Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
Topic 6
Interference
John Cockburn (j.cockburn@... Room E15)
Electromagnetic Waves
Interference of Sound Waves
Youngs double slit experiment
Intensity distribution for Youngs experiment
Electromagnetic Radiation
Visible light is an example of ELECTROMAGNETIC
RADIATION:
Electromagnetic Waves
Existence predicted by James Clerk Maxwell (1865)
Consist of crossed time-varying electric and
magnetic fields
Transverse wave, both electric and magnetic fields
oscillate in a direction perpendicular to propagation
direction
No medium is necessary: Electromagnetic waves can
propagate through a vacuum
Constant speed of propagation through a vacuum:
c 3 x 108 ms-1
Electromagnetic Waves
Electromagnetic Waves
It can be shown from MAXWELLS EQUATIONS of
Electromagnetism (See second year course) that the
electric and magnetic fields obey the wave equations:
Ey
2
0 0
2 y ( x, t )
x 2
Ey
2
t 2
1 2 y ( x, t )
2
v
t 2
2 Bz
2 Bz
0 0
2
x
t 2
1
0 0
Electromagnetic Waves
E y E0 sin( kx t )
Bz B0 sin( kx t )
Where E0 and B0 are related by: E0 = cB0
INTENSITY of an EM wave E02
NB. we will see later that EM radiation sometimes behaves like a
stream of particles (Photons) rather than a wave
c
v
n
Interference
First, consider case for sound waves, emitted by 2 loudspeakers:
Path difference =n
Constructive Interference
Interference
Interference
For interference effects to be observed,
sources must emit at a single frequency
Sources must have the same phase OR have a FIXED phase difference
between them. This is known as COHERENCE
Conditions apply to interference effects for both light and sound
Example calculation
For what frequencies does constructive/destructive interference occur at P?
r2 r1 d sin
Constructive interference:
Destructive interference:
d sin n
1
d sin n
2
n
ym R
d
(small only)
E1 E0 sin t
E 2 E 0 sin t
With = (t + ), = t, get:
2
E
cos
So, ETOT has an oscillating amplitude:
0
2
I TOT 4 E0 cos 2
Or, since I0E02, and proportionality constant the same in both cases:
I TOT
4 I 0 cos
2
2
d sin
I TOT 4 I 0 cos 2
I TOT
d sin
4 I 0 cos
dy
I TOT 4 I 0 cos 2
dy
I 0 cos