Basic
What is wave optics primarily concerned with?
Wave nature of light
Why do two ordinary light bulbs not produce an observable interference pattern?
They emit incoherent light
The primary purpose of Young’s double-slit experiment was to demonstrate:
Wave nature of light through interference
Why do soap bubbles show rainbow-like colors in sunlight?
Thin-film interference
Which of the following devices uses interference of light to make precise measurements?
Interferometer
Who first demonstrated the interference of light using a double-slit experiment?
Thomas Young
When a light wave passes through a narrow slit, it spreads out. This is because:
Each point on the wavefront acts as a new source of waves
In Young’s double-slit setup, if the screen is moved farther away from the slits, the fringe spacing will:
Increase
Polarized sunglasses help reduce glare by:
Blocking horizontal vibrations of light
Polarization is used in 3D cinema glasses to:
Deliver different images to each eye
In Young’s double-slit experiment, what causes bright fringes on the screen?
Constructive interference
In Young’s double-slit experiment, what will happen to the fringe pattern if the entire setup is immersed in water?
Fringe width decreases
Which physical quantity can be determined using a Michelson interferometer?
Refractive index
CDs and DVDs show rainbow colors when light hits them due to:
Diffraction from closely spaced tracks
A diffraction grating is commonly used in:
Spectrometers
Which of the following is necessary for sustained interference to occur?
Coherent sources
Which condition must be met for sustained constructive interference to occur?
Constant phase difference must exist
In Young’s double-slit experiment, what would happen if monochromatic light is replaced with white light?
Central fringe is white, side fringes are colored
Anti-reflective coatings on glasses use wave optics to:
Reduce glare using destructive interference
Which wave optics principle is used in anti-reflective coatings on camera lenses?
Thin-film interference
What is diffraction?
Light bending around edges or slits
Polarization confirms that light is a transverse wave because:
It limits vibration to one direction, perpendicular to propagation
In a single-slit diffraction experiment, the first minimum occurs when:
a·sinθ = λ
Why do optical instruments like telescopes and microscopes sometimes use anti-reflection coatings?
To increase light transmission
Which property of polarized light is used in LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) screens?
Transmission of only specific light vibrations