Coherence effects on the interference colors of soap films
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Published version
Author(s)
Lalli, Navraj S
Giusti, Andrea
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Acquiring the thickness field of a soap film from interference colors requires an accurate relationship between color and film thickness. Throughout the literature, an interference relation derived using monochromatic waves is widely used to calculate the colors of soap films illuminated by light sources with significant frequency bandwidths by applying the relation at a number of discrete wavelengths in the source, which assumes that the interfering waves are perfectly coherent. However, since the coherence between waves is expected to decrease with increasing film thickness, it is poorly understood when interference relations derived using monochromatic waves can be applied. In this study, an interference relation incorporating the coherence between interfering waves is derived. The effects of coherence on the interference colors of soap films are then studied by comparing the colors computed using each of these two interference relations for light sources with different frequency bandwidths. As the frequency bandwidth of the light source increases, the difference in the colors computed using each interference relation increases, which implies that the accuracy of the method involving the monochromatic relation decreases with increasing frequency bandwidth of the source. The findings of this study will allow for more accurate measurements of the thickness of soap films from their interference colors.
Date Issued
2023-09-07
Date Acceptance
2023-08-07
Citation
Journal of Applied Physics, 2023, 134 (9), pp.1-18
ISSN
0021-8979
Publisher
American Institute of Physics
Start Page
1
End Page
18
Journal / Book Title
Journal of Applied Physics
Volume
134
Issue
9
Copyright Statement
© 2023 Author(s). All article content, except where otherwise noted, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
License URL
Identifier
http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/5.0158178
Publication Status
Published
Article Number
093103
Date Publish Online
2023-09-05
