Exam 34: The Wave Nature of Light; Interference

Light has a wavelength of 600 nm in a vacuum. It passes into glass, which has an index of refraction of 1.50. What is the wavelength of the light in the glass?

A coating is being applied to reduce the reflectivity of a pane of glass to light with a wavelength of 522 nm incident near the normal to the pane. If the material has an index of refraction of 1.375, how thick should the coating be?

A wave front is not a surface of constant phase within a wave.

In a double-slit experiment, the slit separation is 2.0 mm, and two wavelengths, 750 nm and 900 nm, illuminate the slits. A screen is placed 2.0 m from the slits. At what distance from the central maximum on the screen will a bright fringe from one pattern first coincide with a bright fringe from the other?

Light from a monochromatic source shines through a double slit onto a screen 5.0 m away. The slits are 0.18 mm apart. The dark bands on the screen are measured to be 1.7 cm apart. What is the wavelength of the incident light?

What is the phase difference in a Young's double slit experiment where the intensity is half that of the central maximum?

For two beams of light traveling different distances in reaching a point, and to form maximum constructive interference at that point, the beams must travel paths that differ by a whole number of wavelengths.

If in a double-slit experiment the distance to the screen is increased, which of the following happens to the interference pattern shown on the screen?

The colors on an oil slick are caused by reflection and

Radio waves are diffracted by large objects such as buildings, whereas light is not noticeably diffracted. Why is this?

When light in medium 1 is reflected from the surface of medium 2 with the indices of refraction of the media being n₁ and n₂ respectively, the reflected light has a phase difference of 180° if

Light with λ = 590 nm enters a Michelson interferometer. How many fringes traverse the field of view if the mirror of one arm of the interferometer is moved 0.44 mm?

In a two-slit experiment, the third bright fringe away from the central fringe is observed at an angle of 7.0°. If the wavelength of the light is 490 nm, what is the distance between the two slits?

If two or more sources of light are to show interference patterns, they must be coherent.

At the first maxima on either side of the central bright spot in a double-slit experiment, light from each opening arrives

Light of wavelength 550 nm in air is found to travel at 1.96 × 10⁸ m/s in a certain liquid. Determine the wavelength of the light in the liquid.

If in a double-slit experiment the wavelength of light is increased, which of the following happens to the interference pattern shown on the screen?

When a beam of light, which is traveling in glass, strikes an air boundary, there is

A piece of glass has a thin film of gasoline floating on it. A beam of light is shining perpendicular on the film. If the wavelength of light incident on the film is 560 nm and the indices of refraction of gasoline and glass are 1.40 and 1.50, respectively, what is the minimum thickness of the film to see a bright reflection?

Two beams of coherent light travel different paths arriving at point P. If the maximum destructive interference is to occur at point P, what should be the phase difference between the two waves?