Fundamentholfundamenthol
JEE Advanced2025Paper 2PHY-III
Q.

In a Young's double slit experiment, a combination of two glass wedges and , having refractive indices 1.7 and 1.5, respectively, are placed in front of the slits, as shown in the figure. The separation between the slits is mm and the shortest distance between the slits and the screen is m. Thickness of the combination of the wedges is m. The value of as shown in the figure is 1 mm. Neglect any refraction effect at the slanted interface of the wedges. Due to the combination of the wedges, the central maximum shifts (in mm) with respect to O by ____

Solution

From the figure geometry: the composite plate in front of each slit has total width 12 m (the wedge thickness). In front of the upper slit, wedge has thickness (over 1 mm height) and wedge has thickness , with m. The slant geometry gives, using similar triangles with the 1 mm marker over the 4 mm vertical extent shown: m and m for the upper slit. By symmetry, the lower slit sees m of and m of .

Extra optical path introduced at each slit equals . The path-length difference introduced by the plates (upper minus lower path) is

With and : m.

The central maximum shifts by (magnitude):

m mm.

Practice more PHY-III

Concept-wise practice with instant solutions on Fundamenthol.

Start practicing →