UNIT-2: INTERFERENCE

CONCEPTUAL / SHORT ANSWER ( 2- 3 Marks)

1. What are the necessary conditions for observing sustainable
interference patterns?
2. What are coherent sources?
3. Why is it not possible to observe an interference pattern with light from
two independent sources?
4. How are coherent sources obtained?
5. State the principle of superposition of light waves.
6. Show that the phenomenon of interference is in accordance with the
law of conservation of energy.
7. Distinguish between division of wavefront & division of amplitude.
8. Why do we need an extended source to obtain interference by division
of amplitude?
9. How are fringes of equal inclination obtained?
10. In the Newton’s Rings setup, why are the rings circular?
11. What will happen if a wedge shaped film is placed in white light?
12. Soap bubbles or a thin film of oil spread over the surface of water
appears coloured in sunlight. Why?
13. How can we obtain Newton’s Rings with a bright center?
14. In the Newton’s Rings experiment, if the distance between the lens
& the plate increased, how will it affect the order of the rings?
15. Why do excessively thin films seen by reflected light appear dark?
NUMERICALS (5 Marks)
1. Two coherent monochromatic light beams of intensities I & 4I are
superimposed. What will be the ratio of maximum and minimum
intensities?
2. Find the ratio of intensities of two points P & Q on a screen in Young’s
double slit experiment when the waves from sources have phase
difference of
(i) 0
(ii) λ/2 respectively.
3. Green light of wavelength 5100 Å from a narrow slit is incident on a
double slit. If the overall separation of 10 fringes on a screen 2 m away
is 0.02 m, find the separation between the slits. [Hint - d = λD/β]
4. Two coherent sources are 0.18 mm apart and the fringes are observed
on a screen 80 cm away. It is found that with a certain monochromatic
source of light, the fourth bright fringe is situated at a distance of 10.8
mm from the central fringe. Calculate the wavelength of light. [Hint - λ
= xd/nD]
5. In Lloyd's single mirror interference experiment, the slit source is at a
distance 12 mm from the plane of the mirror. The screen is kept at a
distance of 1.5 m from the source. Calculate the fringe width.
Wavelength of light is 5890 Å. [Hint: d = λD/β]
6. 3. A biprism is placed 5 cm from a slit illuminated by sodium light (λ =
5890 Å) The width of the fringes obtained on a screen 75 cm from the
biprism is 9.424 x 10-2 cm. What is the distance between the two
coherent sources? [Ans. 0.5 mm]
7. A biprism forms interference fringes with monochromatic light of
wavelength 5450 Å. On introducing a thin glass plate (μ = 1.5) in the
path of one of the interfering beams, the central fringe shifts to the
position previously occupied by the third bright fringe. Does fringe
width change? Find the thickness of the plate. [Ans. 0.03 mm]
8. In Young’s double slit experiment, the fringe width obtained is 0.6 cm,
when light of wavelength 4800 Å is used. If the distance between the
screen and the slit is reduced to half, what wavelength of light should
be used to obtain fringes 0.045 m wide?
9. A parallel beam of sodium light ( λ = 5890 x 10-10 m) is incident on a
thin glass plate (μ = 1.5) such that the angle of refraction into the plate
is 600. Calculate the smallest thickness of the plate which will make it
appear dark by reflection.
10. Two straight and narrow parallel slits 3 x 10-3 m apart are
illuminated by a monochromatic light of wavelength 5.9 x 10-7 m.
Fringes are obtained on a 0.3 m distant screen from the slits. Find the
value of the fringe width.
11. Two pieces of plane glass are placed together with a piece of paper
between the two at one edge. Find the angle of the wedge shaped air
film formed, if on viewing normally with monochromatic light of
wavelength 4800 Å, 18 bands / cm are seen.
12. A soap film 5 x 10-5 cm thick is viewed at an angle of 35° to the
normal. Find the wavelengths of light in the visible spectrum which
will be absent from the reflected light, given μ = 1.33. [Hint: μ = sin i /
sin r; 2μt cos r = mλ]
13. A glass wedge of angle 0.01 radian is illuminated by monochromatic
light of wavelength 6000 Å falling normally on it. At what distance
 from the edge of the wedge will the 10th fringe be observed by reflected
light? [Hint: x = mλ/2θ]
14. A beam of monochromatic light of wavelength 5.82 x 10-7 m falls
normally on a glass wedge with the wedge angle of 20 seconds of an
arc. If the refractive index of glass is 1.5, find the number of dark
fringes per cm of the wedge length. [Hint: β = λ/2μθ]
15. Newton's rings are observed in reflected light of λ = 5.9x10-5 m. The
diameter of the 10th dark ring is 0.5 cm. Find the radius of curvature of
the lens and the thickness of the air film.
16. In Newton’s Rings experiment, the diameter of the 15th ring is
found to be 0.59 x 10-2 m and that of the 5th ring is 0.336 x 10-2 m. If
the radius of curvature of the plano-convex lens is 1 m, calculate the
wavelength of light used.

LONG ANSWER (10 Marks)

1. Explain the terms phase difference, wave front and coherent sources.
List some of the methods to obtain coherent sources and discuss how
Fresnel's bi-prism can be used to obtain them.
2. Describe the necessary conditions to observe the interference of light.
Discuss the theory of interference due to two slits and find the
expression for fringe width.
3. Explain the interference pattern formation by Fresnel's bi-prism. How
can the wavelength of monochromatic light be determined by this
method?
4. Explain the formation of interference fringes by means of Fresnel's
bi-prism when a monochromatic source of light is used and derive the
expression for the fringe width.
5. Describe Young’s double slit experiment and derive an expression for:
(i) intensity at a point on the screen, and
(ii) fringe width.
6. Giving the theory of Newton’s Rings, show that the dark rings are
proportional to the square roots of natural numbers.
7. What are Newton’s Rings? Describe an experiment to determine the
radius of curvature of a plano-convex lens using Newton’s Rings.
8. Explain why an extended source is needed for interference in thin
films. Obtain the conditions for maxima and minima for interference
fringes in thin films due to reflection. Show that interference pattern of
reflected and transmitted beams are complementary.
9. Explain the interference exhibited by thin wedge shaped film and find
the expression for fringe width.
10. What do you understand by Division of wave front and Division of
amplitude? In what context these phenomena are used? Give examples.
11. (a) Discuss conditions for obtaining a stationary interference pattern.
(b) Explain the formation of Newton's rings in reflected light.