Young's double-slit experiment is a fundamental experiment in physics that provides strong evidence for the wave nature of light. It involves shining a beam of light through two closely spaced slits and observing the resulting pattern on a screen. Surprisingly, instead of two simple bright spots corresponding to the slits, an alternating pattern of bright and dark bands, known as interference fringes, is observed.

This phenomenon can be explained by considering light as a wave. When the beam of light passes through the slits, it diffracts, meaning it bends around the edges of the slits and spreads out. The diffracted waves then overlap, creating regions of constructive and destructive interference. Where the peaks and troughs of the waves align, bright fringes are observed, while where they cancel out, dark fringes appear.

Young's double-slit experiment not only demonstrated the wave nature of light but also opened up a deeper understanding of interference. It laid the foundation for the development of wave optics and has been a key experiment in the field of quantum mechanics.