Questions tagged [interference]

Interference describes different waves superposing to form a resultant wave of greater, lower, or the same amplitude. Normally, it involves interaction of waves that are correlated (coherent) with each other, either because they come from the same source, or because they have the same or nearly the same frequency. Interference effects can be observed with all types of waves, e.g., light, radio, acoustic, surface, or matter waves.

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Destructive interference of Gravitational Waves and the Conservation of Energy

Destructive interferences are interesting for a physics student, specifically when checking the Energy Conservation. In the case of destructive EM waves or String waves it is easy to understand where ...
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Interference of wave on string [closed]

Can somebody explain how the sinusoidal wave will cross the junction, meaning what will be the intensity and amplitude during and after the crossing? Assuming constructive interference at the second ...
Saksham Garg's user avatar
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Relation between classical probability and quantum probability formulae

Assuming superposition state $$ \Psi = C_1 \psi_1 + C_2 \psi_2 $$ ,one can write the expectation value $\langle A \rangle$ of a physical magnitude A as follows $$ \langle A\rangle = P_1 \langle A\...
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Why does quantum random walk show ballistic transport?

For the topic of quantum random walk, a simple example is considering a 1D lattice fermionic model, expressed as $H = \sum_{i} c_i^\dagger c_{i+1} + h.c.$ Assuming there is one fermion located at the $...
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Single Photon Interference and the Hong-Ou-Mandel (HOM) Effect in an Interferometer

Reading on the Hong-Ou-Mandel (HOM) effect, I came to wonder how exactly we can be certain that interference that occurs in apparatuses such as a Michelson interferometer and Mach-Zehnder ...
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Why diffraction works at sharp edges?

While introducing Diffraction, physics textbooks say that this effect (Diffraction) is observed distinctively when the light is passed through a very small opening, the length or diameter of which is ...
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Is the Huygens' principle consistent for intersecting wavefronts?

When refraction takes place at the interface of two media, wavefronts can be extended to intersect as below: At point of intersection, light requires no time to travel between the wavefronts. However,...
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How to align a Mach-Zehnder at 810 nm?

I have a task to arrange MZI using very weak source with photons coming one at a time. On top the wavelength is 810 nm. How to 'see' the interference pattern to 100% in one channel and 0% in other. I ...
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What are the disadvantages of using a single mode Fabry-Perot laser diodes in interferometry, as opposed to distributed feedback laser diodes?

What are the disadvantages of using a single mode Fabry-Perot laser diodes in interferometry, as opposed to distributed feedback laser diodes? I'm specifically interested in potential problems that FB ...
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A question related to Newton's Rings (SOLVED)

I was solving this question, I arrived at the correct answer which is 'A' the reason 'C' and 'D' are incorrect is cuz the fringes would eventually converge as if we look at this question from another ...
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Why do light bulbs don't produce coherent waves? [duplicate]

My textbook says that light ways produced by light bulbs are not coherent but it doesn't describe the reason. I was wondering how could two waves not be coherent regardless of the source they are ...
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Electron Interference when produced by $W$ boson

Hi I was wondering about the following setup. Let’s say we have a radioactive atom which decays via beta decay which produces a $W$ boson. The $W$ boson has a chance of turning into an electron or a ...
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Where does the diffraction equations work and why?

w = fringe spacing $\lambda$ = wavelength D = horizontal distance between slits and screen s = slit spacing d = slit spacing $\theta$ = angle between central maximum and the ray at the nth maximum $\...
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Mach Zehnder Do-it-yourself

I have a red laser and BS. Can I make MZI at the lab? I heard that is very difficult to achieve the calibration. What is expected to be seen after BS2? A dark spot at centre with fringes around? I ...
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How monochromatic waves can be incoherent?

Is it possible to have a monochromatic wave which is incoherent? On the one hand, it could be obtained by irradiating a laser beam on a strongly scattering medium like white paper. But on the other ...
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How is the interference pattern of the double slit experiment quantitatively measured? [closed]

The single photon / single electron double slit experiment shows particles appearing as dots on the screen. This is explained as being due to the collapse of their wavefunctions. However, if they were ...
Blacklight MG's user avatar
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Can a CCD work in time integration regime?

Can one use a CCD in same way as photosensitive paper? When one has very low intensity like in single photons double slit experiment to see the interference pattern one puts a photosensitive paper at ...
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How come two electrons interfere?

This is something I have read many times that the double slit experiment done with electrons produce the same pattern that we get with light i.e. the electrons undergo superposition similar to that of ...
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Modelling incoherent sources

Suppose some (coherent) light propagates onto a one-dimensional barrier with two open slits, each of length $\delta$ and separated by a distance $s$ (we can assume the centroid is known and placed at $...
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How to find the wavelengths of sources?

I have the resulting interference field (the intensity at each point in the field is known) from several radiation sources. How can I find the wavelengths of the sources? The coordinates of the ...
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Path lengths in the dual slit experiment and the speed of light

In the dual slit experiment, we can view the diffraction pattern as the constructive and destructive interference of two waves from the superposition of a single photon. If we analyse the paths ...
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How does squeezed multimode light, where the modes are entangled, behave in a beamsplitter?

I understand how to work with and describe squeezed single modes going through a beamsplitter, and can conceptually talk about what's happening. If I now take a source of squeezed light that has ...
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Simplest experiment to see quantum interference of $|HH \rangle + |VV \rangle $?

What is the simplest experiment that I can perform to see interference of $|HH \rangle + |VV \rangle $, assuming this is an entangled state of two photons in two different polarizations? Ideally I ...
Steven Sagona's user avatar
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Intuition behind Huygens' Principle?

I have recently started learning about physical or wave optics and one of the initial topics is Huygens' Principle. One part of Huygens' Principle states that every point on the wavefront acts as a ...
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How to eliminate polarization mismatch in the Michelson interferometer based on single-mode optical fiber?

We are developing a mobile system for optical coherence tomography based on fiber optic Michelson interferometer. We are facing a problem of chenging the polarization during a movement of the fiber. ...
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Interference in single slit

In my point of understanding, interference is produced when waves from two sources of light (may be coherent or non-coherent) overlap resulting in consecutive bright and dark fringes on a screen. But, ...
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Clarifications on interference of waves

Here is my understanding: Superposition describes the effect of two waves, of the same type, coinciding at a point, stating that the resultant displacement is equivalent to the vector sum of the ...
Quin Gardiner Bax's user avatar
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Where does the energy go when two waves destructively interfere? [duplicate]

Suppose two wave pulses are traveling in opposite directions, but when they superimpose, they completely cancel each other out (destructive interference) But as soon as they pass each other, they just ...
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Will the interference pattern still be observed with gamma rays in double slit experiment?

I am little confused. Please correct me if I am wrong. Gamma rays can produce electron and positron pair if they interact with atoms. In the double slit experiment the final screen where interference ...
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Struggling with interference [duplicate]

I was reading the book optics by zajac and hecht. It was a nice one until physics optics, i got that interference becomes when the light is coherent and monochromatic, and it is the superposition of ...
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What are the similarities between a beam splitter and a double-slit?

More generally, my question is about the similarity between an $N$-slit and an $N$-mode beam splitter. Conceptually speaking, would it be accurate to say that the beam splitter is just the discretized ...
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Double slit experiment confusion regarding "single" electron being shot toward the slit

I have heard many lectures claiming that even a single electron being shot toward the slits will eventually lead to construction of an interference pattern. The rationale for firing one electron at a ...
Angelo Nichols's user avatar
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Measuring longitudinal modes of a laser with a scanning Fabry-Perot spectrometer

Given a laser operating at a wavelength $\lambda = 1.084 \mu m$ on two longitudinal modes $300 MHz$ apart, I have to find the minimum free spectral range $FSR_m$ necessary to correctly measure the two ...
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Ontologically speaking, does single-shot quantum interference occur in pairs of possibilities?

I've been perplexed by the semantics used in Science 329, 418-421(2010), where they state that according to Born’s rule and its square exponent, interference always occurs in pairs of possibilities. ...
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In single-slit interference, why don't we consider all combinations of points and their contribution to the diffraction pattern?

The explanation I was taught back in college was that we take points $a/2$ spaced apart where $a$ is the width of the slit, and at certain angles the difference in distance traveled will be half a ...
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Higher dimension observer

In Quantum Mechanics (double slit electron experiment) a third dimension observer could only see two kinds of patterns in a screen: -Two lines behind each slit if one chooses know the electron ...
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How to explain interference pattern in our eye?

Suppose we got a Lamp L that emits some light. The light afterwards hits a diffraction Grating G at a distance a. Now if you were to look through the grating with your Eye E, you were to see the ...
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Double slit diffraction integral?

In our physics class, the professor went over a so-called "diffraction integral" for single slit diffraction: $$E = E_0\cos(kx - kct)\qquad\text{then we ignore time dependence}:$$ $$E = E_0\...
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Visualizing diffraction with Huygens' principle

I understand (both intuitively and mathematically) Huygens' principle -- that a wave front can be thought of as a sum of infinitely many spherical wavelets, which are each themselves a source of the ...
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Young's experiment: with and without lens

To my knowledge, there are two possible arrangements to realize the Young experiment: with or without a lens between the holes (or the slits) and the screen In the first case the optical path ...
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What if an electron is sent through a double slit which has slits with spin based?

Imagine there is a double slit set up like one of it slits let only spin up electrons to go through and the another one let only spin down electron to go through it, so if we go on shooting electrons ...
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Minimum intensity fringes are not perfectly dark in diffraction pattern?

I am studying Interference and Diffraction and everywhere I look it is written that "In an interference pattern,the minima are usually perfectly dark while in a diffraction pattern they are not ...
Akshit Chhabra's user avatar
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Does sound need an odd number of spatial dimensions?

In the book "when Einstein walked with Gödel" the author talks about Edwin A. Abotts "Flatland" stating that one problem which was unattended by Abott is the problem of acoustics ...
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Justification of the relationship $s/S<\lambda/d$ for interference fringes to be seen

[My book] (NCERT Class 12 Physics text; Chapter no.:10 - Wave Optics) (https://www.google.co.in/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://ncert.nic.in/ncerts/l/leph202.pdf&...
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Mirror momentum in a Mach-Zehnder interferometer

As I understand it, the mirrors in a MZI should gain momentum from the reflected photons. How much momentum should the mirrors get for a single photon? In a simple photon-mirror incident at $\pi/4$ ...
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Is it possible to create Fabry-Pérot Interferometer with one partially transparrent and one non-transparent mirror?

In the literature sources I've found so far about Fabry-Pérot interferometer there are only example schematics of the interferometers in transmission - light source is placed from one side of the ...
Andrii St's user avatar
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Michelson interferometer moving mirror by half wavelength

With expanding beam I understand I will get circular fringes, and I understand if you move the mirror by d the path difference change of the interfering beam is $2dcos\theta$. But I don't understand ...
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Equating scalar summation of electric field to electric field at maxima in single slit diffraction

I was going through the standard derivation of intensity distribution in case of single slit diffraction I don't understand why we equate the scalar summation of electric field phasors(or the length ...
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Does two same light bulbs produce light of same frequency? [duplicate]

If they do, then why don't we observe interference in normal rooms? And if they don't have the same frequency then why is that so?
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What will be the state of polarization?

When unpolarized light incident on the first polarizer, the light becomes plane-polarized with intensity equal to half of the initial value and the plane of polarization is parallel to the optic axis ...
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