Lesson: Thin Film Interference Physics

Students will be able to

• diagrammatically describe the mechanism of production of thin film interference,
• for a thin film of refractive index that is resting on a substance of greater refractive index than , relate the separation, , between the upper and lower layers of the thin film to the order, , of the interference maximum produced by light that has wavelength in a vacuum when it reflects from the upper and lower layers of the thin film, using the equation , where is the angle of incidence at the upper layer,
• for a thin film of refractive index that is resting on a substance of greater refractive index than , relate the separation, , between the upper and lower layers of the thin film to the order, , of the interference minimum produced by light that has wavelength in a vacuum when it reflects from the upper and lower layers of the thin film, using the equation , where is the angle of incidence at the upper layer,
• for a thin film of refractive index that is resting on a substance of smaller refractive index than , relate the separation, , between the upper and lower layers of the thin film to the order, , of the interference maximum produced by light that has wavelength in a vacuum when it reflects from the upper and lower layers of the thin film, using the equation , where is the angle of incidence at the upper layer,
• for a thin film of refractive index that is resting on a substance of smaller refractive index than , relate the separation, , between the upper and lower layers of the thin film to the order, , of the interference minimum produced by light that has wavelength in a vacuum when it reflects from the upper and lower layers of the thin film, using the equation , where is the angle of incidence at the upper layer,
• relate the thickness, , of antireflection coating of refractive index to the wavelength, , in a vacuum of light that the coating prevents reflection of, using the formula .