PHYSICAL OPTICS & OPTICAL FIBERS

Course code: 271P

Dr. Ahmed Mostafa Amry
Physics Department
LECTURER 01
 Superposition of Sinusoidal Waves

Principle of Superposition
If two or more traveling waves are moving through a medium, the
resultant value of the wave function at any point is the algebraic
sum of the values of the wave functions of the individual waves.
 It is possible for two or more waves to coexist at the same point
in space. When this happens it is important to know what the
total wave amplitude is at that point. This question is answered
by the Principle of Superposition. The principle may be stated
in these words:
When two or more waves are simultaneously present at a single
point in space, the displacement of the medium at that point is
the sum of the displacements due to each individual wave.
I. ADDITION OF SIMPLE HARMONIC MOTIONS ALONG THE SAME LINE
II.SUPERPOSITION OF TWO WAVE TRAINS OF
THE SAME FREQUENCY & AMPLITUDE
Fig.2
 FOURIER ANALYSIS
 According to a theorem due to Fourier, any periodic function
can be represented as the sum of a number of sine and cosine
functions. By a periodic function we mean one that repeats itself
exactly in successive equal intervals, such as the lower curve in
Fig. 3(b). The wave is given by an equation of the type
 When two light waves of the same frequency travel in
approximately the same direction and have a phase difference
that remains constant with time, the resultant intensity of light
is not distributed uniformly in space.
 The non-uniform distribution of light intensity due to the
superposition of two waves is called “interference”.
 In constructive interference, the amplitude of the resultant
wave at a given position or time is greater than that of either
individual wave, whereas in destructive interference, the
resultant amplitude is less than that of either individual wave.
In order to observe interference in light
waves, the following conditions must be met:
 The sources must be coherent—that is, they must
maintain a constant phase with respect to each other.
 The sources should be monochromatic—that is, of a
single wavelength.
 A common method for producing two coherent light sources
is to use a monochromatic source to illuminate a barrier
containing two small openings (usually in the shape of slits).
The light emerging from the two slits is coherent because a
single source produces the original light beam and the two
slits serve only to separate the original beam into two parts.
 Any random change in the light emitted by the source occurs
in both beams at the same time, and as a result interference
effects can be observed when the light from the two slits
arrives at a viewing screen, see Figure 3.
Fig.3. If the light traveled only in its original direction after
passing through the slits the waves would not overlap and no
interference pattern would be seen as shown in Fig. a. Instead,
the waves spread out from the slits as shown in Fig. b.
 Young’s Double-Slit Experiment
Interference in light waves from two sources was first
demonstrated by Thomas Young in 1801. A schematic
diagram of the apparatus that Young used is shown in Figure
4a.
)a ( )b (
.Fig. 4
Plane light waves arrive at a barrier that contains two
parallel slits S1 and S2. These two slits serve as a pair of
coherent light sources because waves emerging from them
originate from the same wave front and therefore maintain
a constant phase relationship. The light from S1 and S2
produces on a viewing screen a visible pattern of bright and
dark parallel bands called fringes (Fig. 3b).
When the light from S1 and that from S2 both arrive at a
point on the screen such that constructive interference
occurs at that location, a bright fringe appears. When the
light from the two slits combines destructively at any
location on the screen, a dark fringe results.
We can describe Young’s experiment quantitatively with the
help of Fig. 4. The viewing screen is located a perpendicular
distance L from the barrier containing two slits, S 1 and S2.
These slits are separated by a distance d, and the source is
monochromatic. To reach any arbitrary point P in the upper
half of the screen, a wave from the lower slit must travel
farther than a wave from the upper slit by a distance d sin θ.
This distance is called the path difference δ. If we assume that
r1 and r2 are parallel, which is approximately true if L is
much greater than d, then δ is given by
δ = r2 - r1 = d sin θ
Fig. 4
  
The value of δ determines whether the two waves are in phase
when they arrive at point P. If δ is either zero or some integer
multiple of the wavelength, then the two waves are in phase at
point P and constructive interference results. Therefore, the
condition for bright fringes, or constructive interference, at
point P is

The number m is called the order number.

  
For constructive interference, the order number is the same
as the number of wavelengths that represents the path
difference between the waves from the two slits. The central
bright fringe at θ = 0 is called the zeroth-order maximum.
The first maximum on either side, where m = 1 , is called
the first-order maximum, and so forth.
  
When δ is an odd multiple of λ/2, the two waves arriving at
point P are 180° out of phase and give rise to destructive
interference. Therefore, the condition for dark fringes, or
destructive interference, at point P is

The number m is called the order number.

  
In addition to our assumption that L >> d, we assume d >> λ .
These can be valid assumptions because in practice L is often
on the order of 1m, d a fraction of a millimeter, and λ is a
fraction of a micrometer for visible light. Under these
conditions, θ is small; thus, we can use the small angle
approximation . Then, from triangle OPQ in Fig. 4a
  

So, we see that the positions of the bright fringes measured from O
are given by the expression

the dark fringes are located at

 Example
A viewing screen is separated from a double-slit source by
1.2 m. The distance between the two slits is 0.030 mm. The
second-order bright fringe is 4.5 cm from the center line.
i. Determine the wavelength of the light.
ii. Calculate the distance between adjacent bright fringes.
 Solution
For the second-order bright fringe we use m = 2, then
The wave length  = (ybrightd / mL) = (L /d ) m
= (4.5  10-2 m) (3.0  10-5 m)/ ( 2  1.2 m)
= 5.6  10-7 m = 560 nm
The distance between adjacent bright fringes is
ym+1 - ym = (L  /d ) (m +1) - (L  /d ) m = (L  /d )
= (5.6  10-7 m) ( 2  1.2 m) / (3.0  10-5 m)
 Example
A light source emits visible light of two wavelengths: λ= 430 nm
and λ= 510 nm. The source is used in a double-slit
interference experiment in which L = 1.50m and d =0.025 mm.
Find the separation distance between the third-order bright
fringes.
 Solution  

For the third - order bright fringe we use m = 3, then

ybright = (L  /d ) m = 3 (430  10-9 m) ( 1.5 m) /
(0.025  10-3 m)
= 7.74  10-2 m

= 9.18  10-2 m
Hence, the separation distance between the two
fringes is
Again, suppose that the two slits represent coherent sources
of sinusoidal waves such that the two waves from the slits
have the same angular frequency - and a constant phase
difference Ф , see fig. 6.

Fig. 6
Assuming that the two waves have the same amplitude E0 ,
we can write the magnitude of the electric field at point P
due to each wave separately as

E1 = E0 sin(t)

E2 = E0 sin(t + Ф )

E = E1 + E2

E = 2Eocos (/2) sin (t + /2)

Although the waves are in phase at the slits, their phase difference Ф at P
depends on the path difference δ = r1 – r2 = d sinθ. A path difference of 
(for constructive interference) corresponds to a phase difference of 2  rad.
A path difference of δ is the same fraction of  as the phase difference Ф is
of 2 . We can describe this mathematically
δ / = Ф / 2 
δ = Ф ( / 2 ) or Ф = (2 / ) δ
The path difference = phase difference x ( / 2 ) or
The phase difference = path difference x (2  / )
Phasor Addition of Waves
 (a) A(b) A(c)

(a) Phasor diagram for the wave disturbance

E1 = E0 sin(t). The phasor is a vector of length
E0 rotating counterclockwise.

(b) Phasor diagram for the wave E2 = E0 sin(t + Ф ).

(c) The phasor ER represents the combination of the

waves in part (a) and (b).
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
 Fig. 8

The phasor ER is the resultant of four phasors of equal amplitude E0 .

The phase of ER with respect to the first phasor is α . The projection EP

on the vertical axis represents the combination of the four phasors.
Note that ER is maximum when Ф = 0, 2 , 4 , 6 , ….. and ER is zero
when Ф = , 3 , 5 , 7 , …..
Fig. 5
Fig. 9
Thank You