Light Investigation

14 Pages • Essays / Projects • Year Uploaded: 2023

This report will study and discuss the wave-particle duality of light through the evaluation of diffraction patterns found in diffraction and double slit experiments similar to that of Thomas Young’s. As light is considered to be both a wave and a particle, lasers, which produce monochromatic in phase beams of light, will either destructively or constructively interfere with itself as is passes through two small close gaps and diffracts. (Naked Scientists, 2010) The result of this interference of waves will be a repeating series of dark and bright lines, otherwise known as interference fringes, which contains a central bright fringe with darker fringes as the pattern extends outwards. (Naked Scientists, 2010) Such a pattern occurs due to the two waves of light interfering both destructively and constructively together and was discovered by Thomas Young. (Study Rocket, 2019) A diagram of Young’s double slit experiment can be seen in the figure alongside. This technique can also be used with a diffraction grating, that is an apparatus with extremely close gaps and will produce a series of interference fringes similar to that of a double slit. This investigation will use the track width of a CD to verify the experimental wavelength as the tracks on a CD behave similarly to a diffraction grating, in that it will cause multiple waves of light to diffract and interfere with each other. The knowledge of how to apply wave particle duality is especially useful in electron microscopy which utilizes small electron wavelengths to view miniscule objects which would otherwise be invisible to the-human-eye.

This document is 30 Exchange Credits