27.3 Young’s double slit experiment

Learning objectives

By the end of this section, you will be able to:

• Explain the phenomena of interference.
• Define constructive interference for a double slit and destructive interference for a double slit.

The information presented in this section supports the following AP® learning objectives and science practices:

• 6.C.3.1 The student is able to qualitatively apply the wave model to quantities that describe the generation of interference patterns to make predictions about interference patterns that form when waves pass through a set of openings whose spacing and widths are small, but larger than the wavelength. (S.P. 1.4, 6.4)
• 6.D.1.1 The student is able to use representations of individual pulses and construct representations to model the interaction of two wave pulses to analyze the superposition of two pulses. (S.P. 1.1, 1.4)
• 6.D.1.3 The student is able to design a plan for collecting data to quantify the amplitude variations when two or more traveling waves or wave pulses interact in a given medium. (S.P. 4.2)
• 6.D.2.1 The student is able to analyze data or observations or evaluate evidence of the interaction of two or more traveling waves in one or two dimensions (i.e., circular wave fronts) to evaluate the variations in resultant amplitudes. (S.P. 5.1)

Although Christiaan Huygens thought that light was a wave, Isaac Newton did not. Newton felt that there were other explanations for color, and for the interference and diffraction effects that were observable at the time. Owing to Newton’s tremendous stature, his view generally prevailed. The fact that Huygens’s principle worked was not considered evidence that was direct enough to prove that light is a wave. The acceptance of the wave character of light came many years later when, in 1801, the English physicist and physician Thomas Young (1773–1829) did his now-classic double slit experiment (see [link] ).

Why do we not ordinarily observe wave behavior for light, such as observed in Young’s double slit experiment? First, light must interact with something small, such as the closely spaced slits used by Young, to show pronounced wave effects. Furthermore, Young first passed light from a single source (the Sun) through a single slit to make the light somewhat coherent. By coherent    , we mean waves are in phase or have a definite phase relationship. Incoherent means the waves have random phase relationships. Why did Young then pass the light through a double slit? The answer to this question is that two slits provide two coherent light sources that then interfere constructively or destructively. Young used sunlight, where each wavelength forms its own pattern, making the effect more difficult to see. We illustrate the double slit experiment with monochromatic (single $\lambda$ ) light to clarify the effect. [link] shows the pure constructive and destructive interference of two waves having the same wavelength and amplitude.