Wave Optics has 136 questions in JEE Main papers from 2020 to 2026, about 19 per year across all shifts. The free PDF has 132 of them, each with its answer. The most asked topic is Young's Double Slit Experiment (70 questions), followed by Polarisation (22) and Single Slit Diffraction (21).
Asked in JEE Main
1362020–2026, all shifts
In this free PDF
132with answers
Asked in 2026
24Latest paper: 2026 Apr S2
Most asked topic
Young's Double Slit Experiment70 Qs · 52% of the chapter
Difficulty mix
50% easy · 49% medium · 1% hardof the questions in the PDF
11 of this chapter's questions came back in a later paper (2021–2026). See the most repeated.
How often it's asked in JEE Main
Wave Optics had about 1.1 questions per shift in recent JEE Main papers (2024–26). Most asked topic: Young's Double Slit Experiment. About 24 questions in the 2026 papers. (Some topics were cut in 2024; see what changed.)
It came up in most 2024–26 shifts in our bank (about 50 shifts). Question types in 2020–2026: about 85 MCQs and about 51 numerical.
How many questions from Wave Optics in JEE Main, year by year
Year
Questions
Per shift
MCQ
Numerical
2026
24
1.3
16
8
2025
19
1.0
14
5
2024
22
1.1
9
13
2023
19
0.8
11
8
2022
21
0.9
14
7
2021
17
0.7
10
7
2020
14
0.9
11
3
2020–2026
136
0.9
85
51
Most asked Wave Optics topics, 2020–2026
Topic
Questions
Young's Double Slit Experiment
70
Polarisation
22
Single Slit Diffraction
21
Huygens' Principle
20
Interference in Thin Films
3
Counted from PrepWiser's question bank of JEE Main papers, 2020–2026. Per shift = questions that year ÷ shifts in our bank. Updated .
in the free PDF asked, not in the PDFThe PDF only has questions we can print in full with a checked answer, so it holds 132 of the 136 asked.
Topic-wise weightage by year
How many Wave Optics questions each topic had in every JEE Main year (all shifts), counting every question asked, including ones not in the PDF. Darker cells mean more questions.
Topic
Asked
Share
2026
2025
2024
2023
2022
2021
2020
Young's Double Slit Experiment
70
52%
2
13
10
11
14
12
8
Polarisation
22
16%
5
2
3
6
2
2
2
Single Slit Diffraction
21
15%
3
1
7
2
4
1
3
Huygens' Principle
20
15%
14
1
2
·
1
2
·
Interference in Thin Films
3
2%
·
2
·
·
·
·
1
All topics
136
100%
24
19
22
19
21
17
14
Swipe the table sideways for older years.
Newest questions (2026)
The 12 newest of the 23 JEE Main 2026 Wave Optics questions in the free PDF, latest shift first. The 2026 papers asked 24 in all.
Some distant star is to be observed by some telescope of diameter of objective lens a, at an angular resolution of 3.0×10−7 radian. If the wavelength of light from the star reaching the telescope is 500 nm , the minimum diameter of the objective lens of the telescope is ____ cm. (nearest interger)
In interference experiment the path difference between two interfering waves at a point A on the screen is λ/3, where λ is the wavelength of these waves, and at another point B the path difference is λ/6. The ratio of intensities at points A and B is ____ .
An unpolarized light of intensity I0 passes through polarizer and then through a certain optically active solution and finally it goes to analyser. If the angle between analyser and polariser is 0∘ and intensity of light emerged from analyser is 83I0, the angle of rotation of the light by the solution with respect to analyser is ____ degrees.
In Young's double slit experiment, the fringe width of the interference pattern produced on the screen is 2.4μm. If the experiment is carried out in another medium having refractive index 1.2 , the fringe width will be ____μm.
The maximum intensity in a Young's double slit experiment is I0. Distance between the slits (d) is 5λ, where λ is the wavelength of light used. The intensity of the fringe, exactly opposite to one of the slits on the screen, placed at D=10d is ____ .
In a double slit experiment, when one of the slits is covered by a transparent mica sheet of refractive index 1.56 , the central fringe shifts to the position of 7th bright fringe, obtained with both slits uncovered. If the light source wavelength is 450 nm , the thickness of mica sheet is α×10−9m. The value of α is
A telescope with objective diameter R is used to observe a distant star emitting light of wavelength 500 nm , at a resolution of 5×10−7 radian. The value of R is
JEE Main 2026 · 4 Apr · Shift 1 · Single Slit Diffraction
A slit of width a is illuminated by light of wavelength λ. The linear separation between 1st and 3rd minima in the diffraction pattern produced on a screen placed at a distance D from the slit system is ____ .
An unpolarized light is incident on the plane interface of air-dielectric medium shown in figure. If the incident angle is equal to Brewster angle, identify the expression representing reflected wave.
An unpolarized light of certain intensity passes through a combination of two polarizers whose transmission axes are at 30∘ and 90∘, respectively, with respect to the horizontal axis. A third polarizer with its transmission axis at 60∘ with the horizontal axis is placed between the two existing polarizers. The ratio of the output intensities with and without the third polarizer is ____ .
JEE Main 2026 · 2 Apr · Shift 1 · Single Slit Diffraction
In single slit diffraction pattern, the wavelength of light used is 628 nm and slit width is 0.2 mm, the angular width of central maximum is α×10−2 degrees. The value of α is ________.
In a Young's double slit experiment, the intensity at some point on the screen is found to be 43 times of the maximum of the interference pattern. The path difference between the interfering waves at this point is xλ where λ is wavelength of the incident light. The value of x is _______.
JEE Main 2025 · 28 Jan · Shift 2 · Interference in Thin Films
A thin transparent film with refractive index 1.4 , is held on circular ring of radius 1.8 cm . The fluid in the film evaporates such that transmission through the film at wavelength 560 nm goes to a minimum every 12 seconds. Assuming that the film is flat on its two sides, the rate of evaporation is ____________ π×10−13m3/s.
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