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Friday, 9 October

JEE Main Physics · Class 12

Wave Optics: JEE Main previous year questions

Wave Optics had 44 questions in the 42 JEE Main shifts Lumi analysed, about 0.9 a shift, asked in 36 of 42 shifts. It ranks 9 of 29 Physics chapters by questions; 2% of its questions were hard.

Questions
44
in 36 of 42 shifts
A shift, on average
0.9
of 25 Physics questions
Since 2024
+0.5
0.7 a shift in 2017–23, 1.2 in 2024–26
Numerical answer
19
43% of its questions

Year by year

How often it came

Questions in the analysed shifts of each year. Years differ in how many shifts Lumi analysed, so read the bars with the shift count.

Questions each year
07141’173’204’213’222’238’2410’2513’26

2017: 1 shifts · 2020: 4 shifts · 2021: 4 shifts · 2022: 4 shifts · 2023: 4 shifts · 2024: 8 shifts · 2025: 8 shifts · 2026: 9 shifts

Difficulty by year
  • 20171
  • 20203
  • 20214
  • 20223
  • 20232
  • 20248
  • 202510
  • 202613
  • Easy
  • Medium
  • Hard

Inside the chapter

Topics and the ideas that repeat

5 topics and 22 distinct ideas; 7 ideas were asked more than once. Most questions are single correct and calculation.

Topics, by questions

2 questions had no close topic in our taxonomy and are counted for the chapter only.

Ideas asked most
7 repeat

Study it on Lumi

Wave Optics: the interactive lesson

Every question

All 44 Wave Optics questions

Newest first. Each opens with its options and the official answer.

2026 13 questions

  1. 2 Apr 2026, Shift 1 · Q46In single slit diffraction pattern, the wavelength of light used is 628628 nm and slit width is 0.20.2 mm, the angular width of central…EasyNumerical value
  2. 2 Apr 2026, Shift 2 · Q46In a Young's double slit experiment, the intensity at some point on the screen is found to be 34\frac{3}{4} times of the maximum of the…MediumNumerical value
  3. 4 Apr 2026, Shift 1 · Q33A slit of width aa is illuminated by light of wavelength λ\lambda. The linear separation between 1st1^{\text{st}} and 3rd3^{\text{rd}}…EasySingle correct
  4. 4 Apr 2026, Shift 1 · Q44A telescope with objective diameter RR is used to observe a distant star emitting light of wavelength 500500 nm, at a resolution of…EasySingle correct
  5. 4 Apr 2026, Shift 1 · Q45An unpolarized light is incident on the plane interface of air-dielectric medium shown in figure. If the incident angle is equal to…HardDiagram basedHas a figure
  6. 4 Apr 2026, Shift 2 · Q42An unpolarized light of certain intensity passes through a combination of two polarizers whose transmission axes are at 30∘30^\circ and…MediumSingle correct
  7. 4 Apr 2026, Shift 2 · Q50In a double slit experiment, when one of the slits is covered by a transparent mica sheet of refractive index 1.56, the central fringe…MediumNumerical value
  8. 5 Apr 2026, Shift 1 · Q39In Young's double slit experiment, the fringe width of the interference pattern produced on the screen is 2.4 μ2.4\ \mum. If the experiment…EasySingle correct
  9. 5 Apr 2026, Shift 2 · Q42The maximum intensity in a Young's double slit experiment is I0I_0. Distance between the slits (dd) is 5λ5\lambda, where λ\lambda is the…MediumSingle correct
  10. 6 Apr 2026, Shift 1 · Q36In interference experiment the path difference between two interfering waves at a point AA on the screen is λ/3\lambda/3, where λ\lambda…EasySingle correct
  11. 6 Apr 2026, Shift 1 · Q47An unpolarized light of intensity I0I_0 passes through polarizer and then through a certain optically active solution and finally it goes…MediumNumerical value
  12. 6 Apr 2026, Shift 2 · Q45In a Young double slit experiment, the wavelength of incident light is 6000 Å, the separation between slits S1S_1 and S2S_2 is 5 cm and…MediumDiagram basedHas a figure
  13. 8 Apr 2026, Shift 2 · Q47Some distant star is to be observed by some telescope of diameter of objective lens aa, at an angular resolution of 3.0×10−73.0 \times 10^{-7}…EasyNumerical value

2025 10 questions

  1. 2 Apr 2025, Shift 1 · Q40A light wave is propagating with plane wave fronts of the type x+y+z=constantx+y+z=\text{constant}. The angle made by the direction of wave…MediumSingle correct
  2. 2 Apr 2025, Shift 1 · Q50If the measured angular separation between the second minimum to the left of the central maximum and the third minimum to the right of the…MediumNumerical value
  3. 3 Apr 2025, Shift 1 · Q50Two coherent monochromatic light beams of intensities 4I and 9I are superimposed. The difference between the maximum and minimum…EasyNumerical value
  4. 3 Apr 2025, Shift 2 · Q41Two monochromatic light beams have intensities in the ratio 1:9. An interference pattern is obtained by these beams. The ratio of the…EasySingle correct
  5. 3 Apr 2025, Shift 2 · Q42A monochromatic light of frequency 5×10145 \times 10^{14} Hz travelling through air, is incident on a medium of refractive index '2'.…EasySingle correct
  6. 3 Apr 2025, Shift 2 · Q43Width of one of the two slits in a Young's double slit interference experiment is half of the other slit. The ratio of the maximum to the…MediumSingle correct
  7. 4 Apr 2025, Shift 2 · Q40Two polarisers P1P_1 and P2P_2 are placed in such a way that the intensity of the transmitted light will be zero. A third polariser P3P_3…MediumSingle correct
  8. 4 Apr 2025, Shift 2 · Q46In a Young's double slit experiment, two slits are located 1.5 mm apart. The distance of screen from slits is 2 m and the wavelength of…MediumNumerical value
  9. 7 Apr 2025, Shift 1 · Q41Two plane polarized light waves combine at a certain point whose electric field components are E1=E0sin⁡ωtE_1 = E_0 \sin\omega t…EasySingle correct
  10. 8 Apr 2025, Shift 2 · Q42In a Young's double slit experiment, the source is white light. One of the slits is covered by red filter and another by a green filter.…MediumSingle correct

2024 8 questions

  1. 6 Apr 2024, Shift 2 · Q54Two coherent monochromatic light beams of intensities II and 4I4I are superimposed. The difference between maximum and minimum possible…EasyNumerical value
  2. 8 Apr 2024, Shift 1 · Q59A parallel beam of monochromatic light of wavelength 600 nm passes through single slit of 0.4 mm width. Angular divergence corresponding…EasyNumerical value
  3. 9 Apr 2024, Shift 1 · Q59In a Young's double slit experiment, the intensity at a point is (14)th\left(\frac{1}{4}\right)^{th} of the maximum intensity, the minimum…MediumNumerical value
  4. 9 Apr 2024, Shift 2 · Q52Monochromatic light of wavelength 500500 nm is used in Young's double slit experiment. An interference pattern is obtained on a screen.…MediumNumerical value
  5. 29 Jan 2024, Shift 1 · Q59In a double slit experiment shown in figure, when light of wavelength 400 nm is used, dark fringe is observed at PP. If D=0.2 m, the…MediumNumerical valueHas a figure
  6. 30 Jan 2024, Shift 2 · Q45A beam of unpolarised light of intensity IoI_o is passed through a polaroid AA and then through another polaroid BB which is oriented so…EasySingle correct
  7. 31 Jan 2024, Shift 1 · Q59Two waves of intensity ratio 1:9 cross each other at a point. The resultant intensities at that point, when (a) Waves are incoherent is…MediumNumerical value
  8. 31 Jan 2024, Shift 2 · Q45When unpolarized light is incident at an angle of 60∘60^\circ on a transparent medium from air, the reflected ray is completely polarized.…EasySingle correct

2023 2 questions

  1. 8 Apr 2023, Shift 2 · Q46The width of fringe is 2 mm on the screen in a double slits experiment for the light of wavelength of 400 nm. The width of the fringe for…EasySingle correct
  2. 13 Apr 2023, Shift 2 · Q46In a Young's double slits experiment, the ratio of amplitude of light coming from slits is 2:1. The ratio of the maximum to minimum…EasySingle correct

2022 3 questions

  1. 28 Jul 2022, Shift 1 · Q53In a Young's double slit experiment, a laser light of 560 nm produces an interference pattern with consecutive bright fringes' separation…EasyNumerical value
  2. 24 Jun 2022, Shift 1 · Q55Sodium light of wavelengths 650 nm and 655 nm is used to study diffraction at a single slit of aperture 0.5 mm. The distance between the…MediumNumerical value
  3. 29 Jun 2022, Shift 1 · Q49Using Young's double slit experiment, a monochromatic light of wavelength 5000 A˚\mathrm{\AA} produces fringes of fringe width 0.5 mm. If…EasySingle correct

2021 4 questions

  1. 3 Aug 2021, Shift 2 · Q27In Young's double slit experiment, 58 fringes are observed in the field of view when a light of wavelength 6000 A˚\mathrm{\AA} was used.…EasyNumerical value
  2. 25 Jul 2021, Shift 1 · Q8In the Young's double slit experiment, the distance between the slits varies in time as d(t)=d0+a0sin⁡ωtd(t)=d_0+a_0\sin\omega t ; where d0d_0, ω\omega…MediumSingle correct
  3. 16 Mar 2021, Shift 2 · Q4Red light differs from blue light as they have :EasySingle correct
  4. 18 Mar 2021, Shift 1 · Q7In Young's double slit arrangement, slits are separated by a gap of 0.5 mm, and the screen is placed at a distance of 0.5 m from them. The…EasySingle correct

2020 3 questions

  1. 9 Jan 2020, Shift 2 · Q24In a Young's double slit experiment 15 fringes are observed on a small portion of the screen when light of wavelength 500 nm is used. Ten…EasyNumerical value
  2. 2 Sep 2020, Shift 1 · Q17Interference fringes are observed on a screen by illuminating two thin slits 1 mm apart with a light source (λ=632.8\lambda=632.8 nm). The…EasySingle correct
  3. 6 Sep 2020, Shift 2 · Q24A Young's double-slit experiment is performed using monochromatic light of wavelength λ\lambda. The intensity of light at a point on the…MediumNumerical value

2017 1 questions

  1. 2 Apr 2017 (offline) · Q23In a Young's double slit experiment, slits are separated by 0.5 mm, and the screen is placed 150 cm away. A beam of light consisting of…MediumSingle correct

Pattern: Asked most years.