Colours of thin films and Newton's rings
Colores de láminas delgadas y anillos de Newton
- Date
- 1665-1704 · confidence high
- Place
- London, England, United Kingdom
- Credited to
- Robert Hooke and Isaac Newton
- Field
- Communication
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What was discovered
Hooke describes in the Micrographia the colours of mica and thin films, and Newton measures in his Opticks the rings formed by a lens on a flat glass and their relation to film thickness. It is the first systematic observation of light interference.
Hooke and Newton disputed priority; Newton interpreted it with his theory of 'fits' of light, not as interference, which was understood only with the wave theory.
What it led to
- Young's interpretation as interference (1801)
- optical interferometry and surface testing
- thin-film coatings