UNIT II: INTERFERENECE AND DIFFRACTION Sem I 2020-21

CONTENTS:
Interference-principle of superposition-young’s experiment: Theory of interference
fringes-types of interference-Fresnel’s prism-Newton’s rings, Diffraction-Two kinds of
diffraction-Difference between interference and diffraction-Fresnel’s half period zone and
zone plate-Fraunhofer diffraction at single slit-plane diffraction grating. Temporal and Spatial
Coherence.

___________________________________________________________________________

Part I:
INTERFERENCE OF LIGHT
“When two light waves superimpose, then the resultant amplitude/intensity in the region of
superposition is different than the amplitude of individual waves. This modification in the
distribution of intensity in the region of superposition is called interference.”

CONSTRUCTIVE INTERFERENCE
(WAVES IN PHASE)
=
DESTRUCTIVE INTERFERENCE

=
(WAVES OUT OF PHASE)

Conditions for sustained interference of light waves

• Two sources should continuously emit waves of same wavelength or frequency.
• The amplitudes of the two interfering waves should be equal or approximately equal
in order to reduce general illumination.
• The sources of light must be coherent sources.
• Two sources should be very narrow as a broad source is equivalent to large number of
narrow sources lying side by side which causes loss of interference pattern resulting
general illumination.
• Two sources emitting set of interfering beams must be placed very close to each other
so that wavelength interact at very small angles.

COHERENT SOURCES
▪ Two sources are said to be coherent if they emit light waves of the same
frequency, nearly the same amplitude and always have a constant phase
difference between them.
▪ Therefore, two sources must emit radiations of the same wavelength/color.
▪ In practice, it is impossible to have two independent sources which are coherent.
▪ For experimental purposes two virtual sources formed from a single source can act as
coherent sources.
 ▪ The two sources must be narrow and close to each other because the wavelengths of
light waves are extremely small (of the order of 10-7 m).

CONDITION FOR MAXIMA AND MINIMA:

▪ Maximum intensity of light is observed at a point where the phase difference
between the two waves reaching the point is a whole number multiple of 2π or the
path difference between the two waves is a whole number multiple of wavelength
(λ).

▪ Minimum intensity of light is observed at a point where the phase difference between
the two waves reaching the point is an odd number multiple of π or the path
difference between the two waves is an odd number multiple of half wavelength
(λ/2).

Relation between Phase Difference and Path Difference

▪ If the path difference between the two waves is λ, the corresponding phase difference
is 2π
▪ Hence, for path difference x, the phase difference δ = 2πx/λ
Or
Phase difference, δ = (path difference) * (2π/λ)

GENERATION OF COHERENT SOURCES

In practice, Coherent sources are obtained by following two methods:
(1) Division of Wavefront

▪ The wavefront originating from a source of light is divided into two parts which serves the
purpose of coherent sources.
▪ These two parts of the same wavefront travel unequal distances and reunite at some angle to
produce interference bands.
▪ E.g. Youngs’s double slit expt., Fresnel biprism.
▪ Path difference = ∆ = xd/D, where x is the distance between two consecutive bright/dark
fringes, d is the distance between two slits and D is the distance between source and screen.
▪ The spacing between any consecutive maxima or minima is expressed by fringe
width ().
 = D/d

(2) Division of Amplitude

▪ The amplitude of the beam is divided into two parts by partial reflection or refraction
methods.
▪ The waves corresponding to the divided parts travel different paths and hence produce
interference.
▪ E.g. Interference due to thin films, wedge shaped film interference, Newton’s rings.
▪ The path difference, ∆ = 2μtcosr, where t is the thickness of thin film, r is the angle of
reflection and μ is the refractive index of the material of film.
INTERFERENCE BY DIVISION OF WAVEFRONT
YOUNG’S DOUBLE SLIT EXPERIMENT
In 1801 Thomas Young demonstrated the phenomenon of interference in the laboratory with
a suitable arrangement. It is based on the principle of division of wavefront of interference.
The experiential arrangement consists of two narrow slits, S1 and S2 closely spaced,
illuminated by a monochromatic source of light S. A screen is placed at a distance D from the
slit to observe the interference pattern.

In the figure, d = Slit separation

D = Slit and screen separation

 = wavelength of light

y = distance of interfering point from the centre of slit

∆x = Path difference coming from the light S1 and S2

Optical path difference between the rays coming through S1 and S2

The alternative dark and bright patches obtained on the interference screen due to
superposition of light waves are known as fringe.
Condition for bright fringe
FRESNEL BIPRISM
▪ Fresnel biprism consist of two used a biprism to obtain coherent source to produce
Interference.
▪ The biprism consists of two prisms of very small refracting angles joined base to base.
▪ The biprism is made from a thin glass plate by grinding and polishing, so that it is a
single prism with one of the angles about 179o (obtuse angle) and the two about 30’
each (acute angle).

Experimental arrangement
• The biprism is mounted suitably on an optical bench
• A monochromatic light source such as sodium vapor lamp illuminates a vertical slit S.
• The biprism is placed in such a way that its refracting edge is parallel to the length of
the slit S.
• A cylindrical wavefront impinges on both prisms.
• The top portion of wavefront is refracted downwards and appears to have emanated
from the virtual image S1.
• The lower segments, falling on the lower part of the biprism is refracted upwards and
appears to have emanated from the virtual source S2.
• The virtual sources S1 and S2 are coherent.

P A
α
E

a b D
Condition for Bright Fringes
The condition for finding a bright fringe at P is that
S2P –S1P = m
This implies that
xd/D = m
where m is called order of the fringe. The bright fringe at the centre O corresponds to the m =
0 and called zero order fringes. The first order is m = 1, second order m = 2 … so on

Condition for dark Fringes

The condition for finding a dark fringes at P is that
S2P –S1P = (2m +1) /2
This implies that
xd/D = (2m +1) /2
The first order of dark fringe is m = 1, second order dark fringe m = 2…

Separation between Neighboring Bright Fringes

The mth order bright fringes occurs when
𝑚𝜆𝐷
𝑥𝑚 = 𝑑

and the (m+1)th order bright fringe occur when

 (𝑚 + 1)𝜆𝐷
𝑥𝑚+1 =
𝑑
𝜆𝐷
The bright fringe separation  = 𝑥𝑚+1 − 𝑥𝑚 = 𝑑

The same result will be obtained for dark fringes. Thus, neighbouring bright and dark fringes
are separated by the same amount everywhere on the screen. The separation  is called the
fringe width.
The width of the dark or bright fringe is given by equation
𝜆𝐷
= 𝑑

Where D = (a+b) is the distance of the souce from the eye-piece.

NEWTON’S RING
EXPLANATION OF THE FORMATION OF THE RINGS
• Newton’s rings are formed due to
interference between the two rays 1’ and 1’’
as a result of reflection from the top and
bottom surfaces of the air film formed
between the lens and the plate.
• Monochromatic ray 1 of light falls normally
on the lens-plate sustem at the point A.
• At the point B on the glass-air boundary, the
light gets partially reflected out as ray 1’ without any phase change.
• The remaining part is refracted along BC and reflected at the point C with a phase
change of π radians and emerges out as ray 1’’.
• The two reflected rays are derived from the same ray 1 and hence produce
interference.
• For a very small wedge angle θ, and for normal incidence, r = 0, the path difference
between the two reflected waves 1’ and 1’’ is [2μt +λ/2]
• At the point of contact t = 0, so the path difference is (λ/2).
• This is the condition for minimum intensity and hence the central spot is dark.
• The condition for nth maxima is
2μt +λ/2 = nλ, n = 1,2,3…….
Calculation of diameter of Newton’s rings by reflected light
• To calculate the diameter of dark and bright rings,
consider GCH to be the plano-convex lens placed on a
glass plate AB.
• Let R be the radius of curvature of the lens.
 • Point C is the point of contact between plate AB and lens GCH
• Regions GCA and HCB is the wedge-shape circular air film.
• Newton’s rings are formed due to this air film.
• Let r be the radius of Newton’s rings corresponding to constant film thickness t, the
locus of which forms a locus of points of a circle with centre on point C.
• Now from the property of circle,
IE x IF = IC x ID
• But IE = IF = r, radius of the rings,
IC = t and ID = 2R –t
• Therefore, r x r = t x (2R – t)
r2 = 2Rt – t2
r2 = 2Rt [ t <<< R and hence t2 can be neglected compared to 2Rt]

• Now if Dn is the diameter of the nth ring, Dn = 2r

• Therefore, Dn2/4 = 2Rt Or 2t = Dn2/4R
For Bright Rings For Dark Rings
2μt = (2n -1)λ/2 2μt = n λ
Dn2/4R = (2n -1)λ/2μ Dn2/4R = nλ/μ
Dn2 = (2n -1).2λR/μ Dn2 = 4nλR/μ
Dn α √2n-1 Dn α √n
Dn α √λ Dn α √λ
Dn α √R Dn α √R

▪ This shows that the diameter of the rings is proportional to square root of λ and R.
▪ Also the diameter of bright and dark rings is proportional to √2n-1 and √n respectively.
▪ Therefore the diameter of the bright rings reduces faster than dark rings.
▪ So as the order of rings increases, thinner and sharper rings are obtained.
Application of Newton’s Ring Experiment
1) TO DETERMINE WAVELENGTH OR RADIUS OF CURVATURE OF LENS:
Let the diameter of nth and ( n+m )th dark rings are Dn and Dn+m
Dn2 = 4nλR and D (n+m) 2 = 4(n+m)λR
D (n+m) 2 - Dn2 = 4(n+m)λR - 4nλR = 4mλR
λ = [D (n+m) 2 - Dn2]/ 4mλR and R = [D (n+m) 2 - Dn2]/ 4mλ
2) TO DETERMINE THE REFRACTIVE INDEX ( μ) OF A LIQUID
In air medium, let the diameter of nth and (n+m )th dark rings are Dn and Dn+m
Dn2 = 4nλR and D (n+m) 2 = 4(n+m)λR
 D (n+m) 2 - Dn2 = 4(n+m)λR - 4nλR = 4mλR
Now, let the diameter of dark rings with liquid of refractive index μ be
dn2 = 4nλR/μ and d(n+m)2 = 4(n+m)λR/μ
d(n+m)2 - dn2 = 4mλR/μ

μ = [D (n+m) 2 - Dn2]/[ d(n+m)2 - dn2]

NEWTON’S RINGS WITH WHITE LIGHT
• If we use white light like a mercury source, colored rings are obtained.
• In this case, the diameters of different rings are different for different colors as it
depends on √λ.
• So the first few colored rings are seen clearly, after which overlapping of colors
occurs and the rings cannot be seen distinctly.

Part II: DIFFRACTION

▪ If we look clearly at the shadow cast by an opaque object, close to the region of
geometrical shadow, there are alternate dark and bright regions just like in interference.
▪ This happens due to the phenomenon of diffraction.
▪ Diffraction is a general characteristic exhibited by all types of waves, be it sound
waves, light waves, water waves or matter waves.
▪ Since the wavelength of light is much smaller than the dimensions of most obstacles;
we do not encounter diffraction effects of light in everyday observations.
▪ However, the finite resolution of our eye or of optical instruments such as telescopes or
microscopes is limited due to the phenomenon of diffraction.
▪ Indeed, the colors that you see when a CD is viewed is due to diffraction effects.
Definition:
When light falls on obstacles or small apertures whose size is comparable with
wavelength of light, there is a deviation from straight line, the light bends around the
corner of the obstacle/aperture and enters in geometrical shadow. This bending of light
is called DIFFRACTION.
OR
The bending of light waves around the edge of any obstacle/aperture whose size is
comparable to the wavelength of light is called DIFFRACTION.
The necessary condition to observe a good diffraction pattern is that the size of the
aperture (slit) should be comparable to the wavelength of the incident light

Two Kinds of Diffraction

Diffraction phenomenon can be classified into following two general classes:

FRESNEL’S DIFFRACTION FRAUNHOFER’S DIFFRACTION

▪ The source and the screen are ▪ The source and the screen are
placed at finite distances from the placed at infinity or optically at
aperture of the obstacle having infinity.
sharp edges. ▪ The incident wavefront is plane.
▪ The incident wavefronts are either
spherical or cylindrical.

Difference between Interference and Diffraction

INTERFERENCE DIFFRACTION
1. The interaction takes place between 1. The interaction takes place between
two separate wavefronts arising the secondary wavelets originating
from two coherent sources. from different points of the exposed
2. In interference pattern the regions of parts of the same wavefront.
minimum intensity are perfectly 2. In diffraction pattern the regions of
dark. minimum intensity are not perfectly
3. The interference fringes are equally dark.
spaced. 3. The diffraction fringes are never
4. In interference pattern all bright equally spaced.
fringes are of equal intensity. 4. In diffraction pattern only first
maximum has maximum intensity and
the intensity decreases fast as the
order of maxima increases.

Reason for diffraction pattern (Huygens -Fresnel principle)

• Diffraction occurs due to the interference of secondary wavelet.

• The portion of wavefront that is incident on the opaque portion
of the screen is obstructed while the portion of wavefront that is
allowed to pass through the aperture.
• Every point on this portion of the wavefront acts as a center of
secondary wavelets.
• Constructing the envelop of these secondary wavelets, wave
spreads into the region of geometric shadow bending around
the edges of the aperture.
FRAUNHOFER DIFFRACTION AT SINGLE SLIT
▪ Let us assume that a plane wave is incident normally on the slit with width b and the
intensity distribution on the focal plane of lens L is to be calculated.
▪ The slit is considered to have a large number of equally spaced point sources A1, A2,
A3…..and each point on the slit is a source of Huygen’s secondary wavelets which
interfere with the wavelets emanating from other points.
▪ Let the distance between two consecutive points be ∆.

▪ For an incident plane wave, the points A1, A2….. are in phase and, therfore the
additional path traversed by the disturbance emanating from the point A2 will be
A2A2’ where A2’ is the foot of perpendicular drawn from A1 on A2B2.
▪ If the diffracted rays make an angle θ with the normal to the slit then the path
difference would be
A2A2’ = ∆sin θ
2𝜋
Corresponding Phase difference is, ∅= ∆𝑠𝑖𝑛𝜃
𝛌

The intensity distribution for diffraction through single

slit is given by
𝑠𝑖𝑛2 𝛽
𝐼 = 𝐼0 𝛽2

𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝐼0 𝑟𝑒𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑎𝑡 𝜃 = 0

𝜋𝑏𝑠𝑖𝑛𝜃
𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝛽 = 𝛌

Positions of Maxima and Minima

The figure shows the variation of the intensity with β.
 From the intensity equation, the intensity becomes zero when
𝛽 = 𝑚𝜋, 𝑚 ≠ 0
𝜋𝑏𝑠𝑖𝑛𝜃
Substituting the value of 𝛽 𝑖𝑛 𝛽 = 𝛌

We obtain, bsinθ = m 𝝀 ; m = ±1, ±2, ±3 … . . (𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑚𝑎)

This is the condition for minima.
In order to obtain the condition for maxima, we can differentiate the intensity equation
with respect to β and set it equal to zero
𝑑𝐼 2𝑠𝑖𝑛𝛽𝑐𝑜𝑠𝛽 2𝑠𝑖𝑛2 𝛽
= 𝐼0 [ − ]=0
𝑑𝛽 𝛽2 𝛽3

Or 𝑠𝑖𝑛𝛽[𝛽 − 𝑡𝑎𝑛𝛽] = 0
The condition sinβ =0 or β = mπ corresponds to minima.
The condition for maxima are roots of the equation tanβ = β

FRAUNHOFER DIFFRACTION AT DOUBLE SLIT

▪ Consider the Fraunhoffer diffraction pattern produced by two parallel slits, each of
width b and separated by distance d.
▪ The resultant intensity distribution is a
product of the single slit diffraction
pattern and the interference pattern
produced by two-point sources
separated by a distance d.
▪ The intensity distribution due to
diffraction can be calculated by similar
method used for the case of single slit.

▪ The intensity distribution will be in the

form
𝑠𝑖𝑛2 𝛽
𝐼 = 4𝐼0 2
𝑐𝑜𝑠 2 𝛾
𝛽
𝑠𝑖𝑛2 𝛽
where 𝐼0 represents the intensity, distribution produces by one of the slits
𝛽2
∅1 𝜋
and 𝛾 = = 𝑑𝑠𝑖𝑛𝜃
2 𝛌

▪ It can be seen from the equation that the intensity distribution is the product of two
𝑠𝑖𝑛2 𝛽
terms; the first term ( ) represents the diffraction pattern produced by a single slit
𝛽2
of width b and second term 𝑐𝑜𝑠 2 𝛾 represents the interference pattern produced by two
point sources separated by a distance d.
 Positions for Maxima and Minima
▪ The path difference between the two diffracted beams emanating from the first slit is:

∆= bsinθ
▪ If the path difference is odd number multiple of λ/2, then θ will give direction of
diffraction maxima.
▪ So the condition for diffraction maxima is :

bsinθ = (2m – 1)λ/2 where m = 0,1,2,3……

▪ If the path difference is whole number multiple of λ, then θ will give direction of
diffraction minima.
▪ So the condition for diffraction minima is :

bsinθ = mλ where m = 1,2,3………except zero.

FRAUNHOFER DIFFRACTION AT N- SLITS

▪ Let us consider the diffraction pattern produced
by N parallel slits, each of width b; the distance
between two consecutive slits is assumed to be
d.
▪ We assume that each slit consist of n equally
spaced point sources with spacing ∆ as shown
in figure.
 ▪ The intensity distribution will be in the form
𝑠𝑖𝑛2 𝛽 𝑠𝑖𝑛2 𝑁𝛾
𝐼 = 𝐼0
𝛽2 𝑠𝑖𝑛2 𝛾
𝑠𝑖𝑛2 𝛽
where 𝐼0 represents the intensity, distribution produces by one of the
𝛽2
slits.
▪ It can be seen from the equation that the intensity distribution is the product of two
𝑠𝑖𝑛2 𝛽
terms; the first term ( ) represents the diffraction pattern produced by a single slit
𝛽2
𝑠𝑖𝑛2 𝑁𝛾
of width b and second term represents the interference pattern produced by N
𝑠𝑖𝑛2 𝛾
equally spaced point sources separated by a distance d.

Positions of Maxima amd Minima

When the value of N is very large, one obtains intense maxima at 𝛾 ≅ 𝑚𝜋, i.e., when
(𝑎 + 𝑏)𝑠𝑖𝑛𝜃 = 𝑚λ ( m = 0, 1,2…)
Such maxima are known as principal maxima. Physically, at these maxima the fields
produced by each of the slits are in phase, and therefore, they add and the resultant field is N
times the field produced by each of the slits.
The position of minima will be when (𝑎 + 𝑏)𝑠𝑖𝑛𝜃 = 𝑛λ ( n = 1,2…) or

The angles of diffraction corresponding to the above equation are

𝝀 𝟐𝝀 (𝟐𝑵 + 𝟐)𝝀
(𝑎 + 𝑏)𝑠𝑖𝑛𝜃 = , ,
𝑁 𝑁 𝑁

Thus, between two principal maxima we have (N-1) minima. Between two such consecutive
minima the intensity has to have a maximum; thee maxima are known as secondary maxima.
DIFFRACTION GRATING

▪ Diffraction Grating is an arrangement consisting of a large number of parallel

slits of same width separated by equal opaque spaces.
▪ Gratings are fabricated by ruling equidistant parallel lines on a glass plate with the help
of a fine diamond point.
▪ The lines act as opaque spaces and the incident light cannot pass through them.
▪ The space between the two lines is transparent to light and acts as a slit.

CHARACTERISTICS OF GRATING
Grating Spectrum
▪ For N slit diffraction pattern we have seen that the positions of the principal maxima
are given by
(𝒂 + 𝒃)𝒔𝒊𝒏𝜽 = 𝒏λ ( n = 0, 1,2…)
▪ This relation is called as Grating Equation
▪ It can be used to study the dependence of the angle of diffraction θ on the wavelength
λ
▪ The zeroth principal maximum occurs at θ = 0 irrespective of the wavelength.
▪ If we are using a polychromatic source (white light) then the central maximum will be
of the same colour as the source itself.
▪ For m other than zero the angles of diffraction are differenct for different wavelengths
and therefore, various spectral components appear at different positions.
▪ Thus by measuring the angles of diffraction for various colors one can determine the
values of the wavelengths.

Dispersive power of the Grating

The dispersive power of grating is defined as:
“The rate at which the angle of diffraction varies with wavelength”.
The factor (dθ/dλ) is called the dispersive power for that order.
▪ The diffraction of the nth order principal maximum for a wavelength λ is:

(a+b)sinθ = nλ

where: (a+b) is the grating element

n is the order of diffraction
θ is the angle of diffraction
▪ Differentiating the above equation w.r.t. λ, we get,

(a+b)cosθ dθ = ndλ
𝒅𝜽 𝒏
=
𝒅𝝀 (𝒂 + 𝒃)𝒄𝒐𝒔𝜽
Resolving Power of the Grating
The Resolving power of grating is defined as:
“The ratio of the wavelength of any spectral line to the difference in the
wavelength between this line and a neighboring line such that the two lines appear to be
just resolved”.
Thus, the resolving power of grating = order of spectrum x total number of lines on grating
𝝀
Therefore, Resolving power, = nλ
𝒅𝝀

APPLICATIONS OF DIFFRACTION GRATING

Diffraction gratings are useful whenever light needs to be separated into its separate
frequencies (or wavelengths), for example in spectroscopy. They are an essential item in
spectroscopy in astronomy, where so much information is gained by analysing spectra from
stars, etc.
Diffraction gratings can be used to produce monochromatic light of a required wavelength.

Another use is “wavelength tuning” in lasers. The laser output can be varied using a
diffraction grating.

FRESNEL DIFFRACTION

Half period zone

The space enclosed between two consecutive circles which are differing by phase of π or by a
path difference of /2 or a time period of T/2 is known as half period zone. As it was first
observed by Fresnel, these are also known as Fresnel half period zone.

Construction
To construct the half period zone let us consider a plane wave front of monochromatic source
of light having wavelength λ coming from left to right. Let “P” be a point just ahead of the
plane wave front at a perpendicular distance “b” from the plane wavefront. Taking “P” as
centre and radii equal to OM1= r1,OM2= r2,OM3= r3...OMn= rn let us divide the plane wave

front into large number of concentric circles such that light coming from each consecutive
half period zone will differ by a phase difference of λ/2 . These alternative circles, which are
now differing by a phase change of π, are known as half period zone. These half period zones
are known as Fresnel half period zone. The Fresnel’s first half period zone is brighter than
that of a second half period zone and the two half period zone are differ by a phase change of
π.
The Fresnel Zone Plate
Zone plate is a specially designed transparent plate on which circles, whose
radii are proportional to the square roots of the natural numbers 1,2,3… are
drawn according to the theory of Fresnel’s half period zones. The alternate
annular zones thus formed are blocked i.e. made opaque so as to cut off light
due to even numbered zones or that due to odd numbered zones. Such a plate
behaves like a convex lens and produces an image of a source of light at a
suitable distance. It provide an experimental confirmation of Fresnel’s theory of
half-period zones.

Types of plates of half period zone

Negative zone plate: A zone plate in which even zones are transparent and odd zones are
opaque is known as a negative zone plate Fig(a).

Positive zone plate: A zone plate in which odd zones are transparent and even zones are
opaque is known as a positive zone plate Fig(b).
Comparison between the zone plate and the convex lens

Convex Lens Zone plate

• Convex lens works on the principle of • Zone plates work on the principle of
refraction of light. diffraction.

• The focal length f of the convex lens is • The focal length of zone plate is given by
given by 1/f=(μ-1)(1/R_1 +1/R_2 ), where f= (r_n^2)/nλ , where rn is the radius of
μ is the refractive index of the material of the nth zone and λ the wavelength of light
the lens and R1, R2 the radii of curvature used.
of the two surfaces of the lens.
• The focal length is inversely proportional
• The focal length of a lens is directly to wavelength i.e. focal length for violet
proportional to the wavelength λ i.e. the is more than that of red. (fr < fv)
focal length of a lens is more for red than
that of violet. (fr > fv) • Light from consecutive zones will only
reach the focus one period later.
• The rays of light from different parts of
the lens reach the focus at the same time. • It produces a number of images of the
object. The intensity of the images goes
• A lens produces only one image on an on decreasing as the distance between the
object. screen and zone plate deceases.

Temporal and spatial coherence

• The important condition to observe interference is coherence.
• Coherence means that two or more electromagnetic waves of the same frequency,
nearly the same amplitude and always have a constant phase difference between them.
 • In general the phase between two electromagnetic waves can vary from point to point
(in space) or change from instant to instant (in time). Therefore, there are two times of
coherence (Temporal and Spatial coherence)
• Temporal coherence: This type of coherence refers to the correlation between the field
at a point and the field at the same point at a later time. i.e. the relation between
E(x,y,z,t1) and E(x,y,z,t2). If the phase difference changes many times and in an
irregular way during the shortest period of observation the wave is said to be non-
coherent. Also known as Longitudinal Coherence.
• Spatial coherence: the waves at different points in space are said to be space coherent,
if they preserve a constant difference over any time t. This is possible even when two
beams are individually time incoherent, as long as any phase change in one of the
beams is accompanied by a simultaneous equal phase change in the other beam. Also
known as Transverse Coherence.
• Time coherence is a characteristic of a single beam of light whereas space coherence
concerns the relationship between two separate beams of light.

Coherence time ad Coherence Length

• Coherence time is defined as the longest time interval over which the phase undergoes
change in a regular way.
• Coherence length: Coherence length (lcoh) is defined as the spatial extent over which
the wave train has predictable phase.
lcoh = cΔt
Relationship between coherence length and frequency bandwidth
The coherence time is the reciprocal of the bandwidth. The coherence time is given by:

where ∆υ is the light bandwidth (the width of the spectrum). Sunlight is temporally very
incoherent because its bandwidth is very large (the entire visible spectrum). Lasers can have
coherence times as long as about a second, which is amazing; that‘ s >1014 cycles!
Relationship Between coherence Length and frequency bandwidth
The coherence time is the reciprocal of the bandwidth. The coherence time is given by:

where ∆υ is the light bandwidth (the width of the spectrum). Sunlight is temporally very
incoherent because its bandwidth is very large (the entire visible spectrum). Lasers can have
coherence times as long as about a second, which is amazing; that‘ s >1014 cycles!

Part III: POLARIZATION

Introduction
• Oscillating one end of a string up and down generates a transverse wave. Each point
of the string executes a sinusoidal oscillation in a straight line. Such a wave is known
as LINEALY POLARIZED WAVE or PLANE POLARIZED WAVE since string is
confined to one plane.

• If the string is rotated on the circumference of a circle then each point of the string
will move in a circular path. Such a wave is called circularly polarized wave.
• Consider that the string is allowed to pass through two slits S1 and S2.
• The propagation of the wave is possible only when the slit S1 is parallel to the
transverse vibrations.
• If the vibrations are made in all possible directions perpendicular to the direction of
propagation, then, only those vibrations which are parallel to slit S1 will pass through
and remaining are stopped.

• Similarly, all vibrations will pass through slit S2 when it is parallel to S1. But if S2 is
perpendicular to S1 then they are stopped.
• If a longitudinal wave is allowed to propagate through the slits, then the amplitude of
transmitted wave would be same for all orientations of the slits. This is because
longitudinal waves are symmetrical about the direction of propagation.
• The transverse wave between S1 and S2 is affected by the rotation of slits because it
is unsymmetrical about the direction.
• Thus, the change in the amplitude of the transmitted wave with the orientation of the
slit is due to the transverse character of wave.
POLARIZATION OF LIGHT
• Light waves are transverse waves consisting of electric and magnetic fields vibrating
perpendicular to each other and to the direction of propagation.
• The vibrating electric field vector and the direction of propagation of wave constitute
a plane.

• In an ideal light wave, the vibrations of electric vector are confined to a single plane.
The light from the source (for example a bulb) emits a mixture of light waves whose
planes of vibration are randomly oriented about the direction of propagation.
• Such random orientation of vibration planes gives rise to symmetry about the wave
propagation direction. As a result, the transverse nature of wave gets concealed.
• Let us consider that an ordinary light beam is allowed to pass through a pair of
Polaroids (Polaroid is a plastic like material used for producing polarized light) A and
B with their planes at right angles to the direction of propagation of light. Only a part
of the incident light is transmitted as shown in fig a, and the intensity is maximum in
this position.

• If Polaroid A is rotated about the direction of propagation of light, no change is

observed in the character of transmitted light.
• When Polaroid B is rotated gradually, the intensity reduces and becomes minimum
when B becomes normal to A (fig b).
• Thus, when two polaroids are parallel to each other intensity is maximum (full
transmission), when they are perpendicular to each other the intensity becomes
minimum (no transmission) and for all other positions (fig c) the intensity is
intermediate (partial transmission).
 • This demonstrates that light is a transverse wave, i.e., the displacement associated
with a light wave is at right angles to the direction of propagation of the wave.
• The Polaroid A acts as a polarizer and the transmitted beam is linearly polarized. The
Polaroid B acts as an analyzer.

Polarization Definition
• From the above analysis we can say that light after passing through the first Polaroid
A is not symmetrical about the direction of propagation and its vibrations are confined
only to single line in a plane perpendicular to the direction of propagation.
• Light which has acquired the property of one-sidedness is called POLARIZED
LIGHT.
• The phenomena of asymmetry of vibrations about the direction of propagation
is called POLARIZATION
OR
• The process of removing the symmetry and bringing in one-sidedness is called
POLARIZATION.
• When the vibrations are confined along a single direction at right angles to the
direction of propagation the light is said to be PLANE POLARIZED.
• If the vibrations are along a circle it is called CIRCULARLY POLARIZED LIGHT.
• If the vibrations are along an ellipse it is called ELLIPTICALLY POLARIZED
LIGHT.

Comparision between unpolarized and polarized light

Unpolarized light Polarized light

The light waves that have vibrations The light waves that have vibrations
occurring within them at random angles occurring within them in a single plane.
without any plane.
The phase difference does not exist, and The x– and y– components connected to
the changes in the electric field take place the electric field have a constant phase
at random speeds. difference between them.
Produced by conventional light sources. Is to be obtained from unpolarized light
with the help of polarizers
It is represented by It is represented by
Plane of Polarization
The plane of polarization is the plane
perpendicular to the plane of vibration which
contains the direction of propagation of light
but no vibrations at all. It is shown in the
figure.

MALUS’ LAW (Intensity of light

transmitted by analyzer)
Statement: When completely plane polarized light is incident on the analyzer, the
intensity I of the light transmitted by the analyzer is directly proportional to
the square of the cosine of angle between the transmission axes of the analyzer
and the polarizer.
i.e I ∞ cos2θ

• Suppose the angle between the transmission axes of the

analyzer and the polarizer is θ.
• The completely plane polarized light form the polarizer is
incident on the analyzer.
• If E0 is the amplitude of the electric vector transmitted by
the polarizer, then intensity I0 of the light incident on the
analyzer is

I ∞ E02

• The electric field vector E0 can be resolved into two rectangular components i.e
E0 cosθ and E0sinθ.
• The analyzer will transmit only the component ( i.e E0 cosθ ) which is parallel to its
transmission axis.
• However, the component E0sinθ will be absorbed by the analyser.
• Therefore, the intensity I of light transmitted by the analyzer is,
I ∞ ( E0 x cosθ )2
I / I0 = ( E0 x cosθ )2 / E02 = cos2θ
I = I0 x cos2θ
Therefore, I ∞ cos2θ.
• When θ = 0° ( or 180° ), I = I0 cos20° = I0
• That is the intensity of light transmitted by the analyzer is maximum when the
transmission axes of the analyzer and the polarizer are parallel.
• When θ = 90°, I = I0 cos290° = 0.
• That is the intensity of light transmitted by the analyzer is minimum when the
transmission axes of the analyzer and polarizer are perpendicular to each other.
PRODUCTION OF POLARZED LIGHT
Plane polarized light may be produced from unpolarised light using the following optical
phenomena:
1. Reflection
2. Double refraction
3. Scattering
4. Selective absorption

1. Polarization by Reflection

• Polarized light is the vibration of light in single plane.

• The process required to polarize the unpolarized light is known as polarization.
• The simplest method of producing the polarized light is by reflecting it from the
surface.
• In the process of polarization by using reflection of light phenomenon, the
unpolarized light is reflected from the non metallic surface.
• The amount of polarization then will depend on the angle of incidence of the light
and the composition of the material used for the reflecting surface.
• Metallic surfaces reflect light in various planes of vibrations; hence, the light will
continue in its unpolarized state.
• Non metallic planes will reflect most of the vibrations at a single plane parallel to
the plane of incidence.
• Malus discovered that when a beam of ordinary light is reflected from the surface
of transparent media like glass or water, it gets polarized. The degree of
polarization varies with angle of incidence.
• Consider a beam of unpolarized light AB, incident at any angle on the reflecting
glass surface XY.
• Vibrations in AB which are parallel to the plane of the diagram are shown by
arrows. The vibrations which are perpendicular to the plane of the diagram and
parallel to the reflecting surface, shown by dots in the following fig.
• A part of the light is reflected along BC, and the rest is refracted along BD.
• On examining the reflected beam with an analyzer, it is found that the ray is
partially plane polarized.
• When the light is allowed to be incident at a particular angle, (for glass it is 57.5 O)
the reflected beam is completely plane polarised. The angle of incidence at which
the reflected beam is completely plane polarised is called the polarising angle (ip).
 • The mathematical expression of the polarising angle (ip) is given as
• Θ = Θp = tan-1 (n2 / n1), where n1 and n2 are the refractive indices of rare and denser
medium respectively.
• Thus if unpolarized beam is incident at this angle, then the reflected beam will be
linearly polarized with its electric vector perpendicular to the plane of incidence.
• Above equation is also referred to as the Brewster’s law.
• At this angle of incidence, the reflected and transmitted rays are at right angles to each
other.
• Thus angle Θp is known as polarizing angle or Brewster’s angle.

2. Polarization by Double Refraction

• This is another process of obtaining polarized light from unpolarized light.
• It has been found that, some transparent crystals, such as calcite and quartz, have the
property that when one views an object through them one sees two images of the
object.
• If one passes a narrow beam of light through them, the refracted beam is split into two
parts which travel through the crystal and emerge as two separate beams. Please refer
to the fig. given below.
• One of the beams obeys the ordinary laws of refraction and is called the ordinary ray.
The other beam is called the extraordinary ray.
• The extraordinary ray does not always lie in the plane of incidence. Its speed, and
consequently its index of refraction, depends on its direction of propagation through
the crystal.
• If one analyzes the two beams with a Polaroid analyzer, one discovers that the two
beams are both polarized, but that the directions of their vibrations are at right angles
to each other. Refer to the fig. given below.
• If the arrangement of atoms in the calcite crystal is examined in a plane perpendicular
to the optical axis, the atoms are found to be symmetrically distributed. If one
examines them for any other plane, this is not the case. Both the optical and electrical
properties are found to vary in different directions in the crystal.
• Double refraction occurs in all crystals except those displaying cubic symmetry.

• There is one particular direction in a doubly refracting crystal in which the ordinary
ray and the extraordinary ray 1) do not separate and, in addition, 2) travel with the
same speed.
• This particular direction in the crystal is known as the optic axis of the crystal. (The
optic axis is a direction, not a line. All lines parallel to an optic axis are also optic
axes.)
• There are also other directions in which the two rays do not separate, but in these
cases, the two rays travel with different speeds. These directions that we speak of are
those directions perpendicular to the optic axis.
 • In Fig. (number), it is shown the ordinary and extraordinary Huygens wavelets
expanding from a point source within a doubly refracting crystal. (The diagram
depicts a two dimensional slice of the spherical and ellipsoidal wavelets expanding in
three dimensional space.)
• Figure a shows the wave fronts for the ordinary and extraordinary rays when traveling
in the direction of the optic axis. Note that the two rays travel at the same speed on the
same path.
• Figure b shows the wave fronts for the two rays when traveling perpendicular to the
optic axis. Note that they travel the same path, but at different speeds.
• Figure c shows the wave fronts for the two rays when traveling at an arbitrary angle to
the optic axis. Note that in this case they travel different paths at different speeds.

3. Polarization by Scattering

• Light can be polarized by scattering from small particles or molecules.

• The blue light of the sky caused by scattering from particles or molecules whose
diameter is on the order of magnitude of the wavelength of visible light is partially
polarized.
• This can be confirmed by looking at the sky through a
sheet of Polaroid. When one rotates the sheet, the intensity
of the transmitted light changes and becomes a minimum
when the axis of the sheet is at right angles to the direction
of vibration of the light.
• One can demonstrate polarization by scattering by sending
unpolarized light down a tube of water containing fine
particles in suspension. See Fig.
• Light scattered in any horizontal direction is linearly
polarized in the horizontal plane. Light scattered in the x
direction has its vibrations in the y direction, light scattered in the y direction has its
vibrations in the x direction.
 • Explanation. The direction of vibration of the incident light is in the horizontal plane.
The varying electrical field of the incident light causes the electrons of the substance
to vibrate in the horizontal plane. These electrons reradiate the energy absorbed from
the incident light, so the direction of polarization of the scattered light must be
horizontal.

4. Polarization by Selective Absorption

• This is another simple method of obtaining polarized light.

• A number of crystalline materials absorb more light in one incident plane than
another, so that light progressing through the material become more and more
polarized as they proceed.
• This anisotropy in absorption is called dichroism.
• Some crystals, such as tourmaline, will absorb those vibrations that are perpendicular
to the axis of the crystal and transmit those vibrations that are parallel to the axis.
• If a beam of light is sent through a thin plate of tourmaline, the transmitted beam will
be linearly polarized in the direction parallel to the crystal axis.
• If this linearly polarized beam is then passed through a second tourmaline plate whose
axis is at right angles to the axis of the first, no light will pass through the second
crystal.
• If the second crystal is rotated so that its axis is parallel to the axis of the first crystal,
the polarized beam will pass through the second crystal.
• At intermediate positions the intensity of the transmitted beam will be smaller than
that transmitted when the axes are parallel.
• Polariscope. Two crystals of tourmaline used in the above way form the essence of a
polariscope.
• The first crystal is called the polarizer. It serves the function of polarizing the light.
The second crystal is called the analyzer.
• When the crystal axis of the analyzer is at right angles to that of the polarizer, no light
passes through the analyzer. See following fig (number). A polariscope can also be
made from two sheets of Polaroid.
TYPES OF POLARIZATION
1) Plane polarized light
• Light is nothing but
electromagnetic radiation.
• Electromagnetic radiation, as the
name implies, involves the
propagation of both electric and
magnetic fields.
• At each point in an ordinary light
beam, there is a component electric
field and a component magnetic
field, which are perpendicular to
each other and oscillate in all directions perpendicular to the direction in which the
beam propagates.
• In plane-polarized light the component electric field oscillates as in ordinary light,
except that the direction of oscillation is contained within a single plane.
Likewise, the component magnetic field oscillates within a plane, the planes in
question being perpendicular to each other.
• In other words, Plane polarised light is a term used to describe the polarisation
state of the light. Polarised light is light that vibrates in a single direction.
• Some materials have the ability to screen out all the vibrations apart from those in
one single plane and so produce plane polarised light. Such materials are known as
polarizer.

2) Circular Polarization

• Circular polarization of an
electromagnetic wave is a
polarization state in which, at
each point, the electric field of
the wave has a constant
 magnitude but its direction rotates with time at a steady rate in a plane
perpendicular to the direction of the wave.
• In electrodynamics the strength and direction of an electric field is defined by its
electric field vector.
• In the case of a circularly polarized wave, the tip of the electric field vector, at a
given point in space, describes a circle as time progresses.
• At any instant of time, the electric field vector of the wave describes a helix along
the direction of propagation.
• A circularly polarized wave can be in one of two possible states, right circular
polarization in which the electric field vector rotates in a right-hand sense with
respect to the direction of propagation, and left circular polarization in which the
vector rotates in a left-hand sense.
• The electric field vectors have a constant magnitude but their direction changes in
a rotary manner. Given that this is a plane wave, each vector represents the
magnitude and direction of the electric field for an entire plane that is
perpendicular to the axis.
• Specifically, given that this is a circularly polarized plane wave, these vectors
indicate that the electric field, from plane to plane, has a constant strength while its
direction steadily rotates.
• Since this is an electromagnetic wave each electric field vector has a
corresponding, but not illustrated, magnetic field vector that is at a right angle to
the electric field vector and proportional in magnitude to it. As a result, the
magnetic field vectors would trace out a second helix if displayed.
• Circular polarization is often encountered in the field of optics and in this section,
the electromagnetic wave will be simply referred to as light.

3) Elliptical Polarization
• Elliptical polarization is the polarization of
electromagnetic radiation such that the tip
of the electric field vector describes an
ellipse in any fixed plane intersecting, and
normal to, the direction of propagation.
• An elliptically polarized wave may be
resolved into two linearly polarized waves
in phase quadrature, with their polarization
planes at right angles to each other.
• The electric field can rotate clockwise or
counterclockwise as it propagates.
• Other forms of polarization, such as
circular and linear polarization, can be
considered to be special cases of elliptical
polarization.
• Elliptical polarization means the electric field vector is rotating in a plane
perpendicular to the direction of propagation as it travels. Also the magnitude of
the electric field vector changes as it rotates.
OPTICAL ACTIVITY
• Optical activity or Optical rotation (sometimes referred to as rotary polarization) is the
rotation of the plane of polarization of linearly polarized light as it travels through
certain materials.
• Optical activity occurs only in chiral materials, those lacking microscopic mirror
symmetry.
• Optical activity can be observed in fluids. This can include gases or solutions of chiral
molecules such as sugars, molecules with helical secondary structure such as some
proteins, and also chiral liquid crystals.
• Materials which show this phenomenon are called optically active substances.
• The amount of optical rotation depends upon the thickness and density of the crystal,
concentration of solutions, temperature and wavelength of light used.
• It is found that the action of turning the plane of vibration occurs within the optically
active medium and not at surfaces.
• There are two types of optically active substances
• 1) Right-Handed or Dextro-Rotatory: These are the substances that rotate the plane of
polarization in the clockwise direction as seen by an observer facing the emergent
light are said to be right-handed or dextro-rotatory.
• 1) Left-Handed or Laevo-Rotatory: These are the substances that rotate the plane of
polarization in the anticlockwise direction as seen by an observer facing the emergent
light are said to be left-handed or laevoo-rotatory.
• It is found that some quartz crystals are dextro-rotatory while others are laevo-
rotatory. These are denoted by d-quartz and l-quartz respectively according to the
sense of rotation which they produce.
 • As shown in the above fig., a plane polarised light is incident on a quartz crystal with
its plane of vibration parallel to its optic axis.
• As the plane polarized light travels inside the quartz crystal, its plane of vibration is
slowly rotated about the direction of propagation.
• Thus in the emergent beam, the vibrations are in some other plane.
• The angle of rotation (θ) produced by an optically active substance is proportional to
its thickness (l) traversed.
• For solutions and vapours, the angle of rotation for a given path length is proportional
to the concentration (C) of the solution of vapour.
SPECIFIC ROTATION
▪ At a particular temperature for a given wavelength of light, the specific rotation of a
substance is defined as the rotation of the plane of vibration of polarized length
produced by one decimetre length of its solution when the concentration is one gm per
cc.
𝜽
▪ Thus, the specific rotation 𝑺 = 𝒍𝑪
Where θ is the angle of rotation in degrees, l is the length of the solution in decimetre
C is the concentration of solution in gm/cc.

APPLICATIONS OF POLARIZATION
• To differentiate between longitudinal and transverse waves.
• It is used in sun glasses by fishermen, sportsmen, skiers to cut off unwanted
reflections.
• In driving, light reflected from the road surface and from the painted or glass surface
of other automobiles is also partially polarized.
 • In geology, polarization is frequently exploited using polarization microscopes for
identifying minerals.
• To check the chirality of organic compounds.
• It is also used in IR spectroscopy.
• For providing information on sources of radiation and scattering, polarization probes
the interstellar magnetic field using faraday rotation.
• Polarization of cosmic microwave background is being used to study the physics of
early universe.
• Polarization is used for 3D movies.
• AM and FM radio use vertical polarization while TV uses horizontal polarization.
• It is used in satellite communications to allow the satellite to carry two separate
transmissions on given frequency.

Part IV: FIBER OPTICS

An optical fiber is essentially a waveguide for light. It transmits light pulses and can be used
for analog or digital transmission of voice, computer data, video, etc.
Copper wires (or other metals) can carry the same types of signals with electrical pulses.
Advantages of optical fibers vis-a-vis metal wires

1. Optical fiber has large bandwidth, i.e. it can transmit more data per second.
2. It is of very low loss. This implies that longer distance communication is possible using the
optical fibers.
3. Carries signal at a much faster rate.
4. Immune to crosstalk.
5. Since the data is carried as light, there is no electrical hazard.
6. Special applications like medical imaging and quantum key distribution are only
possible with fiber because they use light and are made of dielectrics.

BASIC WORKING PRINCIPLE OF FIBER OPTICS

• Optical fibers work on the principle of total internal reflection.

• The angle of refraction at the interface between two media is governed by Snell’s
law

Where θ1 is the angle of incidence in a medium with refractive index n1, and θ2 is the angle of
incidence in a medium with refractive index n2.
 Direction of light at the interface of two media

• When a ray of light travel from a high to a low refractive index material, it will move
away from the normal. i.e. the angle of incidence is smaller than the angle of refracted
ray.
• The reverse is true for rays travelling from low to high index material. The relation
between the incident and refracted angles are related in terms of propagation
velocities in the media as

(the above relation is valid provided the two materials involved are transparent and allow
light propagation and vi is the speed of light in medium i)
When θ2, the angle of refraction, becomes 900 the refracted beam is not traveling through the
n2 material. Applying Snell’s law of refraction,

From the above discussion following important conclusions can be drawn:

• The light can be restricted to the material with the higher index of refraction if the incident
angle is kept above the critical angle.
• A sandwich of high index material placed between two slabs of low index material will
allow a beam of light to propagate in the high index material with relatively low loss.
• This concept is used in constructing fibers for fiber optic communication

Structure of optical fiber

A typical optical fiber consists of a core, a cladding, and a polymer jacket (buffer coating).
• Core
– Glass or plastic with a higher index of refraction than the cladding
– Carries the signal
• Cladding
– Glass or plastic with a lower index of refraction than the core
• Buffer
– Protects the fibre from damage and moisture (mechanical protection)
• Jacket
– Holds one or more fibres in a cable

Various Fibre Parameters

Propagation of light through an optical fiber

• To be
guided through an optical fiber, a light ray must enter the core with an angle less than
a particular angle called the acceptance angle of the fiber.
• A ray which enters the fiber with an angle greater than the acceptance angle will be
lost in the cladding, as shown in Figure
• The imaginary light cone with the acceptance angle as the vertex angle, is known as
the acceptance cone.
• Numerical aperture (NA) of the fiber is the light collecting efficiency of the fiber
and is a measure of the amount of light rays can be accepted by the fiber.
 From the figure

So it may be
totally reflected back to the core medium if θ' exceeds the critical angle θ'c. Using Snell’s
laws at the core-cladding interface,

• Therefore, for light to be propagated within the core of optical fiber as guided wave,
the angle of incidence at core-cladding interface should be greater than θ'c.
• As i increases, θ increases and so θ' decreases.
• Therefore, there is maximum value of angle of incidence beyond which, it does not
propagate rather it is refracted in to cladding medium.
• This maximum value of i, say im, is called the half of the maximum angle of
acceptance and n0 sin im is termed as the numerical aperture (NA).

• The significance of NA is that light entering in the cone of semi vertical angle im
only propagate through the fiber by total internal reflection.
• The higher the value of im or NA means more is the light collected for propagation
in the fiber.
• Numerical aperture is thus considered as a light gathering capacity of an optical
fiber.

Numerical Aperture can also defined as the sine of the angle of fiber’s light
acceptance angle (θa).
Therefore, as per our discussion θa = im
• The general expression relating acceptance angle θa and NA is given by

√𝒏𝟐𝟏 − 𝒏𝟐𝟐
𝜽𝒂 = 𝒔𝒊𝒏−𝟏
𝒏𝟎

• A parameter known as Fractional refractive index is defined as

 Hence,

NORMALIZED FREQUENCY OF CUT-OFF’ OR ‘CUT-OFF PARAMETER’ OR ‘V-

NUMBER’ FOR FIBER
A convenient dimensionless parameter that combines the key variables of the optical fiber is
known as normalised frequency or “V” number and is defined as

Where a is the fiber radius and λ is the operating wavelength.

The maximum number of modes, Nm, supported by a step index fiber is given by

Nm = 0.5 V2
Thus, For V =10, Nm is 50. When the normalized frequency V is less than 2.405, the fiber can
support only one mode, which propagates along the axial length of the fiber, and the fiber
becomes a single mode fiber. The wavelength at which the fiber becomes a single mode is
called the cut-off wavelength, λc, of the fiber.

Dispersion and attenuation in optical fiber

When a signal pulse travels on an optical fiber it goes on broadening due to dispersion and its
amplitude starts to reduce due to attenuation as shown in Fig. 6. As a result of these, after
traversing certain distance the pulse shape is completely distorted not to resemble with the
original pulse shape.

The spreading of light pulses as they propagate along the fiber is known as dispersion. It is to
be noted that
• Dispersion in fiber optics results from the fact that in multimode propagation, the signal
travels faster in some modes than it would in others.

• Single-mode fibers are relatively free from dispersion except for intra-modal dispersion.

Graded-index fibers reduce dispersion by taking advantage of higher-order modes.

• One form of intra-modal dispersion is called material dispersion because it depends upon
the material of the core.

• Another form of dispersion is called waveguide dispersion.

• Dispersion increases with the bandwidth of the light source.

The loss of optical power as light travels down the optical fiber is called attenuation. It is
defined as the ratio of the output optical power (P0) to input optical power (Pi) from a fiber
of length L. Mathematically,

Where α is the fiber attenuation coefficient expressed in units of km-1. Thus

In units of dB/km, α is defined by the equation

For an ideal fiber, Pi = P0 and the attenuation would be zero.

Losses in optical fiber

• Losses in optical fiber result from attenuation in the material itself and from scattering,
which causes some light to strike the cladding at less than the critical angle.
• Bending the optical fiber too sharply can also cause losses by causing some of the light to
meet the cladding at less than the critical angle.
• It varies greatly depending upon the type of fiber
– Plastic fiber may have losses of several hundred dB per kilometer

– Graded-index multimode glass fiber has a loss of about 2–4 dB per

kilometer

– Single-mode fiber has a loss of 0.4 dB/km or less

Major types of losses are

Materials loss
• Due to impurities: The material loss is due to the impurities (e.g. Fe, Ni, Co) present in
glass used for making fibers. The Fig. 7 shows attenuation due to various molecules inside
glass as a function of wavelength. It can be noted from the Fig. 7 that the material loss due to
impurities reduces substantially beyond about 1200 nm wavelength.

• Due to OH molecule: In addition, the OH molecule diffuses in the material and causes
absorption of light. The OH molecule has main absorption peak somewhere in the deep infra-
red wavelength region. However, it shows substantial loss in the range of 1000 to 2000 nm.

• Due to infra-red absorption : Glass intrinsically is a good infra-red absorber. As we

increase the wavelength the infra-red loss increases rapidly.

Scattering loss

• The scattering loss results from the non-uniformity of the refractive index inside the core
of the fiber.
• The refractive index of an optical fiber has fluctuation over spatial scales much smaller
than the optical wavelength.
• These fluctuations act as scattering centers for the light passing through the fiber.
• The process is known as Rayleigh scattering.
• A very tiny fraction of light gets scattered and therefore contributes to the loss.
• The Rayleigh scattering is a very strong function of the wavelength.
• The scattering loss varies as λ-4.
• This loss therefore rapidly reduces as the wavelength increases.
• For each doubling of the wavelength, the scattering loss reduces by a factor of 16.
• It is then clear that the scattering loss at 1550 nm is about factor of 16 lower than that at
800 nm.

Types of optical fiber based on their refractive index profiles

• The fibers in which the index of refraction changes radically between the core and the
cladding are known as step-index fibers.
• In case of Graded-index (GRIN) fiber the index of refraction gradually decreases away
from the center of the core eventually to meet the cladding.
• Graded-index fiber has less dispersion than a multimode step-index fiber.
Modes in an optical fiber and their classifications in terms of number of
modes they support

• In simple terms, modes in an optical fiber can be visualized as the possible number of
allowed paths in the optical fiber.
• For a particular fiber the maximum number of modes it can support is constant.
• In a fiber of fixed thickness, the modes that propagates at angles close to the critical
angle are called higher order modes, and modes that propagate with angles larger than
the critical angles are called lower order modes.

• Depending on the number of modes that a fiber allows to propagate, the fibers are
classified mainly into three categories, viz.
(i) single-mode step index fiber,
(ii) multimode step index fiber, and
(iii) multimode graded index fiber.

Table: Comparison between single-mode step index, multimode step index and multimode
APPLICATIONS OF FIBER OPTICS

• Optical fiber finds applications in the field of

o medical (endoscopes),
o defence and
o most notably in communication networks.

Part V: LASER

LASER is the acronym for Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation.

Basic Properties of Laser

A laser is a device that produces a light beam with some remarkable properties, viz.

1. The light is nearly monochromatic.

 2. The light is coherent (temporal as well as spatial), with the waves all exactly in phase
with one another.

3. A laser beam hardly diverges. Such a beam sent from the earth to a mirror left on the
moon by the Apollo 11 expedition remained narrow enough to be detected on its
return to the earth (total distance covered 1/3 of a million kilometers). A light beam
produced by other means would have spread out too much for this to be done.
4. The beam is extremely intense (large energy density), more than the light from any
other source.
5. Highly collimated beam.

Mechanism of Light Emission

• For atomic systems in thermal equilibrium with their surroundings, the emission of
light is the result of Absorption, and, subsequently, Spontaneous Emission of
energy.
• There is another process whereby the atom in an upper energy level can be triggered
or stimulated to emit in phase with an incoming photon.
• This process is called Stimulated Emission.
• It is the most important process for laser action.

Absorption

• Every atom, according to the quantum theory, can reside only in certain discrete
energy states or energy levels.
• Normally, the atoms are in the lowest energy state or ground state.
• When light from a powerful source like a flash lamp or a mercury arc with a photon
of energy hν = E2-E1 falls on a substance, the atoms in the ground state can be
excited to go to one of the higher levels. This process is called absorption.

Spontaneous emission
 • Consider an atom (or molecule) of the material staying initially in an excited state E2.
• Since E2>E1, the atom will tend to spontaneously decay to the ground state E1 to
attain the lowest energy state, and a photon of energy hν = E2-E1 is released in a
random direction as shown above.
• No external radiation is required to initiate the emission.
• This process is called spontaneous emission.

• Note that when the released [equal to the energy difference E2-E1] is delivered in the
form of an electromagnetic (E.M.) wave, the process called "radiative emission"
which is one of the two possible ways.

• “Non-radiative” decay is occurred when the energy difference (E2-E1) is delivered in

some form other than electromagnetic radiation (e.g. it may be transferred to the
kinetic energy of the surrounding).

Stimulated emission

• Stimulated Emission requires the presence of external radiation when an incident

photon of energy hν =E2-E1 passes by an atom in an excited state E2, it stimulates the
atom to drop or decay to the lower state E1.
• In this process, the atom releases a photon of the same energy, direction, phase and
polarization as that of the photon passing by, the net effect is two identical photons
(2hν) in the place of one, or an increase in the intensity of the incident beam.
• It is precisely this process of stimulated emission that makes possible the
amplification of light in lasers.
• The reason that the electron is stimulated to drop is that the incoming photon is an
electromagnetic wave and its EM field will exert an oscillating force on the excited
electron. If the incoming photon is of the correct frequency, this oscillating force will
cause the excited electron to drop and both photons will exit with the same frequency,
phase and direction.

Theory of Lasing
• Atoms exist most of the time in one of a number of certain characteristic energy
levels.
• The energy level or energy state of an atom is a result of the energy level of the
individual electrons of that particular atom.
• In any group of atoms, thermal motion or agitation causes a constant motion of the
atoms between low and high energy levels.
• In the absence of any applied electromagnetic radiation the distribution of the atoms
in their various allowed states is governed by Boltzman’s law which states that if an
assemblage of atoms is in state of thermal equilibrium at an absolute temp. T, the
number of atoms N2 in one energy level E2 is related to the number N1 in another
energy level E1 by the equation

• At absolute zero all atoms will be in the ground state.

• As the temperature increases atoms change randomly from low to the higher energy
states and back again.
• The atoms are raised to higher energy states by chance and they return to the low
energy state by their natural tendency to seek the lowest energy level.
• When they return to the lower energy state electromagnetic radiation is emitted.
• This is spontaneous emission of radiation and because of its random nature, it is
incoherent.
• As indicated by the equation, the number of atoms decreases as the energy level
increases.
• As the temp increases, more atoms will attain higher energy levels.
• However, the lower energy levels will be still more populated.

• Einstein in 1917 first introduced the concept of stimulated or induced emission of

radiation by atomic systems.

• He showed that in order to describe completely the interaction of matter and radiation,
it is necessary to include that process in which an excited atom may be induced by the
presence of radiation emit a photon and decay to lower energy state.

• An atom in level E2 can decay to level E1 by emission of photon.

• Let us call A21 the transition probability per unit time for spontaneous emission from
level E2 to level E1.

• Then the number of spontaneous decays per second is N2A21, i.e. the number of
spontaneous decays per second = N2A21.

• In addition to these spontaneous transitions, there will be induced or stimulated

transitions.

• The total rate of these induced transitions between level 2 and level 1 is proportional
to the density (Uν) of radiation of frequency ν where

• Let B21 and B12 denote the proportionality constants for stimulated emission and
absorption.
 • Then number of stimulated downward transition in stimulated emission per second =
N2 B21 Uν

• Similarly, the number of stimulated upward transitions per second = N1 B12 Uν

• The proportionality constants A and B are known as the Einstein A and B

coefficients.

Under equilibrium conditions we have

According to Planck’s formula of radiation

These two equations are Einstein’s relations.

Thus, from atoms in equilibrium with thermal radiation

 Thus, we get

• Therefore, the rate of induced emission is extremely small in the visible region of the
spectrum with ordinary optical source.
• In such sources, most of the radiation is emitted through spontaneous transitions.
• Since these transitions occur in a random manner, ordinary sources of visible
radiation are incoherent.
• On the other hand, in a laser the induced transitions become completely dominant.
• One result is that the emitted radiation is highly coherent.
• Another is that the spectral intensity at the operating frequency of the laser is much
greater than the spectral intensities of ordinary light source.

Principles of LASER
Amplification in a Medium: Population Inversion and Active System

• Consider an optical medium, through which radiation is passing, contains atoms in

various energy levels E1, E2, E3,….
• Let us take two energy levels E1 & E2, with population of N1 and N2, respectively,
and where E2>E1.
• The rate of stimulated emission and absorption involving these two levels are
proportional to N2B21 & N1B12 respectively.
• Since B21=B12, the rate of stimulated downward transitions will exceed that of the
upward transitions when N2>N1, i.e. the population of the upper state is greater than
that of the lower state.
• Such a condition is contrary to the thermal equilibrium distribution given by
Boltzmann’s law and, therefore, it is termed as population inversion.
• Thus, the term population inversion describes an assembly of atoms in which the
majority of atoms are in energy levels above the ground state; normally the
ground state is occupied to the greatest extent.

• If a population inversion exists, then a light beam will increase in intensity i.e. it will
be amplified as it passes through the medium.

• This is because the gain due to the induced emission exceeds the loss due to
absorption.
 • A system in which population inversion is achieved is called an active system.

Metastable State
• The atoms remain in the excited state for a very short period of time ~ 10-8 sec, after
that they spontaneously release the excess energy. For stimulated emission to occur,
the atoms should stay longer (typically ~ 10-4 sec) in the excited state to compensate
for the loss in population due to spontaneous emission till the condition N2>N1 gets
satisfied. Such relatively long-lived states with life time ~10-3 sec are called
metastable (temporarily stable) states and their energy lie between upper excited
state and the lower state.
• The population of atoms in metastable state is greater than that in lower state, which
leads to population inversion.

Pumping
• To attain and sustain population inversion, the atoms in the material must be
continuously excited from lower energy level to higher energy level. This is done by
continuous supply of energy to the medium. The process is known as pumping.

By heating the material the state of population inversion cannot be achieved.

By heating the material, the average energy of the atoms is increased (i.e. overall system is
shifted to the higher energy level) without achieving the required condition for population
inversion, i.e. N2 > N1.

Therefore, to achieve the condition different methods are used.

1) OPTICAL PUMPING

Here optical energy in the form of photon with right frequency is used to excite the atoms in
the medium. For supplying optical energy, a discharge tube is employed to excite atoms from
the ground state to a higher or excited state. Optical pumping is suitable for any medium
which is transparent to light.

2) ELECTRICAL PUMPING

It is used for some mediums which can conduct electricity without affecting laser activity.
Suitable for gas and semiconductor lasers. In gaseous medium, the gas is ionised by a pulse
of high electric voltage, current flowing through the gas provides necessary energy to excite
the atoms to uppermost level from where they decay to metastable level.
In semiconductor lasers charge carriers are excited.
As the atoms have a large number of energy levels, 2, 3 or 4 levels are eligible for a pumping
process.
• The transition between two levels for which stimulated emission occurs is called
lasing transition.

• It is not possible to achieve population inversion with

a 2-state (level) system.
• If the incoming radiation flux is made very large the
probability of stimulated emission and absorption can
 be made to far exceed the rate of spontaneous emission.
• But in 2-state system, the best we can get is N1 = N2.

• Suppose there are only 2 levels, a metastable state, corresponding to energy hν, above
the ground state.
• The more photons with frequency ν we pump into the assembly of atoms, the more
upward transitions there will be from the ground state to the metastable state.
• However, pumping will also stimulate downward transitions from metastable state to
the ground state. i.e. population and depopulation processes take place
simultaneously.

• In other words, the incoming flood of photons is just as likely to cause an electron to
drop (stimulated emission) as it is to cause an electron to rise (absorption).

• When half the atoms are in each state, the rate of stimulated emissions will be equal
the rate of stimulated absorption, so the assembly can’t have more than half its atoms
in metastable state.

• In this situation laser amplification cannot occur.

A population inversion is only possible when the stimulated absorptions are to a

higher energy level than the metastable one from which the stimulated emission
takes place, which prevents the pumping from depopulating the metastable state.

Lasers with different levels

The widely used lasers are, therefore, a) three-level laser and b) four-level laser.
Three-level and four-level lasers

Advantages of four level lasers Compared to three level lasers

– The lasing threshold of a four level laser is lower.

– The efficiency is higher.

– Required pumping rate is lower.

– Continuous operation is possible in four level laser (e.g. He-Ne laser). Three level laser
gives pulsed operation (e.g. Ruby laser)

Key mechanism to produce a laser: Optical Resonator

1.

1. Pumping process prepares amplifying medium in suitable state.

2. Optical power increases on each pass through amplifying medium (Optical resonator)
3. If gain exceeds loss, device will oscillate, generating a coherent output.

Optical resonator
• In laser active medium is an amplifier, which is converted into an oscillator through
the feedback mechanism established by an optical resonator.
• A pair of optically plane parallel mirrors, enclosing laser medium in between them, is
known as an optical resonant cavity.
• One of the mirror is partially reflecting and the other is fully reflecting.
• The laser oscillation is initiated by photons spontaneously emitted by some of the
excited atoms.
• The photons emitted along the optic axis of the resonant cavity travel through the
medium and trigger stimulated emissions.
• They are reflected by the end mirror and reverse their path.
• The optical resonator selects the direction in which the light is to be amplified; the
direction being the optical axis of the pair of mirrors.
• Thus, the optical cavity makes the laser beam directional.
• The photons, thus fed back into the medium, travel toward the opposite end mirror
causing more stimulated emissions.
• It is again reflected back from that end.
• As the process repeats itself substantial light amplification takes place.

• In order to make the stimulated emission dominate spontaneous emission, a high

radiation density is required to be present in the active medium.

• The optical cavity builds up the photon density to a very high value through repeated
reflection of photons and confines them within the medium.

• Optical cavity selects and amplifies only certain frequencies causing the laser output
to be highly monochromatic.
TYPES of LASER

• Solid-state lasers
– Ruby laser, Nd:YAG laser etc.
• Gas lasers
– Helium-Neon laser, CO2 laser etc.
• Semiconductor diode lasers
– GaAs laser, InP laser etc.
Lasers work in continuous mode or in pulsed mode.

The Ruby Laser

• Ruby belongs to the family of gems

consisting of Al2O3 with various types of
impurities.
• For example, pink Ruby contains 0.05% Cr
atoms.

The construction of ruby laser is given below.

• The ruby laser consists of a ruby rod made of chromium doped ruby material.
• At the opposite ends of this rod there are two silver polished mirrors.
• Whose one is fully polished and other is partially (~ 98%) polished.
• A spring is attached to the rod with fully polished end for adjustment of wave length of
the laser light.
• Around the ruby rod a flash light is kept for the pump input.
• The whole assembly is kept in the glass tube.
• Around the neck of the glass tube the R.F source and switching control is designed in
order to switch on and off the flash light for desired intervals.
• When the R.F is switched on a flash of light is obtained around the ruby rod.
• This causes the Cr3+ ions within ruby rod to move from lower energy band E1 towards
higher E3 and E4 bands by the green and blue components of the white light.
• The Cr3+ ions undergo non-radiative transitions from these energy levels to level E2,
which is a metastable state.
• Population inversion takes between E2 and the ground state E1, making these two
levels suitable for lasing action.
• Transitions between the levels E2 and E1 result in emission of the laser light of
wavelength 693.4 nm.

The energy level diagram is given below.

Advantages of Ruby Laser
1. The ruby lasers are economical.

2. Since the ruby is in solid form therefore there is no chance of wasting material of active
medium.

3. Construction and function of ruby laser is self-explanatory.

Disadvantages of Ruby Laser

1. In ruby lasers no significant stimulated emission occurs, until at least half of the ground
state electrons have been excited to the Meta stable state.
2. Efficiency of ruby laser is comparatively low.
3. Optical cavity of ruby laser is short as compared to other lasers, which may be considered
a disadvantage.

Uses of Ruby Laser

Due to low output power they are used as toys for children’s, used in schools,
colleges, and universities for science programs and as decoration piece & artistic
display.

The Helium-Neon (He-Ne) Laser

• A helium-neon laser, usually called a He-Ne laser, is a type of small gas laser.
• It is a four-level laser.
• Its usual operation wavelength is 632.8 nm, in the red portion of the visible spectrum.
• It operates in Continuous Working (CW) mode.

The basic construction of a He-Ne laser is shown below.

• The setup consists of a discharge tube of length 80 cm and bore diameter of 1.5cm.
• A mixture of helium and neon gases, in approximately a 10:1 ratio, contained at low
pressure in a glass envelope.
• The energy or pumping of the laser is provided by a high voltage electrical discharge
passed through the gas between the anode and cathode within the tube.
 • The optical cavity of the laser usually consists of two concave mirrors or one plane
and one concave mirror, one having very high (typically 99.9%) reflectance and the
output coupler mirror allowing approximately 1% transmission.

• In order to pump the ground state Ne atoms to the excited state, the ground state
atoms of He are pumped to the 23S1 and 21S0 long-lived, metastable excited states
by passing an electric discharge.

• The excited He atoms then collide with the ground state Ne atoms and transfer their
energy to the Ne atoms exciting them into the 2s and 3s states. This is due to a
coincidence of energy levels between the helium and neon atoms.

This process is given by the reaction equation:

He* + Ne → He + Ne* + ΔE
where (*) represents an excited state, and ΔE is the small energy difference between
the energy states of the two atoms, of the order of 0.05 eV.

The typical energy diagram is shown below

• The reason behind the above indirect transfer of energy to Ne is the small atomic
cross-section of Ne which makes direct energy transfer a bit difficult to realise.

• The number of neon atoms entering the excited states builds up as further collisions
between helium and neon atoms occur, causing a population inversion between the
neon 3s and 2s, and 3p and 2p states.

• Spontaneous emission between the 3s and 2p states results in emission of 632.8 nm

wavelength light, the typical operating wavelength of a He-Ne laser.

• After this, fast radiative decay occurs from the 2p to the 1s energy levels, which then
decay to the ground state via collisions of the neon atoms with the container walls.

• Because of this last required step, the bore size of the laser cannot be made very large
and the He-Ne laser is limited in size and power.
 • Typical power output for He-Ne lasers lie between 1 and 50 mW for continuous wave
operations for inputs of ~ 5-10 W.

Advantages of He-Ne lasers

1. The biggest advantages of He-Ne laser is its continuous wave operation.
2. Compared to solid state lasers He-Ne laser is more directional and much more
monochromatic.

Disadvantage of He-Ne lasers

1. Since this type of lasers use internal mirrors (i.e. with mirrors sealed inside the discharge
tube), mirrors are very easily eroded by gas discharge and have to be replaced.

The Semiconductor (Diode) Lasers

The basic structure of a standard ‘edge emitting’ semiconductor laser is shown below.

• The whole block shown below is a semiconductor chip with dimensions

approximately 0.5mm × 0.5mm × 1mm,

• The mirrors are due to the semiconductor-air boundary at the edges of the chip. [This
in fact gives 40% reflection only (at both sides).]

• This low reflectivity is still efficient for semiconductor laser because

1. The population inversion inside the semiconductor sandwich area is millions of times
higher than in gas lasers [~1025 electrons/m3].
2. The exponential increase in light intensity (i.e. 1 photon becoming two, becoming four
etc.) occurs far more quickly because of the higher population inversion.
3. So the fact that we lose 60% of the light at each reflection is compensated for by having
huge gains between the mirrors.
 The energy bend diagram of a degenerately doped direct band gap semiconductor p-n
junction is shown below.

• In case of degenerate doping Fermi level (EFP) on P-side is in the valence band (VB)
and EFN on the N-side is in the conduction band (CB).
• Energy levels up to the Fermi level are occupied by electrons.
• When there is no applied voltage the Fermi level is continuous across the diode (EFN
= EFP).
• Band diagram with a sufficient forward bias will cause population inversion (as
shown in the figure in the right side).
• Now there’s a small region in the middle between the p-type and the n-type where we
have a high concentration of electrons above holes.
• These electrons can be stimulated to drop and give away laser light.

The advantages of semiconductor lasers are

1. Cheaper
2. Smaller
3. More efficient
4. Easy for mass production.
Applications of Laser

1. The narrow red beam of He-Ne laser is used in supermarkets to read bar codes.
2. Measuring distances
3. Red He-Ne laser have many industrial and scientific uses. They are widely used in
laboratory demonstrations.
4. Laser is used in guided smart weapon.
5. Because of the high power levels available (combined with reasonable cost for the laser),
CO2 lasers are frequently used in industrial applications for cutting and welding, while lower
power level lasers are used for engraving. They are also very useful in surgical procedures
because water (which makes up most biological tissue) absorbs this frequency of light very
well. Some examples of medical uses are laser surgery, skin resurfacing etc.
6. Semiconductor lasers are used in DVD and CD players, as Barcode readers, in
telecommunications (via optical fibres), Image scanning etc.
7. Holography.