PHYS130 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Diffraction Grating, James Clerk Maxwell, Double-Slit Experiment
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If the amplitudes of two waves have the same sign. Either both positive or both negative, they will add together to form a wave with a larger amplitude. When two interfering waves have a displacement in the same direction (travelling towards each other), the result is a phenomenon called constructive interference (visually represented on figure 1). When two interfering waves have a displacement in the opposite direction (travelling away from each other), the result is a phenomenon called destructive interference (visually represented on figure. Thanks to the works of michael faraday, james clerk maxwell, albert einstein, and thomas young, we know that the aforementioned principles also apply to electromagnetic radiation; since light behaves as both- a particle and a wave. Diffraction refers to the various phenomena that occur when a wave encounters a barrier or a slit and bends around it into the geometrical shadow region of the barrier and produces an interference pattern.