Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur

Department of Physics
PHY-224A: OPTICS
Lecture -15: Interference of light - 2
Date: 22 Sept. 2014, Time :1700 hours Instructor: S.A. Ramakrishna
1 Interference of plane waves: Standing waves
We will understand here what happens when two counter-propagating plane waves are super-
posed in space. Consider two counter-propagating waves (one propagating along +z and another
alon -z directions) given by:
E
1
(z) = E
0
exp[(i(kz t)] & E
2
(z) = E
0
exp[i(kz +t)]
The superposition of the elds leads to the total electric eld in space as
E = E
0
[exp(ikz) + exp(ikz)] exp(it) = 2E
0
cos(kz) exp(it)
and the intensty is given by
I |E|
2
= E
2
0
cos
2
(kz). (1)
This intensity dependence is now stationary in space and does not propagate or change in
time even though the individual component plane waves were propagating. This is known as
a Standing wave. There are plane of zero amplitude (intensity) called nodes and planes where
the eld amplitude is extreme called anti-nodes. Note that the distance between the nodes or
antinodes here is z = /2 (See Fig. 1.
1.1 Laser interference lithography
Consider two plane waves generated from a single source (laser) and each incident on a plane
(x-y plane) oblique at angle as shown in Fig. 1. Compute now the intensity on the x-y plane
and show that the pattern consists of fringes parallel to the y-direction and with a fringe spacing
of /(2 sin ) along the x-direction. Also show that the pattern does not change along the z-
direction. (Problem 6 of assignment). Note that the minimum fringer spacing possible is /2
at = /2 as for two counter-propagating waves and the fringe spacing becomes large without
limit as 0 (two parallel beams).
This can be used for generating micro- and nano-structured materials. There are photo-
sensitive materials ( typically polymers called photo-resists) that change their properties on
exposure to light. In a positive photoresist, light disrupts chemical bonds and the material etches
1
-5 -4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 5
0.25
0.5
0.75
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Figure 1: Left: The intensity corresponding to a standing wave. Right: Schematic of a setup
using two laser beams to produce interference fringes that can be used to make structures with
the fringe spacing on a suitable polymeric recording medium. The recording medium can be
rotated to make multiple exposures for creating more complex structures.
away in the light exposed regions if the material is subsequently put in a developing solution
(typically a base like KOH). If the interference pattern is made incident on a photoresist, the
photoresist will form a series of etched lines. Examples are shown in Fig. 2
1.2 The experiments of Weiner
Wiener
1
rst demonstrated the existence of standing waves of light by using a front-coated
(silvered) mirror to reect light and placed a photographic emulsion coated lm obliquely at
a small angle within the volume of the standing wave. The coating was less than /20 of the
wavelength used. The small oblique angle of the photographic lm allowed the standing wave
pattern at the wavelength scale to be expanded on a much larger lengthscale to be observable.
On development, equidistant band bands with period of /4 were found on the photographic
lm, where the chemical reactions took place,could correspond to either the maximum of the
electric eld or the maximum of the magnetic eld. The bottom-most band was not at the
location of the lm at the surface of the mirror - thus it was an node for the electric-eld
(Tangential E-elds are zero at a metallic surface and are small on the surface of a plasma). The
bottom-most band occured at a distance corresponding to /4 indicating the nearest anti-node
of the E-eld. This was one of the rst experimental evidences that photochemical reactions
depend essentially on the electric eld and not the magnetic eld of radiation.
Now examine the interference pattern formed by the reection of light from a mirror when
the light is incident obliquely on a mirror for the two polarizations (E-eld perpendicular to the
plane of incidence and the E-eld within the plane of incidence problem -7 of the assignment).
1
O.Wiener, Ann. der Physik. 40, p. 203 (1890)
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Figure 2: Electron microscope images of gratings made by laser interference lithography. The
left panel shows the cross-section of a grating made by the technique, while the right panel
shows a two-dimensional grating made by a double exposure to the laser interference pattern,
the second one being exposed after the recording lm is rotated by 90
o
.
2 Interference of two beams: Division of Amplitude
In the Youngs double slit experiment, light emanating from dierent portions of a common
wavefront interfered to create the interference pattern. In that case, coherence was required
over the spatial extent of the wavefront and could be termed spatial coherence. One can have
an alternative situation where the light taken out from dierent wavefronts of a beam can be
interfered. In this case, since the two wavefronts are emitted from the source at dierent times,
one is assuming that there is a phase relationship that exists between the dierent wavefronts.
Thus, the coherence in this case happens over time and is often termed as temporal coherence.
2.1 Interference from the interface of a parallel glass plate
Consider a plane-parallel plate of a transparent material, such as glass, which is illuminated
light from a point source S. We will assume that the light has a single frequency . Light can
reach any point on the same side of the plate by two paths: one that is reected from the top
surface and another that is reected from the bottom (See Fig. 4 left). Hence light from the two
dierent paths will interfere to give rise to constructive or destructive interference at (P or P

).
These fringes, by symmetry will be circular about the normal to the plate that passes through
the source (NS in the Fig. 4 left). Now imagine if the source were not a point source, but were
extended, then the dierent fringe patterns due to the distribution of the sources will wash out
each other at the point P and the fringes will not be distinct. Such fringes that are produced by
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Figure 3: A schematic diagram of Wieners experiments on standing light waves and their
recording by a thin photographic emulsion lm.
a point source are called non-localised fringes. They will not be distinct with extended sources
or with white light. That is the reason why our world does not appear as a kaleidoscope of
bright and dark regions to us.
Interference happens everywhere it happens wherever you have superpositions of dierent
electromagnetic waves. But the interference becomes visible only under more restricted condi-
tions. There may be cases such that , for an extended the fringe visibility may remain at or
near the value possible with a point source at certain locations of the point P, while the fringes
wash out and the fringe visibility falls to zero elsewhere. We call these as localised fringes that
are possible with extended sources. Only localised fringes that do not depend on the location
of the source explicitly will be visible.
For example, in the above situation, there is one important exception. Consider the light
from the two reected paths (plane waves) arising from the same incident ray (plane wave)
as shown in Fig. 4 (right panel). Now these two will interfere to produce fringes localised at
innity depending on the phase dierence due to the two paths. These fringes can be visualised
by putting a lens and looking at the focal plane. At the focal plane, waves along each direction
are mapped onto unique points. Such fringes that can be visualised at the focal plane of a lens
are said to be localised at innity. The optical path dierence between the two rays arises due
to the thickness and refractive index of the slab as well as the direction of the incident wave:
L = n(AB + BC) AD
where AB = BC = t/ cos and AD = ACsin = 2t tan sin , nsin = sin , t is assumed to
be the thickness of the slab, and n is the refractive index of the slab with the slab assumed to
be in air. From the above, it may be seen that
L = n
2t
cos
2t tan sin = 2nt cos . (2)
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Figure 4: Schematic diagram showing the interference between the light from dierent paths
that emanate by reection from a plane parallel slab of a transparent material. Left: Light
from S can reach any point P or P

by two paths to form non-localised interference fringes.

Right: Two reected paths that derive from the same incident ray give rise to fringes localised
at innity or in the focal plane of a lens.
T his corresponds to a phase dierence of
=
2nt

cos (3)
due to the extra phase of upon reection from the rst or the second interface depending on
whether n < or > 1. This phase dierence does not depend on the location of the source (S)in
the plane. So these two waves at any given angle will always interfere. So for a point source,
by symmetry there will be a series of concentric circular fringes at the focal plane of the lens
used to visualise the interference: each fringe corresponds to a particular angle. The fringes are
bright when
2nt cos /2 = m, where m = 0, 1, 2,
Here since each fringe is characterised by the angle (or ), these are called fringes of equal
inclination. Prove that the radius of these fringes r
f

m (problem for the assignment).

If one localises the region of illumination with an aperture, one can evaluate the thickness
locally by measuring these circular fringes. By moving the aperture around, one can map the
thickness of the parallel plate. If the change in the optical thickness gives rise to a displacement
in the pattern by m fringes, we have
m =
2 cos

(nt) (4)
At the centre of the circular fringe pattern, we have =. Using the above, thickness variation
of the order of wavelength can be easily monitored (Optical thickness testing).
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Food for thought: Why do we not consider the fringes in transmission? Assignment: Read
about Fizeau Interferometer.
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