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JohnHon
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Destructive interference is excellently demonstrated in Young's double slit experiment, where dark regions are formed due the waves being out of phase. However, what really confuses me is that unpolarised light has intensity.
Assuming we had perfectly unpolarised light, as in where the electric field vectors are equal in magnitude in every direction at a single point in space (basically different waves destructively interfering), how does that beam of light produce intensity? In fact for this perfectly unpolarised light beam, shouldn’t we detect nothing, as there is never a NET electric field and thus no intensity?
So can someone explain how somehow in the double slit experiment there is 0 intensity in destructive interference yet unpolarised light DOES have intensity?
Assuming we had perfectly unpolarised light, as in where the electric field vectors are equal in magnitude in every direction at a single point in space (basically different waves destructively interfering), how does that beam of light produce intensity? In fact for this perfectly unpolarised light beam, shouldn’t we detect nothing, as there is never a NET electric field and thus no intensity?
So can someone explain how somehow in the double slit experiment there is 0 intensity in destructive interference yet unpolarised light DOES have intensity?