In Young's double slit experiment, the slits are apart and are illuminated by photons of two wavelengths, and . At what minimum distance from the common central bright fringe on the screen from the slit will a bright fringe from one interference pattern coincide with a bright fringe from the other?
Let the bright fringe of wavelength coincide with the bright fringe of wavelength . The position of the bright fringe in Young's double slit experiment is given by . Equating the positions for both wavelengths: For the minimum distance from the central maximum, we take the smallest integers satisfying this ratio, which are and . The minimum distance is:
Join thousands of students and practice with AI-generated mock tests.