Interference occurs, if two waves are said to be coherent

[Gavroy]

hi,

Our teacher told us, that interference occurs, if two waves are said to be coherent.

but doesn't it have also something to do with the polarization of the two waves?

so can one observe interference, if one has:
circular or ellipctical polarized waves, when these two have a constant phase.-> I would say yes.

but now I saw in the internet, that if one has two linear polarized waves whose E-vectors have a phase angle of pi/2, then there occurs no interference, is that right?

I don't really know, if polarization has something to do with interference or not, could somebody help me?

 

[Gavroy]

does nobody have an idea?

or is something unclear about my question?

 

[RedX]

hi,

Our teacher told us, that interference occurs, if two waves are said to be coherent.

but doesn't it have also something to do with the polarization of the two waves?

so can one observe interference, if one has:
circular or ellipctical polarized waves, when these two have a constant phase.-> I would say yes.

but now I saw in the internet, that if one has two linear polarized waves whose E-vectors have a phase angle of pi/2, then there occurs no interference, is that right?

I don't really know, if polarization has something to do with interference or not, could somebody help me?

Polarization shouldn't have anything to do with interference. If you have light polarized in one direction and add to it light polarized in an orthogonal direction, then there is no interference between these two light waves, and the intensity is just the sum of the intensities.

In optics therefore it is common to think of light as a scalar when discussing interference (at least I think - any optics people here?).

 

[Andy Resnick]

hi,

Our teacher told us, that interference occurs, if two waves are said to be coherent.

but doesn't it have also something to do with the polarization of the two waves?

so can one observe interference, if one has:
circular or ellipctical polarized waves, when these two have a constant phase.-> I would say yes.

In order for two (electromagnetic) waves to interfere, the two waves must have the same polarization.

Circularly polarized and elliptically polarized light will partially interfere: the elliptical polarization can be decomposed into two orthogonal circular states (left-handed and right-handed), and whichever one is coincident with the other wave will interfere with it.

 

[sardar]

Yes, interference can occur if two waves are coherent, meaning they have the same frequency and a constant phase relationship. This is because when two waves meet, their amplitudes can either add constructively or cancel out destructively, resulting in interference patterns.

Polarization refers to the direction in which the electric field of a wave oscillates. In order for interference to occur, the waves must have the same polarization. This means that the electric fields of the waves must be aligned in the same direction. If the two waves have different polarizations, they will not interfere with each other.

In the case of circular or elliptical polarized waves, as long as they have a constant phase relationship, they can still interfere with each other. This is because even though the direction of their electric fields may be different, they still have the same frequency and phase.

However, if two waves have linear polarizations that are perpendicular to each other (a phase angle of pi/2), they will not interfere with each other. This is because their electric fields are not aligned and therefore cannot add or cancel each other out.

In summary, polarization does play a role in interference, as the waves must have the same polarization in order to interfere with each other. However, the specific type of polarization (circular, elliptical, linear) does not necessarily determine whether interference will occur, but rather the alignment of their electric fields.