Conversation started Apr 23, 2023 at 10:49.
Apr 23, 2023 10:49
@Wolgwang OK, I've done it, but it's harder than it looks.
We need to find the path difference between L₁ and Lā‚‚. I won't go through it because it is just geometry, but the path difference turns our to be Ī»/6 i.e. a phase difference of šœ‹/3.
So if we write the light from S₁ and Sā‚ƒ as sin(ωt) then the light from Sā‚‚ is sin(ωt + šœ‹/3) i.e. a phase difference of šœ‹/3.
So when all three slits are open the field (NB the field E not the intensity I āˆ E²) is:
E = 2 sin(ωt) + sin(ωt + 𝜋/3)
And when only S₁ and Sā‚‚ are open the field is:
E = sin(ωt) + sin(ωt + 𝜋/3)
Now let's find what E = 2 sin(ωt) + sin(ωt + šœ‹/3) is. To do this we draw a phasor diagram:
I've put the 2 sin(ωt) horizontal and the sin(ωt + šœ‹/3) at the angle of šœ‹/3 then we add them to get the resultant E.
And using Pythagoras we get:
E² = (2¹ā„ā‚‚)² + (√3/2)² = 25/4 + 3/4 = 18/4 = 7
I won't draw it but for E = sin(ωt) + sin(ωt + 𝜋/3) the horizontal vector becomes 1 instead of 2 and we get:
E² = (1¹ā„ā‚‚)² + (√3/2)² = 9/4 + 3/4 = 12/4 = 3
And we are there!
The intensity is proportional to E² so the ratio of the intensities is just 3/7.
But I have to say that is a haaaaaaaaard question!
 
Conversation ended Apr 23, 2023 at 11:15.