Young's double-slit interference experiment
Interferencia de la luz: experimento de la doble rendija
- Date
- 1801-1803 · confidence high
- Place
- London, England, United Kingdom
- Credited to
- Thomas Young
- People
- 👤 Thomas Young Davis1773–1829
- Field
- Communication
What was discovered
Light passing through two slits produces alternating bands of light and shadow that can only be explained if light is a wave that adds and cancels. It revives the wave theory against Newton's corpuscular theory and allows the measurement of wavelengths.
Young was fiercely attacked in England for contradicting Newton; acceptance came with Fresnel in 1818.
What it led to
- Wave optics (Fresnel, Arago)
- Measurement of wavelengths
- Interferometry (Michelson) and holography
- Quantum wave-particle duality (double-slit experiment with electrons)
Built on
- Colours of thin films and Newton's rings1665-1704
- Wave theory of light and Huygens' principle1678-1690
- Huygens' wave theory
- Grimaldi's diffraction