Interferometer Interference

This short video shows how the intensity distribution changes in a wave interferometer, when one of the mirrors is moved by 1/4 of a wavelength. A shift by 1/4 wavelength in the mirror position introduces a phase shift of 1/2 lambda (180 degrees phase shift) and introduces "destructive interference" in one of the wave return paths).
You can see that destructive interference is actually about rerouting the intensity to somewhere else: in this case, the waves return in the direction of the wave source itself (located above the beam splitter), create a standing wave pattern between the incoming and outgoing waves.
This wave simulation was made using the code supplied by @DiffractionLimited
The image file for the simulation can be downloaded here:

#short #light #physics #optics

[TheEvertw]

You are on a roll!
These simulations are awesome, and you make great cases for displaying interesting phenomenon.

[pritamshtty]

This is the same reason why there are less losses in lenses and optics with antireflective coatings

[AaronALAI]

Awesome video! And cool usage of the simulation code. I spent my weekend doing simulations too, really fascinating stuff!!

[duncanfreeman]

This is the best visual explanation of the E&M going on here I've ever seen. Well done

[valterkaugust]

Thank you! This really cleared things up for me!

[metaturso]

The only kind of Shorts I'll allow in my subscription feed.

[jan_the_man]

Een van mijn favoriete Nederlandse YouTubers 😁 ps: ik hoop dat je ooit eens een lezing of iets komt geven op de TU Delft

[mrmotl]

Does this imply that the idea of deconstructive interference is somewhat a misnomer? Since it seems to deconstruct the signal wave in its forward progress, but it does seem to constructively interfere through back propagation intensity?
Would that be correct or am I missing something?

[DrBlokmeister]

Nice! Of course this is true, but it is something else to see this explained by these clear simulations. It really adds another layer of depth!

[Noconstitutionfordemocrats]

Does anything truly cancel to zero in the universe?

[Tim-Kaa]

In ham radio we have a measurement gage for reflected power

[quintenbroadfield]

Cool, can you do one where you show how holography works?

[paaao]

The ability to do work can quickly become the ability to do nothing.

[SlinkyD]

Great explanation & visuals.

Unrelated high shower thought: How deep is a sea of light?

[frogz]

optics, like antennas are black magic

[Drawliphant]

Give your source a gaussian distribution so it looks nicer

[-vermin-]

What about the case where two coherent and 180° phase locked sources are fired directly at each other (rather than using a beam splitter)?

[PewrityLab]

Btw the reason why this happens is because one wave is phase shifted by 180° with respect to the other

[Trahloc]

So this is how beam forming is done? By destructively choosing where the energy gets focused?

[rodm]

Waves are co-mingled, the emitance is light shadow and refraction.