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Young's interference experiment, also called Young's double-slit interferometer, was the original version of the modern double-slit experiment, performed at the beginning of the nineteenth century by Thomas Young. This experiment played a major role in the general acceptance of the wave theory of light.[1] In Young's own judgment, this was the most important of his many achievements.
Contents
1 Theories of light propagation in the 17th and 18th centuries 2 Young's work on wave theory 3 Acceptance of the wave theory of light 4 See also 5 References
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He demonstrated the phenomenon of interference in water waves. In 1803, he performed his famous double-slit experiment (strictly speaking, a double hole experiment) that he later described in a paper entitled "On the nature of light and colours": Supposing the light of any given colour to consist of undulations of a given breadth, or of a given frequency, it follows that these undulations must be liable to those effects which we have already examined in the case of the waves of water and the pulses of sound. It has been shown that two equal series of waves, proceeding from centres near each other, may be seen to destroy each other's effects at certain points, and at other points to redouble them; and the beating of two sounds has been explained from a similar interference. We are now to apply the same principles to the alternate union and extinction of colours.
Thomas Young's sketch of twoslit interference based on observations of water waves. [5]
In order that the effects of two portions of light may be thus combined, it is necessary that they be derived from the same origin, and that they arrive at the same point by different paths, in directions not much deviating from each other. This deviation may be produced in one or both of the portions by diffraction, by reflection, by refraction, or by any of these effects combined; but the simplest case appears to be, when a beam of homogeneous light falls on a screen in which there are two very small holes or slits, which may be considered as centres of divergence, from whence the light is diffracted in every direction. In this case, when the two newly formed beams are received on a surface placed so as to intercept them, their light is divided by dark stripes into portions nearly equal, but becoming wider as the surface is more remote from the apertures, so as to subtend very nearly equal angles from the apertures at all distances, and wider also in the same proportion as the apertures are closer to each other. The middle of the two portions is always light, and the bright stripes on each side are at such distances, that the light coming to them from one of the apertures, must have passed through a longer space than that which comes from the other, by an interval which is equal to the breadth of one, two, three, or more of the supposed undulations, while the intervening dark spaces correspond to a difference of half a supposed undulation, of one and a half, of two and a half, or more. From a comparison of various experiments, it appears that the breadth of the undulations constituting the extreme red light must be supposed to be, in air, about one 36 thousandth of an inch, and those of the extreme violet about one 60 thousandth ; the mean of the whole spectrum, with respect to the intensity of light, being about one 45 thousandth. From these dimensions it follows, calculating upon the known velocity of light, that almost 500 millions of millions of the slowest of such undulations must enter the eye in a single second. The combination of two portions of white or mixed light, when viewed at a great distance, exhibits a few white and black stripes, corresponding to this interval: although, upon closer inspection, the distinct effects of an infinite number of stripes of different breadths appear to be compounded together, so as to produce a beautiful diversity of tints, passing by degrees into each other. The central whiteness is first changed to a yellowish, and then to a tawny colour, succeeded by crimson, and by violet and blue, which together appear, when seen at a distance, as a dark stripe; after this a green light appears, and the dark space beyond it has a crimson hue; the subsequent lights are all more or less green, the dark spaces purple and reddish; and the red light appears so far to predominate in all these effects, that
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the red or purple stripes occupy nearly the same place in the mixed fringes as if their light were received separately.[6] The figure shows the geometry for a far-field viewing plane. It is seen that the relative paths of the light travelling from the two points sources to a given point in the viewing plane varies with the angle , so that their relative phases also vary. When the path difference is equal to an integral number of wavelengths, the two waves add together to give a maximum in the brightness, whereas when the path difference is equal to half a wavelength, or one and a half etc., then the two waves cancel, and the intensity is at a minimum. The angular spacing of the fringes, f , is then given by
Geometry for far-field fringes
where f <<1, and is the wavelength of the light. It can be seen that the spacing of the fringes depends on the wavelength, the separation of the holes, and the distance between the slits and the observation plane, as noted by Young. This expression applies when the light source has a single wavelength, whereas Young used sunlight, and was therefore looking at white-light fringes which he describes above. A white light fringe pattern can be considered to be made up of a set of individual fringe patterns of different colours. These all have a maximum value in the centre, but their spacing varies with wavelength, and the superimposed patterns will vary in colour, as their maxima will occur in different places. Only two or three fringes can normally be observed. Young used this formula to estimate the wavelength of violet light to be 400 nm, and that of red light to be about twice that results with which we would agree today. He presented his results to the Royal Institution, but again, he was attacked for opposing Newton's corpuscular theory.
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After that, the corpuscular theory of light was vanquished, not to be heard of again till the 20th century. Arago later noted that the phenomenon (which was later to be known as the Arago spot) had already been observed by Joseph-Nicolas Delisle[1][7] and Giacomo F. Maraldi[8] a century earlier.
See also
Corpuscular theory of light Photoelectric effect Waveparticle duality
References
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. ^ a b OS Heavens & RW Ditchburn, Insight into Optics, 1991, John Wiley & sons, Chichester. ^ a b Max Born & Emil Wolf, Principles of Optics, 1999, Cambridge University Press ^ a b Peter Mason, The Light Fantastic, 1981, Penguin Books, harmandsowrth ^ Google Books (http://books.google.com/books? id=lmM_AAAAcAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false) Retrieved 2011-07-02 ^ Rothman, Tony (2003). Everything's Relative and Other Fables in Science and Technology. New Jersey: Wiley. ISBN 0-471-20257-6. ^ Thomas Young (1807). A course of lectures on natural philosophy and the mechanical arts, Volume 1 (http://books.google.com/books? id=YPRZAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA464&lpg=PA464&dq=Supposing+the+light+of+any+given+colour+to+consist+of +undulations+of+a+given+breadth,+or+of+a+given+frequency&source=bl&ots=YQ6u_CfNDk&sig=wZ0bxDk ygEraxVXV7j0DaS7o_d0&hl=en&ei=T6CjTtDSIsqgtwfb552dBQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum= 2&ved=0CCAQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=Supposing%20the%20light%20of%20any%20given%20colour%20to %20consist%20of%20undulations%20of%20a%20given%20breadth%2C%20or%20of%20a%20given%20freq uency&f=false) . Johnson (original from Princeton University). http://books.google.com/books? id=YPRZAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA464&lpg=PA464&dq=Supposing+the+light+of+any+given+colour+to+consist+of +undulations+of+a+given+breadth,+or+of+a+given+frequency&source=bl&ots=YQ6u_CfNDk&sig=wZ0bxDk ygEraxVXV7j0DaS7o_d0&hl=en&ei=T6CjTtDSIsqgtwfb552dBQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum= 2&ved=0CCAQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=Supposing%20the%20light%20of%20any%20given%20colour%20to %20consist%20of%20undulations%20of%20a%20given%20breadth%2C%20or%20of%20a%20given%20freq uency&f=false. Retrieved 2011-10-23. ^ a b Fresnel, A.J. (1868), OEuvres Completes 1 (http://books.google.com/books/about/%C5%92uvres_compl%C3%A8tes_d_Augustin_Fresnel_Th.html? id=3QgAAAAAMAAJ) , Paris: Imprimerie impriale, p. 369, http://books.google.com/books/about/%C5%92uvres_compl%C3%A8tes_d_Augustin_Fresnel_Th.html? id=3QgAAAAAMAAJ ^ Maraldi, G.F. (1723), 'Diverses expriences d'optique' in Mmoires de lAcadmie Royale des Sciences (http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k3592w/f300.image.langFR) , Imprimerie impriale, p. 111, http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k3592w/f300.image.langFR
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