Double Slit Experiment With White Light

Join the discussion
Registration is free. Ask a follow-up in this thread, or start your own.
4 replies · 34K views
richardstan
Messages
13
Reaction score
0
Hi,
I have a physics assignment which is asking me what the fringe pattern would look like if white light was passed through a double slit. Would it look like a single light which became gradually darker the further away it got from the central maximum?
Thanks in advance
Richard.
 
Physics news on Phys.org
I do not know what level of Physics you are working at. I have a wikipedia link which I will post below and a youtube video which might help. With the wikipedia extract, you might not need to read the whole thing but just pick out the bits that apply to your work, like I doubt you would need to know about Quantum versions of the experiment.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double-slit_experiment"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DfPeprQ7oGc"

Hope this helped you.

_Mayday_
 
Last edited by a moderator:


Hi, i don't think i gave enough information in my question.
What would the fringe separation look like for white light (multiple frequencies) compared for example to blue light (one frequency). Would it look like a single beam which was bright in the middle and less bright as you went away from the middle, or would there still be several fringes which were less apparent because of all the different frequencies of light constructing in different places?
Thanks in Advance
Richard.
 
Hope this explains everything
http://www.itp.uni-hannover.de/~zawischa/ITP/bildchen/spalt03.png
 
Sparkle2009 said:
Hope this explains everything
http://www.itp.uni-hannover.de/~zawischa/ITP/bildchen/spalt03.png

Yes it does . Thanks!