PX275 - I4 - key geometry

-
an aperture and a detector screens are in parallel, separated by a distance,
-
calling the direction connecting the screens
, so -
using
to describe points on the aperture screen, such that is in direction -
using
to describe points on the detector screen, such that is in direction -
connects with -
holes in the aperture screen will act as secondary sources
-
intensity pattern on the detector,
is the superposition of all secondary sources -
considering a simple case of a single pinhole aperture
-
so, one secondary point source emanating from aperture screen
-
for convenience, setting
, then , where, denotes the position on the screen -
if pinhole is at the centre,
, the origin -
then, for the detector screen,
, , as screens are parallel -
the amplitude is just that of a single point source:
- the amplitude at

-
away from the pinhole, the path length is longer, so the intensity falls as
-
now, considering two pinholes

- the path length differences lead to phase differences between the two secondary sources, causing interference
- different path lengths are seen in
, but there is no difference in



- for a general case: considering
sources at positions, - if not all at the same amplitude, say
- by superposition:
- this can be used to consider cases like:
- a thin slit, considering them as a line of
sources - a large aperture, considering them as
sources
- a thin slit, considering them as a line of