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Physics
Classical Physics
Optics
Destructive interference in Unpolarised light
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[QUOTE="Cryo, post: 6138023, member: 649226"] Unpolarized light simply means that polarization of light changes faster than the detection capability of your apparatus. It also means that polarization changes in a random fashion. But polarization at any instant is well-defined. When you start doing Young's interference you have (e.g.) two copies of electric field that you guided along different paths. Let's say that electric field on the screen is given by: ##\mathbf{E(t)}=\mathbf{E}_1 (t) + \mathbf{E}_2 (t)## Where ##\mathbf{E}_{1,2}## are the electric fields guided along different paths. Let's simplify and say that the only difference between them is that ##\mathbf{E}_{1}=\mathbf{E}_0 (t-t_1)## and ##\mathbf{E}_{2}=\mathbf{E}_0 (t-t_2)##, where ##\mathbf{E}_0 ## is the original source. So we are saying the two interfering fields are simply routed through two delay lines. If the source is random, there is usually some sort of coherence time ##\tau## within which the randomness of the source is negligible. So as long as ##t_2-t_1<\tau## you will see interference fringes. Note, than one often talks of coherence length ##L=c \tau##, where ##c## is the speed of light. [/QUOTE]
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Forums
Physics
Classical Physics
Optics
Destructive interference in Unpolarised light
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