Past exam of the physics course of the year 1 of the natural sciences course of the University of Cambridge / 2012 / Paper 1 / Section A / 5 / Solution

The phase step between adjacent slits isFor equal amplitudes $a_0$, the six unmodified contributions form a closed regular hexagon in the complex plane:Reversing one slit at an array minimum replaces slit $j$'s contribution by its negative, so $S=S_0-2a_0{e}^{ij\pi /3}$. ConsequentlyThis is independent of which slit is reversed. The result uses the far-field, narrow-slit and small-angle approximations; retaining $\sin \theta$ changes the phase step only by about $7\times 10^{-7}$ radians.