In Young's double-slit experiment,
fringe refers to the bright and dark bands that appear on a screen when light passes through two closely spaced slits. These bands are the result of
interference between the light waves coming from the two slits.
Hereβs a simple breakdown of how the fringes form:
- Constructive Interference (Bright Fringes): When the light waves from both slits arrive at the screen in such a way that their crests and troughs align with each other, they add up. This is called constructive interference, and it creates bright bands on the screen. These are the bright fringes.
- Destructive Interference (Dark Fringes): When the light waves from both slits meet in such a way that the crest of one wave aligns with the trough of the other, they cancel each other out. This is called destructive interference, and it creates dark bands on the screen. These are the dark fringes.
The distance between two consecutive bright or dark fringes is called the
fringe width. The pattern of fringes is a result of the wave nature of light, and the position of the fringes depends on factors like the wavelength of light, the distance between the slits, and the distance between the slits and the screen.
So, in simple terms, the "fringe" is just the bright or dark bands you see on the screen due to the interference of light waves from the two slits.