Wave interference question

[[Tycho?]]

Draw a diagram with rays and wave fronts of the equations

 

intensity maxima (theta max)=inverse sin(m*lambda/d) m=0,1,2,3....

 

intensity minima (theta max)=inverse sin((m+0.5)*lambda/d) m=0,1,2,3....

 

Where d is the distance between the two sources.

 

This is a lab question. I dont know what a wave front or a ray looks like on diagram though, I'm not sure what that means. I would have thought it would be the classic interference graph, with the large maxima in the center and then varies mins and maxs as one gets futher from the center. Yet the mins and maxs are supposed to be drawn seperately, apparently. Any insight into this?

[swansont]

Often the wave front is the amplitude maximum of the circular wave that emanates from the point source. You get interference maxima where two wavefronts cross. Probably like the drawing here: http://www.physicsclassroom.com/Class/light/u12l1b.html labeled two-point souce interference pattern

[[Tycho?]]

Yeah, the wave front thing led me to believe it would look something like that. I still dont know what it means by rays though. I know rays are lines that have a start point, and go out to infinity, but that doesn't help much.