Applied Physics(22BP1101)

UNIT-1
WAVE OPTICS

Interference: Modification of intensity of light when two or more light waves superpose each
other is called interference
Principle of superposition: When two or more light waves superpose each other the resultant
displacement at any point is the algebraic sum of individual displacements.

y = y +y
1 2

Interference in thin films by reflection :

Consider a thin film of thickness ‘t’ and refractive index ‘μ’. Lt AB be the incident ray on the
film. BC is reflected ray from the upper surface of the film and BD the refracted beam. DE is the
emergent ray.

The optical path difference between the two reflected light rays (BC and EF) is given by
= 𝜇(𝐵𝐷 + 𝐷𝐸) − 𝐵𝑃 - - - (1)

𝑡 𝑡 𝑡
From the ∆𝐵𝐷𝑄 𝑎𝑛𝑑 ∆𝐸𝐷𝑄 , 𝑐𝑜𝑠𝑟 = 𝐵𝐷 = 𝐷𝐸 𝑜𝑟 𝐵𝐷 = 𝐷𝐸 = 𝑐𝑜𝑠𝑟
Substituting in equation (1)
2𝜇𝑡
⸫ Path difference = 𝑐𝑜𝑠𝑟 − 𝐵𝑃
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From ∆𝐵𝑃𝐸, 𝐵𝑃 = 𝐵𝐸 sin 𝑖 = (𝐵𝑄 + 𝑄𝐸) sin 𝑖

Also from ∆𝐵𝐷𝑄, BQ = t tan 𝑟 = 𝑄𝐸

Or 𝐵𝑃 = 2𝑡 tan 𝑟 sin 𝑖

2𝜇𝑡 2𝜇𝑡 𝑠𝑖𝑛2 𝑟 (1−𝑠𝑖𝑛2 𝑟)

⸫ Path difference = 𝑐𝑜𝑠𝑟 − = 2𝜇𝑡
cos 𝑟 cos 𝑟

Or Path difference = 𝟐𝝁𝒕𝒄𝒐𝒔 𝒓

As a ray reflected at a surface backed by a denser medium suffers an abrupt phase change of 

which is equivalent to a path difference  =
2
𝝀
⸫ Effective Path difference = 𝟐𝝁𝒕𝒄𝒐𝒔 𝒓 − 𝟐 ----------(2)

(i) Condition for bright band

𝝀
The film will appear bright if path difference 𝟐𝝁𝒕𝒄𝒐𝒔 𝒓 − 𝟐 = 𝒏λ
𝝀
Or 𝟐𝝁𝒕𝒄𝒐𝒔 𝒓 = (𝟐𝒏 + 𝟏) 𝟐 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒏 = 𝟎, 𝟏, 𝟐, 𝟑 … ..

(ii) Condition for dark band

𝝀 𝝀
The film will appear dark if path difference 𝟐𝝁𝒕𝒄𝒐𝒔 𝒓 − 𝟐 = (𝟐𝒏 + 𝟏) 𝟐
𝑖𝑒., 𝟐𝝁𝒕𝒄𝒐𝒔 𝒓 = (𝒏 + 𝟏)𝝀 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑛 = 0,1,2,3 … ..
𝑜𝑟
𝟐𝝁𝒕𝒄𝒐𝒔 𝒓 = 𝒏𝝀 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑛 = 1,2,3 … …

Newton’s Rings:
1. The experimental arrangement consists of a planoconvex lens L of large radius of
curvature R.
2. This lens with its convex surface is placed on a plane glass plate P.
3. Light from an extended monochromatic source such as sodium lamp falls on a glass plate
G held at an angle 45° with the vertical.
4. The glass plate G reflects normally a part of the incident light towards the air film enclosed
by the lens L and the glass plate P.
5. A part of the incident light is reflected by the curved surface of the lens L and a part is
transmitted which is reflected back from the plane surface of the plate.
6. These two reflected rays interfere and give rise to an interference pattern in the form of
circular rings.
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7. These rings are localised in the air film, and can be seen with a microscope focussed on
the film.

The path difference between the superposing waves = (2  t cos r +  / 2) .

For air film  = 1 and for normal incidence r = 0,
∴Path difference = (2t +  / 2) …………….. (1)
At centre t=0 path difference = ( / 2)
which is the condition of minimum intensity. Thus the central spot is dark.
For nth order maximum, we have
2t +  / 2 = n ……………………. (2)
For nth order minimum, we have

2t +  / 2 = (2n + 1) ……………………. (3)
2

Determination of wavelength of monochromatic light:

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Let ‘r’ be the radius of Newton’s ring-corresponding to the constant film thickness ‘t’.

From the geometry of the figure,

NP  NQ = NO  ND
Substituting the values
r  r = t  (2R − t) = 2Rt − t 2  2Rt
 r 2 = 2R t or t = r 2 / 2R ……………… (4)
From eq. (2)
2t +  / 2 = n
r2 
2 + = n
2R 2

D2 = 4(2n − 1) R
2

Diameter of bright ring D = 2 (2n − 1) R ………………..(5)
2
From equation (3) we have

2t = n for dark ring

Substituting t = r 2 / 2R
r2
2 = n
2R
or r 2 = n R
or D2 = 4n R
D is diameter of the ring D = 2 n R ……………………..(6)

If Dn and D n + p the diameters of nth and (n+p)th dark rings respectively, then from eq.

D2n = 4n R

and D2 = 4(n + p)R

n+p

 D2 − Dn2 = 4 p R 
n+p

D2 − D n2
n+p
or Wavelength of monochromatic light  =
4pR

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Applications of Interference:
1. Testing of flatness of surfaces:
The smoothness of a surface can be inspected by keeping an optically flat on the
component at an angle and illuminating with monochromatic light. The air wedge formed
between the component and optical flat produces straight and equidistant fringes if the
surface is smooth. If fringes are curved towards the contact edge, the surface is concave
and if the fringes curve away it is convex.

2. Anti reflecting coatings(AR Coatings):

Antireflection coatings are thin transparent coatings of optical thickness of one quarter
wavelength given on a surface in order to suppress reflections from the surface. The waves
with equal amplitude reflected from the top and bottom surfaces of the thin film are in
opposite phase such that their overlapping leads to destructive interference.

The film should adhere well and scratch proof. MgF2 is widely used AR coating.

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Fraunhofer diffraction at single slit:

Let AB represent a narrow slit of width e .

Let a plane wavefront of monochromatic light of wavelength  propagating normally to the slit
be incident on it.
Let the diffracted light be focused by means of a convex lens on a screen placed in the focal plane
of the lens.
According to Huygens principle, every point of the wavefront in the plane of the slit is a source of
secondary spherical wavelets, which spread out to the right in all directions.
The secondary wavelets travelling normally to the slit, are brought to focus at O by the lens. The
secondary wavelets travelling at an angle  with the normal are focused at a point P on the screen.
The point P is of the minimum intensity depending upon the path difference between the secondary
waves originating from the corresponding points of the wavefront.
In order to find out intensity at P.
The path difference between secondary wavelets from A and B in direction  .
BE = ABsin  = e sin 
2
and corresponding phase difference = .esin  .

Let us consider that the width of the slit is divided into n equal parts and the amplitude of
the wave from each part is a. The phase difference between any two consecutive waves from these
parts would be
1 1  2 
(Total phase) =  esin   = d(say)
n n  
Using the method of vector addition of amplitudes as discussed in the previous article, the
resultant amplitude R is given by
sin nd / 2 sin( esin  /  )
R =a =a
sin d / 2 sin( esin  / n )
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sin 
=a where  =  e sin  / 
sin  / n
sin  
=a ( is very small)
 /n n
sin 
= na

sin 
=A (where n  , a → 0 but product na = A remains finite)

Now the intensity is given by
2
 sin  
I = R 2 = A2   - - - (1)
  
Principal maximum. The expression for resultant amplitude R can be written in ascending
powers of  as
A 3 5 7 
R=  − + − + ....
  3! 5! 7! 
 2 4 6 
= A 1 − + − + ....
 3! 5! 7! 
If the negative terms vanish, the value of R will be maximum, i.e.,  = 0
 esin 
 = = 0 or sin  = 0 or  = 0 - - - (2)

Now maximum value of R is A and intensity is proportional to A 2 . The condition  = 0
means that this maximum is formed by those secondary wavelets which travel normally to the
slit. The maximum is a known as principal maximum.
Minimum intensity positions. The intensity will be minimum when sin  = 0 . The
values of  which satisfy this equation are  =   ,  2 , 3 ,  4 ,... etc. =  m
 esin 
or =  m or e sin  =  m - - - (3)

where m = 1, 2, 3, .... etc.
In this way we obtain the points of minimum intensity on either side of the principal
maximum. The value of m = 0 is not admissible, because for this value  = 0 and this corresponds
to principal maximum.
Secondary maxima. In addition to principal maximum at  = 0 , there are weak secondary
maxima between equally spaced minima. The positions can be obtained with the rule of finding
maxima and minima of a given function in calculus. Differentiating the expression of I with
respect to  and equating to zero, we have

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d  2  sin   
2
dI
= A   =0
d  d     
 
2sin  ( cos  − sin  )
or A 2 . =0
 2
either sin  = 0 or ( cos  − sin  ) = 0
The equation sin  = 0 gives the values of  (except 0) for which the intensity is zero on
the screen. Hence the positions of maxima are given by the roots of the equation
 cos  − sin  = 0 or  = tan  --- (4)
The values of  satisfying the above equation are obtained graphically by plotting the curves
y =  and y = tan  on the same graph.

The points of intersection of the two curves gives the values of  which satisfy equation (4).
The plots of y =  and y = tan  are shown in figure.
The points of intersections are
3 5
 = 0,  ,  , etc.
2 2
 = 0, gives principal maximum
Substituting approximate values of  in equation (1), we ge the intensities in various
maxima as
I0 = A 2 (Principal maximum)
2
 sin(3 / 2)  A2
I1 = A 2   = App.
 (3 / 2)  22

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(1st Subsidiary maximum)

2
2  sin(5
/ 2)  A2
I2 = A   = 62 App.
 (5 / 2) 
(2nd Subsidiary maximum)
And so on.
From the expressions of I0 , I1, I 2 , it is evident that most of the incident light is
concentrated in the principal maximum.
Intensity distribution graph. A graph showing the variation of intensity with  is shown
in figure. The diffraction pattern consists of a central principal maximum occurring in the direction
of incident rays.

There are subsidiary maxima of decreasing intensity on either sides of it at positions

 =  ,  2 , 3 ... It should be noted that subsidiary maxima do not fall exactly mid-way
between two minima, but they are displaced towards the centre of the pattern, of course, the
displacement decreases as the order of maximum increases.

PLANE DIFFRACTION GRATING (Diffraction at N parallel slits)

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An arrangement consisting of large number of parallel slits of the same width and
separated by equal opaque spaces is known as diffraction grating. When the spacing between the
lines is of the order of the wavelength of light, then an appreciable deviation of the light is
produced.
If there are N slits, then we have diffracted waves, one each from the middle points of the
slits. If ‘e’ is width of each slit and ‘d’ the distance between any two successive slits, the path
difference between two consecutive slits is (e + d) sin  . Therefore there is a corresponding phase
difference ∂ = (2 /  )(e + d) sin  between the two consecutive waves.
𝑆𝑖𝑛𝛼
Amplitude due to each slit = 𝑎 = 𝐴 𝛼
𝑆𝑖𝑛𝑁𝜕/2 𝑆𝑖𝑛𝛼 𝑆𝑖𝑛𝑁𝜋(𝑒+𝑑)𝑠𝑖𝑛𝜃/𝜆
Resultant amplitude = 𝑅 = 𝑎 =𝐴 [ 𝑆𝑖𝑛𝜋(𝑒+𝑑)𝑠𝑖𝑛𝜃/𝜆 ]
𝑆𝑖𝑛𝜕/2 𝛼
𝑆𝑖𝑛𝛼 𝑆𝑖𝑛𝑁𝛽 𝜋
R= 𝐴 where β= 𝜆 (𝑒 + 𝑑)𝑠𝑖𝑛𝜃
𝛼 𝑆𝑖𝑛 𝛽
𝑆𝑖𝑛2 𝛼 𝑆𝑖𝑛2 𝑁𝛽
∴ 𝐼𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝐼 = 𝐴2 𝛼2 𝑠𝑖𝑛2 𝛽
Principal maxima. The intensity would be maximum when 𝑠𝑖𝑛𝛽 = 0 𝑜𝑟 𝛽 = ±𝑛𝜋

 (e + d) sin  =  n

or (e + d) sin  =  n --- (3)
where n = 0,1, 2, 3...
n = 0 corresponds to zero order maximum. For n = 1, 2, 3... etc. we obtain first, second,
third etc., principal maxima respectively. The  sign shows that there are two principal maxima
of the same order lying on either side of zero order maximum.
𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑁𝛽 𝑁𝑐𝑜𝑠𝑁𝛽
According to L’Hospital’s rule lim = lim =±𝑁
𝛽→±𝑛𝜋 𝑠𝑖𝑛𝛽 𝛽→±𝑛𝜋 𝑐𝑜𝑠𝛽
2
2 𝑆𝑖𝑛 𝛼 2
∴ 𝐼𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝐼 = 𝐴 𝑁
𝛼2

Minima. A series of minima occur, when


N (e + d)sin  =  m

N(e + d) sin  =  m , --- (4)
Where m has all integral values except 0, N, 2N, ... nN, because for these values sin  becomes
zero and we get principal maxima. Thus m = 1, 2, 3 ... (N-1). Hence there are adjacent principal
maxima.
As there are (N-1) minima between two adjacent principal maxima, there must be (N-2)
other maxima between two principal maxima. These are known as secondary maxima.
As N increases the intensity of secondary maxima relative to principal maxima decreases
and becomes negligible when N becomes large.

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Polarization of Light:
Confining light to only one direction of vibration is called polarization.

Light is an electromagnetic wave. All the electric vectors can be resolved into two components,
one with vibration parallel to plane of paper called π or arrow components and vibration
perpendicular to plane of paper called σ component. When unpolarized light with both σ and π
components is passed through a Tourmaline crystal, the coming out beam has only σ component.
The π component is eliminated and beam is said to be polarized. The vibration is confined to only
one plane called plane of vibration. The plane in which vibration is eliminated is called plane of
polarization.

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Polarization by reflection:

When unpolarized light is incident on a medium of refractive index μ at an angle called Brewster
angle or angle of polarization (iP) , the reflected beam is plane polarized. This is called polarization
by reflection. Also the reflected and refracted rays will be perpendicular to each other.
𝑆𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑝 𝑆𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑝 𝑆𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑝
From Snell’s law 𝜇 = sin 𝑟 = sin(90−𝑖 ) = 𝑐𝑜𝑠𝑖 = 𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑖𝑝
𝑝 𝑝
This is called Brewster’s law

Brewster’s Law statement

When angle of incident is equal to angle of polarization, the reflected ray and refracted ray will be
perpendicular to each other.

Polarization by refraction:

When light is incident on a denser medium like glass with an angle of incidence equal to polarizing
angle, the reflected ray is completely polarized but refracted beam is partially polarized. So to
make the refracted beam completely polarized we use a pile of glass plates. A stack of 15 glass
plates supported in a tube of suitable size, inclined at an angle of 330 to the axis of tube is called

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pile of glass plates. Unpolarized light is incident at Brewster’s angle and after passing through
these set of glass plates light gets completely polarized parallel to the plane of incidence.

Polarization by double refraction:

When a beam of unpolarized light is incident on the surface of an anisotropic crystal such as calcite
or quartz, it is found that it will separate into two rays that travel in different directions. This
phenomenon is called birefringence or double refraction. The two rays are known as ordinary ray
(o-ray) and extraordinary ray (e-ray), which are linearly polarized in mutually perpendicular
directions. A single linearly polarized ray is obtained in practice through elimination of one of the
two polarized rays.

Nicol Prism

Construction: A Nicol prism is made from calcite crystal. A rhomb of calcite crystal about three
times as long as it is thick, is obtained by cleavage from the original crystal. The ends of the
rhombohedron are ground until they make an angle of 68° instead of 71° with the longitudinal
edges. This piece is then cut into two along a plane perpendicular both to the principal axis and to
the new end surfaces MP and QN. The two parts of the crystal are then cemented together with
canada balsam, whose refractive index lies between the refractive indices of calcite for the o-ray
and e-ray. μo = 1.66, μe = 1.486 and μ of canada balsam = 1.55. The refractive index for e-ray
depends upon the direction in which e-ray is propagating in the crystal.

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Working: Unpolarized light is made to fall on the crystal as shown. The ray after entering the
crystal suffers double refraction and splits up into o-ray and e-ray. The values of the refractive
indices and the angles of incidence at the canada balsam layer are such that the e-ray is transmitted
while the o-ray is internally reflected. The face where the o-ray is incident is blackened so that the
o-ray is completely absorbed. Then we get only the plane-polarized e-ray coming out of the Nicol.
Thus, the Nicol works as a polarizer.

Quarter Wave Plate:

A quarter wave plate is a thin plate of birefringent crystal having the optic axis parallel to its
refracting faces and its thickness adjusted such that it introduces a quarter-wave (l/4) path
difference (or a phase difference of 90°) between the e-ray and o-ray propagating through it.
When a plane polarized light wave is incident on a negative birefringent crystal having the optic
axis parallel to its refracting face, the wave splits into e-wave and o-wave .The two waves travel
along the same direction but with different velocities. As a result, when they emerge from the rear
face of the crystal, an optical path difference would be developed between them. Thus,

A quarter wave plate introduces a phase difference 𝛿, between e-ray and o-ray
2𝜋 𝜋
𝛿=( ) ∆= = 90°
𝜆 2
A quarter-wave plate is used for producing elliptically or circularly polarized light.

Half wave plate :

A half wave plate is a thin plate of birefringent crystal having the optic axis parallel to its refracting faces
and its thickness chosen such that it introduces a half-wave (l/2) path difference (or a phase difference of
180°) between e-ray and o-ray. When a plane polarized light wave is incident on a birefringent crystal
having the optic axis parallel to its refracting faces, it splits into two waves: o- and e-waves. The two waves

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travel along the same direction inside the crystal but with different velocities. As a result, when they emerge
from the rear face of the crystal, an optical path difference would be developed between them.

A half wave plate introduces a phase difference 𝛿, between e-ray and o-ray given by
2𝜋
𝛿 = ( ) ∆= 𝜋 = 180°
𝜆
A half-wave plate rotates the plane of polarization of the incident plane polarized light through an
angle 2θ.

Applications of polarization:
(1) Sunglasses:
The phenomenon of polarization is utilized in making sunglasses, which will drastically reduce
the glare. Polarized sunglasses contain polarizing filters that are oriented vertically with respect
to the frames . As the reflected light is partially polarized, light waves having their electric field
vectors oriented in the same direction as the polarizing lenses and light waves having their electric
field vectors oriented parallel to the reflecting surface are blocked by the lenses. Thus, polarized
sunglasses eliminate the glare from an illuminated surface.
(2) Photography
Polarization by scattering occurs as light passes through our atmosphere. The scattered light often
produces a glare in the skies. In photography, this partial polarization of scattered light produces a
washed-out sky. The problem is overcome by the use of a polarizing filter fitted to the camera. As
the filter is rotated, the partially polarized light is blocked and the glare is reduced. Thus, a vivid
blue sky as the backdrop of a beautiful foreground is captured using polarizing filters.

****

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