path length (d) is simply the physical distance the light travels.

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