Light

http://jsu.ac.ir/~dvdtlb/
 Briefly
• In physics, the term light sometimes refers to
electromagnetic radiation of any wavelength,
whether visible or not.
• Primary properties of light are intensity, propagation
direction, frequency or wavelength spectrum, and
polarization.
• Its speed in a vacuum, 299,792,458 meters per
second, is one of the fundamental constants of
nature.
• The study of light, and the interaction of light and
matter is termed optics, is an important research
area in modern physics.
• Light, which is emitted and absorbed in tiny
"packets" called photons, exhibits properties
of both waves and particles. This property is
referred to as the wave–particle duality.
Ray Theory – Light travels
along a straight line and
obeys laws of geometrical
optics. Ray theory is valid
when the objects are much
larger than the wavelength
(multimode fibers)
Dossier of History Archimedes of Syracuse
(Greek: Ἀρχιμήδης)

c. 287 BC
Born
Syracuse, Sicily; Magna Graecia
c. 212 BC (aged around 75)
Died
Syracuse
Residence Syracuse, Sicily
Mathematics, Physics,
Fields
Engineering, Astronomy, Invention
Archimedes' Principle,
Known for Archimedes' screw, Hydrostatics,
Levers, Infinitesimals
 Ptolemy (Batlamyus)

Born c. AD 90; Egypt

c. AD 168 (aged 77–78)
Died
Alexandria, Egypt
mathematician, geographer,
Occupation
astronomer, astrologer
Law of reflection
– the angle of incidence equals
angle of reflection
– angles are measured from normal
7
 Refraction
• index of refraction, n, where c = speed of light in a
vacuum and v = speed of light in that medium

– nair = 1
– nglass = 1.5
• Snell’s Law
 Total Internal Reflection
• Incident angle where refracted angle (2) is 90 is the
critical angle

• at incident angles greater than critical angle, light is

totally internally reflected

Geometric Optics
Guided Propagation Along the Optical Fiber
The structure of a typical single-mode fiber.
1. Core: 8 µm diameter
2. Cladding: 125 µm dia.
3. Buffer: 250 µm dia.
4. Jacket: 400 µm dia.
 Plato’s fire
So much of fire as would not burn, but
gave gentle light, they formed into a
substance related to the light of
everyday life, and the pure fire which is
within us and related to it they made
to flow through the eyes in a stream Full name Plato (Πλάτων)
smooth and dense, compressing the Born c. 428–427 BC; Athens
whole eye and specially the center Died
c. 348–347 BC (age approx 80);
part, so that it kept out everything of a Athens
Era Ancient philosophy
coarser nature and allowed to pass
Region Western Philosophy
only its pure element.
School Platonism
Influenced by: Socrates, Homer, Hesiod, Aesop,
Protagoras, Parmenides, Pythagoras, Orphism, …
Influenced: Most of subsequent western philosophy,
including Aristotle, Augustine, Neoplatonism, Cicero,
Plutarch, Stoicism, Anselm, Machiavelli, Descartes,
Hobbes, Leibniz, Mill, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche,
Heidegger, Arendt, Gadamer, Imam Khomeini,
Russell and countless other philosophers and
theologians.
 End of visual rays Alhazen (Ibn al-Haytham)
Over-confident about
“There is no vision unless something comes from practical application of
the visible object to the eye, whether or not his mathematical
anything goes out” knowledge, he assumed
that he could regulate
the floods of the Nile.

July 1, 965 CE (354 AH) Basra in

Born
present-day Iraq, Buyid Persia
March 6, 1040 (aged 74) (430 AH)
Died
Cairo, Egypt, Fatimid Caliphate
Fields physicist and Mathematician
Book of Optics, Doubts Concerning
Ptolemy, On the Configuration of the
World, The Model of the Motions,
Treatise on Light, Treatise on Place,
scientific method, experimental
Known for
science, experimental physics,
camera obscura experimental psychology, visual
perception, analytic geometry, non-
Ptolemaic astronomy, celestial
mechanics
Influences Aristotle, Euclid, Ptolemy

Influenced Averroes, Witelo, Roger Bacon, Kepler

Measurements of the Speed of Light
Date Author Method Result (km/s) Error

1676 Olaus Roemer Jupiter's satellites 214,000

1726 James Bradley Stellar aberration 301,000

1849 Armand Fizeau Toothed wheel 315,000

1862 Leon Foucault Rotating mirror 298,000 +-500

1879 Albert Michelson Rotating mirror 299,910 +-50

1907 Rosa, Dorsay Electromagnetic constants 299,788 +-30

1926 Albert Michelson Rotating mirror 299,796 +-4

1947 Essen, Gorden-Smith Cavity resonator 299,792 +-3

1958 K. D. Froome Radio interferometer 299,792.5 +-0.1

1973 Evanson et al Lasers 299,792.4574 +-0.001

1983 Adopted value 299,792.458

By watching the moons circling Jupiter through a telescope,
he was able to observe the exact time that the moon moved
behind Jupiter. After many years of observations, however,
he noticed that the time intervals between eclipses were not
always the same.
(position 1): The light from the eclipsing moon sometimes
took a relatively short time to reach earth.
(position 2): when earth was in a farther part of its orbit, the
light from Jupiter's moon would take longer to reach earth. Ole Rømer
Roemer was able to use the time difference and the
diameter of Earth's orbit to calculate the speed of light. He
determined it to be about 185,000 miles per second, or 25 Sept. 1644;
Born
296,000 kilometers per second, very close to the actual value. Århus
19 Sept. 1710
Died (aged 65)
Copenhagen
Nationality Danish
 Light Speed measurement
using a pair of toothed wheels driven by a very
fast motor.
As the toothed wheels turned, a beam of light
shone through the gaps between the teeth of
one wheel would on ly pass through the gaps in Hippolyte Fizeau
the other wheel if they lined up.
Knowing the speed that the wheels were Sept. 23, 1819
Born
Paris
turning allowed him to calculate the speed of
light with an accuracy similar to Roemer's. Sept. 18, 1896
Died
Venteuil
Nationality French
Fields Physics
Doppler Effect
Fizeau-Foucault
Known for
apparatus
Capacitor
Michelson's method was to shine a light on
the rotating hexagonal mirror, which
then reflected to the other mirror 35
kilometres away.
The mirror needed to make one-eighth of a
rotation in the time it took the light to
make the return trip. This meant that
the octagonal mirror had to be turning
at about 32 000 rpm.
From the round trip distance the light
travelled, and the period of rotation of
the octagonal mirror, the speed of light
was determined quite accurately.
Albert Abraham Michelson
December 19, 1852; Strzelno, Kingdom of
Born
Prussia
Died May 9, 1931; Pasadena, California
United States; Physics
Alma mater: United States Naval Academy,
University of Berlin; Doctoral advisor: Hermann
Helmholtz; Doctoral students: Robert Millikan
Known Speed of light
For Michelson-Morley experiment
Nobel Prize for Physics (1907)
Notable
Copley Medal (1907)
awards
Henry Draper Medal (1916)
 The Search for Aether
Michelson - Morley Experiment(1887)

 No aether drift was detected, despite repeated experiments!

Conclusion:
 jundi Shapur University, Dezful is the center of the Universe or
 There is No Aether
 Measuring Earth’s Movement through
the Aether

Rotating the apparatus would give the direction of the aether drift

 Showed that there is no such thing as aether (nor any need for it). Light is
perfectly happy traveling in a vacuum.
 The speed of light is the same in any direction, which explains the null result of
Michelson and Morley.
 Wave Theory – Light travels as a
transverse electromagnetic wave
 Magnet and Magnetism

certain iron oxides were discovered in various parts of the world, notably in Magnesia
in Asia Minor, that had the property of attracting small pieces of iron.

Magnesia within Greece

 Hans Christian Ørsted
discovered that electric currents
create magnetic fields.

14 August 1777
Born
Rudkøbing, Denmark
9 March 1851
Died (aged 73)Copenhagen,
Denmark
Nationality Danish
Fields physics, chemistry
Known for electromagnetism
 André-Marie Ampère
relates the integrated magnetic field
around a closed loop to the electric
current passing through the loop.

20 January 1775 Parish of St.

Born
Nizier, Lyon, France

10 June 1836 (aged 61)

Died
Marseille, France

Residence France
Nationality French
Fields Physics
Institution Bourg-en-Bresse
http://www.walter-fendt.de/ph14e/mfwire.htm s École Polytechnique
Known for Ampere's Law
The induced electromotive force (EMF) in any closed
Michael Faraday
circuit is equal to the time rate of change of the magnetic
flux through the circuit.

22 September 1791Newington Butts,

Born
England
25 August 1867 (aged 75) Hampton
Died
Court, Middlesex, England
Residence England
Nationality British
Fields Physics and chemistry
Institutions Royal Institution
Faraday's law of induction;
Electrochemistry; Faraday effect;
Faraday cage; Faraday constant
Faraday cup; Faraday's laws of
Known for
electrolysis;Faraday paradox; Faraday
rotator; Faraday-efficiency effect;
http://phet.colorado.edu/en/simulation/faraday Faraday wave;Faraday wheel;Lines of
force
Humphry Davy
Influences
William Thomas Brande
Royal Medal (1835 & 1846)
Notable
Copley Medal (1832 & 1838)
awards
Rumford Medal (1846)
 Heinrich Rudolf Hertz

February 22, 1857 Hamburg,

Born
Germany
January 1, 1894 (aged 36)
Died
Bonn, Germany
Fields Physics; Electronic Engineering
University of Kiel
Institutions University of Karlsruhe
University of Bonn
Doctoral advisor Hermann von Helmholtz
Electromagnetic radiation
Known for
Photoelectric effect
 NATURE OF WAVES
• Waves (Def.) – A wave is a disturbance that transfers energy.
• Medium – Substance or region through which a wave is transmitted.
• Speed of Waves – Depends on the properties of the medium.
 Transverse Waves

• Energy is perpendicular to direction of

motion
• Moving photon creates electric &
magnetic field
–Light has BOTH Electric & Magnetic
fields at right angles!
 So, What is Light?
Light consists of a varying electric
and magnetic field

http://www.walter-fendt.de/ph14e/emwave.htm

http://www.phy.ntnu.edu.tw/ntnujava/index.php?topic=35
 Electromagnetic Spectrum
The behavior of EM radiation depends on its wavelength.
Higher frequencies have shorter wavelengths, and lower frequencies have longer wavelengths.
A photon of ultra-violet radiation carries more energy than a photon of infrared radiation.

© 2000 Microsoft Clip Gallery

• Invisible Spectrum
Radio Waves
Def. – Longest wavelength & lowest frequency.
Uses – Radio & T.V. broadcasting.
Short Wavelength Microwave
– Infrared Rays
• Def – Light rays with longer wavelength than red light.
• Uses: Cooking, Medicine, T.V. remote controls

© 2000 Microsoft Clip Gallery

• The shortest wavelengths in the visible spectrum are purple, and
the longest wavelengths are red.
• Visible light has wavelength in a range from about 380
nanometers to about 740 nm, with a frequency range of about
405 THz to 790 THz.
 Electromagnetic
Spectrum
• Visible Spectrum – Light
we can see
• Roy G. Biv – Acronym for
Red, Orange, Yellow,
Green, Blue, Indigo, &
Violet.
– Largest to Smallest
Wavelength.
 Visible Light
• We now know what we see is part of the electromagnetic
spectrum. We know that the light waves enter our eye, and
stimulate parts of it that cause a electrical impulse to be sent
to the brain which creates this visual image.
• But everything does not emit radiation. How do we see those
things? And why cant we see a window?

37
 Seeing colour
• The colour an object appears depends on the colours of
light it reflects.

For example, a red book only reflects red light:

White Only red light is

light reflected
A pair of purple trousers would reflect purple light (and red and
blue, as purple is made up of red and blue):

Purple light

A white hat would reflect all seven colours:

White
light
 Using coloured light
• If we look at a coloured object in coloured
light we see something different. For
example, consider a football kit:

Shirt looks red

White
light

Shorts look blue

• In different colours of light this kit would look different:

Red
Shirt looks red
light

Shorts look black

Shirt looks black

Blue
light

Shorts look blue

 Seeing things
• We know that when waves run into a boundary they
are partially transmitted and partially reflected.
• Light behaves as a wave, so it to is reflected.
• Therefore, an object does not need to emit photons
itself to be seen, it just has to reflect light back to our
eyes where we can detect it.
• Objects that do not allow light to pass through them
are called opaque.
• Objects that allow light to pass through them are
considered transparent.
• Objects in between are called translucent.

© 2003 Mike Maloney 42

Invisible spectrum (cont.).
Ultraviolet rays.
Def. – EM waves with frequencies slightly higher than visible
light
Uses: food processing & hospitals to kill germs’ cells
Helps your body use vitamin D.
X-Rays
Def. - EM waves that are shorter than UV rays.
Uses: Medicine – Bones absorb x-rays; soft tissue does not.
Lead absorbs X-rays.
 Light sources
• Thermal: a body at a given temperature emits a characteristic spectrum of
black-body radiation. As the temperature increases, the peak shifts to shorter
wavelengths, producing first a red glow, then a white one, and finally a blue
colour as the peak moves out of the visible part of the spectrum and into the
ultraviolet.
• Atoms: emit and absorb light at characteristic energies. This produces
"emission lines" in the spectrum of each atom.
Emission can be spontaneous, as in light-emitting diodes, gas discharge lamps
(such as neon lamps and neon signs, mercury-vapor lamps, etc.), and flames
(light from the hot gas itself—so, for example, sodium in a gas flame emits
characteristic yellow light).
Emission can also be stimulated, as in a laser or a microwave maser.
• Deceleration of a free charged particle, such as an electron, can
produce visible radiation: cyclotron radiation, synchrotron radiation,
and bremsstrahlung radiation are all examples of this. Particles moving
through a medium faster than the speed of light in that medium can
produce visible Cherenkov radiation.
Certain chemicals produce visible radiation by chemoluminescence.
In living things, this process is called bioluminescence.
For example, fireflies produce light by this means, and boats moving
through water can disturb plankton which produce a glowing wake.
Certain substances produce light when they are illuminated by more energetic radiation, a
process known as fluorescence.
Some substances emit light slowly after excitation by more energetic radiation. This is
known as phosphorescence.
Phosphorescent materials can also be excited by bombarding them with subatomic particles.
Cathodoluminescence is one example. This mechanism is used in cathode ray tube television
sets and computer monitors.
• Certain other mechanisms can produce light:
• Scintillation; electroluminescence; sonoluminescence;
triboluminescence; Cherenkov radiation;
Bioluminescence.
• When the concept of light is intended to include very-
high-energy photons (gamma rays), additional generation
mechanisms include: Radioactive decay; Particle–
antiparticle annihilation
Kinds of Spectra
 Polarization
• Polarization is a phenomenon of light that is
used in sun-glasses and 3-D movies.
• Play with the two polarizing filters for a few
minutes and note what is happening and see
if you can think of any reasons for it.

© 2003 Mike Maloney 50

 Polarization Hint
• Light vibrates in all directions.
• A polarizing filter acts like a picket fence. It
only lets certain direction vibrations pass
through it.
• Therefore, if you pass light through two of
them you can completely block the light from
passing through.
• HOW?

© 2003 Mike Maloney 51

 Polarization

http://www.phy.ntnu.edu.tw/ntnujava/index.php?topic=692.0
© 2003 Mike Maloney 52
Light Energy
When EM radiation interacts with single atoms and molecules, its
behaviour depends on the amount of energy per quantum it carries.

Atoms
As atoms absorb energy, electrons jump out to a higher energy level.
Electrons release light when falling down to the lower energy level.
Photons - bundles/packets of energy released when the electrons
fall.

Light: Stream of Photons

Quantum Theory – Light consists
of small particles (photons)
 Newton’s Corpuscular Theory of Light - light consists of small particles, because it:
• travels in straight lines at great speeds
• is reflected from mirrors in a predictable way

Position x

Momentum p = mv
 Why the Photon is Necessary

Electron transitions in the Bohr model of

the atom and the subsequent emission of
light provides an example of when light
should be viewed as a photon. There are
two further pieces of evidence of this
particle-like nature of light:
• photon scattering
• photoelectric effect
 Scattering
One experiment which provides conclusive proof of a particle nature of
objects is to scatter two objects off of each other, as in the collision of two
billiard balls. This experiment with light and small atoms has been done, and
is called Compton scattering.

The results of this experiment are completely at odds with predictions made if
light is viewed only as a wave. Measurements show that the frequency of the
scattered wave is changed, which does not come out of a wave picture of light.
However, when the light is viewed as a photon with energy proportional to the
associated light wave, excellent agreement with experiment is found.
 Photoelectric Effect
Another compelling proof for the photon nature of light is the
photoelectric effect. In this effect, light is shone at a metal plate and it
is found that electrons are ejected. These electrons then get accelerated
to a nearby plate by an external potential difference, and a photoelectric
current is established.

This effect, which arises in devices such as automatic door openers,

burglar alarms, light detectors, and photocopiers, cannot be explained
using a wave picture of light.
 Einstein’s Photoelectric Effect

• Only light with a frequency greater than a

certain threshold will produce a current

• Current begins almost instantaneously, even

for light of very low intensity

• Current is proportional to the intensity of the

incident light
 Planck’s Quantum Postulate

• Energy of radiation can only be emitted in

discrete packets or quanta, i.e., in multiples of
the minimum energy
E = hf
where h is a new fundamental
constant of nature:
h = 6.63 x 10-34 Joules sec
 We Believe in Photons

• Red light is used in photographic darkrooms because it is not energetic

enough to break the halogen-silver bond in black and white films

• Ultraviolet light causes sunburn but visible light does not because UV
photons are more energetic

• Our eyes detect color because photons of different energies trigger

different chemical reactions in retina cells
 Special Relativity: Postulates
• Principle of Relativity
– All the laws of physics are the same in all inertial reference
frames, i.e. frames moving at constant velocities w/respect to
each other.

• Constant Speed of Light

– The speed of light, c = 3×108 m/s, is equal in all inertial frames,
regardless of the velocity of the observer or the light source.

• Consequences of Special relativity

– “Slowing” down of clocks (time dilation) and length contraction in
moving reference frames as measured by an observer in another
reference frame.
 Galilean Transform:
• According to the Galilean transform, Predicts Preferred Ref. Frame
the travel time t1 across & back a river t1
is shorter than
the travel time t2 up & down a river. t2
• Light moving in an “ether” is an
analogous problem.
– Can light have different travel times?

1
2L 2L  v2  2 2L  1 v2 
t1   1  2   1  2
 
c v
2 2 c  c  c  2c 

1
 2L   v   2L   v 
2 2
L L 2Lc
t2    2    1  2     1  2  
cv cv c v 2
 c  c   c  c 
Phys 320 - Baski Relativity I
 Galilean Transform: NO Preferred Ref. Frame for
• In 1800’s, scientists thought that light
propagated through some type of Light!
“ether.”
• Michelson-Morley Experiment (1887)
– Test if ether exists and sets
“preferred” reference frame.
– Analogous to rowboat in river.
– Measure light speed relative to
earth’s motion (// and ) using an
interferometer (fringes).
• Result: No detection of “ether”
– No detectable shift in interference
fringes occurred, indicating that light
speed DID NOT depend on direction.

Phys 320 - Baski Relativity I

 Doppler Shift
• Doppler shift causes change in measured frequency.
– When a light source moves towards an observer, the light frequency
is shifted higher (i.e. blue shift).
– When a light source moves away from an observer, the light
frequency is shifted lower (i.e. red shift).
– Only difference with “classical” Doppler shift for sound is the
incorporation of time dilation (causes square root factor).

Approaching - blue shift

1 v / c
f obs  f source
1 v / c
Note: For a receding source, switch signs.
Phys 320 - Baski Relativity I
 Cool Thing About Light

 It can be thought of as both a particle and a wave, so called

“particle-wave duality”

 Lower energy (longer wavelength) light acts predominately like

a wave

 High energy (shorter wavelength) light acts predominately like

a particle
Cool Things Light Can Tell Us
 It can tell us what you are made out of

 It can tell us if you are moving toward or away from us

 It can tell us how far away you are or (if we already know that)
how energetic you are

 It can tell us your temperature

Another Way to Look at a Spectrum
 Spectral Lines

Lines from excited sodium gas in the laboratory