REFERENCE MANUAL AO No. 3100 helium-neon gas laser DEMONSTRATION EXPERIMENTS OF BASIC PHENOMENA IN OPTICS AMERICAN OPTICAL CORPORATION Price $5.00‘Table of Contents INTRODUCTION ....--..-----5 aoe ee Boo tl Specifications»... 2... eee eee Catalog No. 3110 Demonstration and Experiment Kit... 2.2.0... 5 SETTING UP VARIOUS BEAM CONTROLS Procedure For Alignment of Optical Bench... 0.0.0 see eee 6 Beam Multiplier... . Beam Raiser... 2.2... 020 Beam Concentrator... 2.0.0.5 Beam Expander ..... Beam Cleaner... 2.200000 Templates... 6... eee CARE AND CLEANING 0. eon eee 2 FUSE REPLACEMENT... ........ 12 SOME COMMENTS ON THE LASER . . . . 13 EXPERIMENT DRAWINGS ..... 2... 16 Classroom Lighting for Demonstrations ..........000--5 +++ 16 INDEX TO DEMONSTRATION EXPERIMENTS ........ , See ay Group I. Observing Light Behavior (8 Experiments ) Group I. Reflection and Images (6 Experiments ) Group II, Refraction and Lenses (6 Experiments ) Group IV. Light Waves, Interference and Diffraction (9 Experiments ) Group V. Polarized Light (3 Experiments ) APPENDIX, "Principles and Properties of the Laser" . . . (following experiments )CAUTION Students must be placed so that there is no possibility of the laser beam striking their eyes either directly or by reflection from pol- ished surfaces. Laser light focused on the retina of an eye is capable of permanent- ly destroying vision at the point of focus. Care must be taken not to look into the laser beam, either directly into the laser tube, or after the beam has been reflected from polished or mirror-like surfaces. ‘The laser is provided with a locking switch to prevent unauthorized use. It should be kept locked (key removed) except when under direct control of a responsible person. High Voltage: Caution should be exercised to avoid contact with dangerous high voltage. Do not remove the cover from the unit when the power cord is connected. Copyright Copyright 1970 by American Optical Corporation, Southbridge, Massachusetts. All rights reserved. No part of this manual may be reproduced in any form without permission from American Optical Corporation. Second Edition be, [ACCESSION No. 87598 ANOVI976 _ CATEGORY NINTRODUCTION ‘The demonstration experiments in optics described in this manual have been de- signed primarily for high school physics courses and optics courses in college physics. The laser and accessories are designed for classroom demonstrations and student laboratory experiments. The helium-neon laser, because of its qualities of coherence’ monochromaticity* intensity and collimation*, provides a unique light source for the demonstration of many fundamental properties in geometrical and physical optics. It is not our in- tention to be concerned with the mechanisms of the laser in great detail. Instead, the AO Laser, with its wide variety of accessories, is presented as a useful tool for the observation and study of optical phenomena much more easily than with other light sources. The use of the AO Laser is by no means limited to the experiments in this manual. The nature of the laser light beam and the versatility of the AO accessory kit lend themselves to a wide variety of demonstrations, It is anticipated that many addi- tional demonstration experiments will be devised by users. Please send suggested experiments to: Editor, Gas Laser Research Group, American Optical Corporation, Research Laboratory, Framingham Center, Mass. 01701. Selected new experi- ments will be made available in our laser newsletter, "REFLECTIONS". * These terms are discussed in the appendix "Principles and Properties of the Laser". NOTE: Several states have regulations relating to the purchase, use and registration of laser equipment. The users and owners of the laser equipment described in this manual should inform themselves of the effects of such laws on their operations. The demonstration experiments in this manual were developed at the Research Laboratory of American Optical Corporation, Framingham, Mass. with the aid of consultant H. Henry Stroke, Professor of Physics, New York University.Wavelength . . . Output Power. Plasma Tube . . Beam SPECIFICATIONS 6328 Angstroms 2 milliwatts CW Brewster Angle Windows Divergence - ‘Less than 0.3 milliradians half angle. Diameter - 2mm Polarization - linear Coherence . . External... . Mirrors Power Supply . Power Control Single mode (TEMoo ) uniphase wavefront Factory prealigned. Wavefront correct- ing output mirror Solid state d.c. supply 116V, 60 eps Single "On-Off" locking switch with removable key.HELIUM-NEON GAS LASER AND DEMONSTRATION - EXPERIMENT KIT FIGURE 1 CATALOG. REFERENCE | OR PART NUMBER NUMBER DESCRIPTION @QuantiTy 1 silo He-No Gas Laser and Demonstration - 1 Experiment Kit (Includes Case Catalog No. 111 and items 3 thru 31) 2 s101 Demonstration Experiment Kit and Case 1 3 100 Helium-Neon Gas Laser 1 4 a107 Display Tank with Cover 1 5 102 Display Sotution Pkg. of 6 Boitles 6 105 Snell's Wheel Assembly 1 7 106 Beam Multiplier Assembly 1 8 3101-38 | Experiment Template, Resolution 1 3101-38 | Experiment Template, Diffraction 1 ‘Experiments aii-9 | Experiment Template, Pinhole Diffraction 1 ° 3101-34 | Hologram 1 10 3108 Resolution, Slide, Gratings Set of, Diffraction, Slide, slits 2 Slides alol-ss¢ | Slide Holder Assembly. 1 n st01-21 | Vertical Supports 2 2 3101-608 Filter, Polarizing 2 3101-609 | Filter, Red 1 si0i-610 | Filter, Green 1 ato1-a78 | Half-Wave Plate (not shown) 1 13 s101-859 | Lens Assembly (42mm focal length lens) 1 5101-860 | Lens Assembly (94mm focal length lens) 1 “ 3101-13 | Pinhole (005 dia. ) 1 a1o1-14 | Pinhole (7062 dia.) 1 3101-15 | Pinhole (125 dia.) 1 15 3101-858 | Mirror, Gimbaled 1 16 3101-86¢ | Mirror Assembly ( Ist Surface) 2 ” 23-001 Mirror (2nd Surface) 3 18 3101-873 | Plastic Rectangle 1 19 3101-870 | Triangular Prism 1 20 stoi-s72 | Truncated Prism 2 a aio1-s71 | ‘T-Mount, for Plastic Elements with 1 Magnetie-Tape Backing 2 3101-26 | Positioning Pin 1 2 3101-28 | Cylindrical Lens 1 Ey 3101-865 | Glass Plate Assembly 1 25 s101-9 Objective Cell (also used with Pinholes) 2 26 na 10X Objective Lens 2 Ea 103 Convex Lens Assembly, plastic 1 5104 Concave Lens Assembly, plastic 1 28 101-855 | Pad, Leg Support 1 29 s101-1 ‘Mounting Bracket 1 30 3101-853 | Optical Bench Assembly 1 31 100-101 | Reference and Experiment Manual 1‘TURNING ON THE LASER ‘The laser is designed to operate on 115 volts AC power, either 50 or 60 cycles. The single switch to energize the laser is operated by a key which is removable only when the switch is off. The key must be pressed in and turned clockwise to turn on the laser. If the protective fuse fails, the pilot light will go out, To replace fuse, see page 12. PROCEDURE FOR ALIGNMENT OF OPTICAL BENCH Before use of the laser and kit for dem- onstrations, the optical bench must be attached to the mounting bracket and the bench aligned with the beam of light. 1, Remove the twoscrews (see arrows, Figure 2) and attach mounting brac— ket, as shown in Figure 3, using the same screws to hold bracket in place. 2, Position the optical bench on the laser as shown in Figure 4. Place the pad (28, Figure 1) under the op- tical bench’ support leg. 3. Thread the pinhole (0.125 inch dia~ meter hole) into an objective lens cell. Figure 4. Opti Figure 5. Using Pinhole Assembly for Bench Alignment‘Turn on the laser and place the pin- hole assembly on the optical bench about three inches from the end of the bench so that you can see the position of the light beam in rela- tion to the hole. As shown in Fig- ure 5, the pinhole plug must face toward the laser. Using the adjustment screws, as shown in Figure 6, center the light in the hole. The single side screw provides horizontal adjustment of the bench. The two top screws raise or lower the optical bench in relation to the laser beam. IMPORTANT Turn the two vertical-motion screws simultaneously to keep the bench level laterally. igure 6, Horizontal Adjustment of Optical Bench Move the pinhole assembly to the other end of the optical bench as shown in Figure 7, Again center the light beam in the hole using the knurled knob on the support leg (see Figure 8) for vertical adjust- ment. Simply move the leg and pad from side to side for horizontal ad- ment. Move the pinhole assembly back to the first position (Step 5) to recheck beam centering. Refine alignment if necessary.BEAM MULTIPLIER A number of the demonstrations of geo- metrical optics utilize the beam multi- plier. The multiplier produces five parallel beams from the one original beam from the laser. Its action is illustrated in Figures 9 and 10. ‘The laser beam enters the glass plate at the "window" where no coating has been applied. ‘The laser beam is re~ fracted as shown in Figure 9. When the laser beam strikes the coating on the second surface of the plate, about 25% of the light is transmitted to be- come the lowest of the five beams; the remaining light is reflected by the se ond surface coating. All this light is reflected at the back surface coating. When it again strikes the second sur- face, the next beam is produced, and so on for the remaining beams as shown in Figures 9 and 10. At the location where the uppermost beam leaves the plate, the coating is entirely omitted, allowing practically all the light remaining to form the last beam. From the lowest beam through the fourth, the intensity gradually di minishes, but the last beam has inten sity equal to or greater than the first. Classroom discussion of this device can provide instructive insight into basic optics. BEAM RAISER Refraction demonstrations involving the plastic Snell's wheel require that the laser output beam be raised two inches. This is accomplished by using the two square mirrors with pivot mounts in conjunction with one of the vertical sup- ports to make a "beam raiser", as shown in Figure 11. First insert the lower mirror and orient it at 45° to direct the laser beam verti- Figure 10. Beam Multiplier Figure 11. Beam Raiser cally, Figure 12; check the position of the spot on the ceiling. ‘Then insert the other mirror and orient it at about 45° to redirect the beam horizontally. The raised beam should now be parallel to the original beam direction and to the rails of the aligned optical bench.Figure 12. Checking Lower Mirror Angle The raised beam is to strike the center of Snell's wheel and is toenter the wheel along its radius to permit "correct" angle readings to be made from the scales imprinted on the wheel. If the raised beam misses the center of the wheel rim, correct this situation by sliding the optical bench leg and supporting pad sideways. The mirrors are correctly used as “first surface" reflectors, that is, the aluminum-coated surfaces should "face" the beam. If these mirrors are used incorrectly as back surface reflectors, two beams will be formed from a single beam at each mirror due to the addi~ tional reflection from the uncoated front surface; the displays will be made less effective by the extraneous beams. BEAM CONCENTRATOR For demonstrations in geometrical op- ties, or elsewhere when the narrow beam property of the laser is used, the diameter of the beam as it comes out of wy Figure 13, Beam Concentrator the laser can be reduced. This is done with the "beam concentrator” shown in Figure 13. Attach the bench to the laser and align. Set the 42mm focal length lens on the bench as shown in the figure. Place the 10X microscope objective in its cell on the bench with the front of the objective approximately 49mm from the 42mm lens. ‘The focal plane of the objective is about 7mm from the front of the ob- jective. The 49mm distance provides that the focused spot produced by the 42mm lens is at the focal plane of the objective. The correct separation is ascertained by verifying that the light emerging fromthe microscope objective is parallel. Parallelism is achieved by moving the objective slightly to make the beam sizes equal both on a card held near the objective and on a screen or wall at some distance. ‘The amount of beam narrowing is equal to the ratio of the focal length of the 42mm lens to the focal length of the microscope objective (= 16mm). BEAM EXPANDER Some demonstrations Experiment IV. 6 "Diffraction Grating.....", for ex- ample, require a larger diameter bean to produce more effective results than are attainable using the 2mm diameter beam directly from the laser. A beam expander is therefore used; it consists of the 10X microscope objec- tive and the 94mm focal length lens in the arrangement of Figure 14. Figure 14. Beam Exponder10 BEAM EXPANDER, CONT. ‘The laser beam is brought to a focused spot by the (16mm focal length) micro- scope objective. When this spot is at the focus of the 94mm lens, then the latter lens produces a parallel or col- limated beam of larger diameter. ‘The "Diffraction Experiments" template provides slots for the microscope ob- jective and 94mm lens to be used to expand the beam. These slots have sufficient width to provide necessary axial adjustability of the cells to achieve collimation of the beam beyond the 94mm lens. The criterion for proper collimation is that the beam be of uni- form diameter between the 94mm lens and any distant point, This is easily checked with a piece of paper held in the beam close to and then farther from the 94mm lens. Alternatively, though a slot for the 42mm lens is not pro- vided in the "Diffraction Experiments" template, the 42mm focal length lens can be used instead of the 94mm. The spacing to the 10X objective is reduced by the difference in focal lengths. The advantage in using the 42mm lens is the reduction of space occupied on the op- tical bench, perhaps an aid for user- designed experiments. BEAM CLEANER Some experiments (Experiment 1V.7, “Diffraction at an Edge", for example) are demonstrated more favorably with the use of a "beam cleaner", If the laser beam is expanded by any of sev- eral lenses in the kit and falls upon a sereen, there are extraneous patterns seen in and around the magnified spot. These are caused by interference of multiple beams (created when the laser beam is reflected between surfaces of the output mirror, for example) or by diffraction due to dust particles or fin gerprints. ‘These patterns can be re- duced to a great extent with the use of the beam cleaner, shown in Figure 15. Most of the light contributing to the ex- traneous patterns is propagating at vari- ous angles, not parallel to the main laser beam. If the output of the laser passes through the 10X objective lens, the parallel light of the main beam is focused to a very small spot and the light at the other angles is focused at a slightly different location laterally displaced from the main beam spot. An obstacle with a very small aperture can be placed so that it allows the main beam spot to pass through the hole but blocks the other light. Thus a small hole, positioned at the focus of the 10X lens, produces a "clean" beam. The smailer the hole size, the more effec tively are the extraneous patterns elim- inated. Smaller apertures require more critical adjustment. The pinhole furnished with the kit is 0.005 inch diameter and can be easily adjusted. Setting Up The Beam Cleaner (Figure 15 shows the arrangement ‘of components ) 1, Align the optical bench attached to the laser. 2, Screw a 10X objective into the laser housing. 3. Screw the pinhole plug (0.005" dia. ) into an objective cell and place it on the optical bench, oriented as in Figure 15, with about 7mm between front of lens and plug.4, Use the bench adjusting screws to maximize the light transmitted by the 0.005 hole. A piece of paper held beyond the hole will aid this observation. 5. If the small hole is not exactly at the focus of the objective, diffraction rings will be seen. Make slight ad- Justments of the cell along the bench until a uniformly illuminated eircu- lar area is obtained. If the adjust- ing screws are turned when the small aperture is in its correct po- sition at the focus, the illumination is cut off much more abruptly than when the hole is not exactly at the focal point of this lens. The rather large spot projected to a screen by the microscope objective is now seen to be almost completely free of the extraneous patterns usually seen around the laser beam, permitting a cleaner display of diffraction patterns to be created in various experiments. TEMPLATES ‘Three templates are provided that aid the demonstrator to very quickly set up certain experiments. ‘These templates are labeled "Pinhole Diffraction" (for Experiment IV.3), "Resolution" (for Experiment IV.4), and "Diffraction Ex- periments" (for Experiments IV. 2, IV.5, 1.6). First attach the optical bench to the laser and align it. ‘Then affix the appro- priate template to the bench by engaging the slot of the template with the pin at the laser end of the bench and engage the hole of the template with the pin at the far end of the bench, as shown in Figure 16a. The imprinted side of the template should be upward. The various cylindrical holders will sit properly on the rails of the bench when Placed in the cutouts of the templates, (Figures 16b and 16c). Each cutout is purposely made slightly oversize to permit focusing for different projection distances by moving the holders along the bench. In each demonstration experiment a drawing indicates the correct orienta- tion of each holder for the specific needs of that experiment. The order of placement of various items, and the criteria for correct focus positioning are specified in the text of each experi- ment. Figure 16a. Use of Templates ul12 CARE AND CLEANING IMPORTANT Never remove the cover of the laser. Internal adjustments must be made by factory trained technicians, For ser- vice, contact your AO dealer or American Optical Corporation, Technical Service Centers in Chicago, Ill. , Glendale, Calif., Springfield, N.J., Dallas, ‘Texas, and Buffalo, New York, The micros cope objectives in the kit are high quality optical elements and should be checked periodically for cleanliness. If the back or front lens surfaces become dirty, clean by first blowing off dust with an ear syringe. A clean cotton tipped stick will remove or loosen dust not removed by blowing. If the front lens is oily from fingerprints, apply a mild soap or detergent solution with a cotton tipped stick and wipe dry with lens tissue, lint-free cloth or cot- ton. Do not immerse microscope ob- Jectives in liquid. Clean the 42mm and 94mm focal length lenses in the same manner recommend- ed for the microscope objectives. Care should be taken that the plastic elements in the accessory case are not scratched or dropped. if plastic parts require cleaning, wash with a soft cloth and mild soap or detergent solution. Use clean water to remove any film and dry with a soft, lint-free cloth. Do not use solvents to clean plastic elements. NOTE: Immediately dry the plastic lenses after they have been immersed in the display tank liquid (Experiment IIL.4) to avoid difficult-to-remove spots. The plastic display tank should always have the cover in place when filled with liquid to avoid distortion of the tank by the pressure of the liquid. When the tank is to be stored, empty the display solution in a jar; rinse the tank thor oughly in clean water and wipe dry with a soft cloth to avoid water spotting. The mirrors in the accessory kit can be cleaned by applying a mild soap or de- tergent solution with a soft cloth, rins- ing in clean water and drying, Do not immerse the gimbaled mirror assembly in water or other liquids. Avoid touching the partial-transmission coated surface of the beam multiplier. If fingerprints are accidentally placed on this surface, remove immediately using a mild soap or detergent solution, rinse and wipe dry with a soft, lint-free cloth. FUSE REPLACEMENT As shown in Figure 17, the fuse is ac- cessible from the back of the laser. Turn laser switch to “off” position and then twist fuse cap counterclockwise to remove. ‘The fuse is a standard, 2-1/2 ampere fuse which can be purchased locally. When the laser is turned on, the pilot light will indicate that the in- strument is operative. Figure 17. Back of LoserSOME COMMENTS ON THE LASER* In several types of lamps with which we have some familiarity, such as the bluish mercury vapor arc or the yellow sodium vapor arc that commonly line our high- ways, electrical energy is used to raise the energy of the atoms in the vapor. According to atomic theory only certain definite increments of energy of the atom above the lowest energy, or ground state, are allowed. In returning from the higher energy (excited) state to the normal (ground) state, energy is given up by the atom in the form of radiation, and in this manner the light that we see is produced. The wavelength (color) of this radiation, A (lambda), is related to the difference in energy between the energies of the initial and final energy states, Ey and Ef, respectively, through the relation discovered by Niels Bohr Q where h is Planck's constant, » (nu) is the frequency of the radiation, and c is the velocity of light. We see the color of the shortest visible wavelengths as blue and the color of the longest as red. Under ordinary circumstances excited atoms radiate electromagnetic waves with the wavelength of Equation (1) spontaneously at random times, and randomly into all directions. a Imagine, however, that we put some atoms into the excited state and that before they have had a chance to radiate spontaneously we can force them to radiate with the crests and troughs of the vibrations all matched, that is, in phase. This can be done by irradiating the excited atoms with a light wave of high intensity that matches closely the wavelength that would be spontaneously radiated. This type of radiation is called induced, or stimulated. A helfum-neon gas laser provides the means for achieving this coherent (in phase) emission as a continuous visible output beam. Indeed this is what happens in any laser, of any material, of any wavelength output. I. Laser A schematic drawing of the helium-neon laser used for the demonstrations described in this manual is shown in Figure 20. The gas discharge tube used for the genera- tion of the light contains helium and neon in a volume ratio of about 10 to 1, at a total pressure of a few Torr (1 Torr = 1/760 atmospheric pressure). The atomic systems of helium and neon are such that it is very probable under these conditions for excited helium atoms to collide with neon atoms in their normal (lowest energy) state and for the helium excitation energy to be transferred to the neon atoms. In this manner a large number of neon atoms can be prepared for the stimulated emission. If a few atoms of neon now radiate spontancously, the two end mirrors reflect the radiation going down the tube back through the gas discharge. +See the Appendix, "Principles and Properties of the Laser" 13“ SPHERICAL MIRROR (PARTLY TRANSMISSIVE FLAT WINDOWS SET AT BREWSTER'S ANGLE TO MINIMIZE REFLECTION Losses PLANE ‘MIRROR LINEAR: POLARIZATION OF LASER BEAM POWER SUPPLY Figure 18. Schematic Drawing of Lé On the way back and forth between the mirrors this radiation can now stimulate other excited neon atoms to radiate, thereby contributing more and more to the laser light beam at this one wavelength. We obtain in this manner the highly in- tense beam of monochromatic red light at the wavelength of 6328 Angstroms (1 Angstrom = 10-10m). From Figure 18, it is seen that the light traveling between the mirrors must pass through the two end windows of the discharge tube that contains the gas. In order to avoid a loss of light intensity by reflection at these windows, they are tilted at a specific angle, called Brewster's angle, for which all the light with the preferred direction of polarization is transmitted. The laser beam has small angular spread; this is determined by the curvature of the mirrors and their separation. Also, the laser beam is "spatially coherent", that is, if at a given time wave crests occur in one part, then at the same time crests also will occur in all other parts of the cross section. Under this condition, the waves in the various portions of the cross section of the beam are said to be “in phase”. The laser allows uniquely easy demonstration of diffraction and interference phe- nomena because of the spatial coherence and the monochromatic nature of the light beam. When different portions of the beam are superimposed, as on a screen, bright and dark bands, called interference fringes, are seen. I. Granularity If the laser beam is spread by a lens to 10 to 100 times its initial diameter and is allowed to strike a painted wall or a piece of paper, scattering or diffusing surfaces, the illuminated area presents an uncommon granular appearance. This granularity scintillates if one moves his head slowly and can be made to disappear if the head is rapidly moved,The sizes of the bright or dark areas are no smaller than the minimum the eye can resolve, that is an angle of about 1 minute, or about 1/3600 radian. The further one stands from the screen, the larger the grains appear. There will appear centers of bright grains in directions from where randomly oriented very small areas of the diffusing surface strongly scatter light toward the eye. The intensity seen in a given direction results from contributions of many small areas of the surface. This intensity depends on the minute differences in distance from these small areas to the eye. As a result, in some directions, the waves reinforce each other to produce maximum intensity, in other directions ‘they cancel to produce minimum intensity; intermediate intensities are seen in other directions. Enhancement of the pattern usually occurs if only one eye is used to view the screen, but this effect varies between individuals. CAUTION CARE SHOULD BE TAKEN NOT TO LOOK DOWN THE LASER BEAM, EITHER DIRECTLY INTO THE LASER TUBE, OR AFTER THE BEAM HAS BEEN REFLECTED FROM POLISHED OR MIRROR-LIKE SURFACES. 15CLASSROOM LIGHTING FOR DEMONSTRATIONS Demonstrations should be performed in a partially darkened classroom. There is ample power for effective demonstrations without making the room totally dark. EXPERIMENT DRAWINGS The illustrations accompanying the write-ups of demonstrations in this manual show, by appropriate lines, the path of light leaving the laser and traversing the various optical elements of a given demonstration. Light is not usually visible while propagating through air (see Experiment 1.2). But a display tank is supplied which uses a scattering material in water to make the laser light beam highly visible. Also the various plastic lenses, prisms and Snell's wheel embody a scattering additive so that light beams traversing them are clearly seen by the class. 42mm and 94mm Lenses The mark "V" on the 42mm and 94mm focal length lens cells is to point in the direction of the laser beam propagation, when these lenses are used on the optical bench. 16INDEX TO DEMONSTRATION EXPERIMENTS ‘The following pages give instructions for experiments. The experiments that we describe do not depend on detailed knowledge of the properties of the laser. We do make full use of these properties implicitly, however, in the course of demon- strating basic phenomena in optics. Pe I. Observing Light Behavior a *1. Nature of luminous sources... cea Ll-1 *2. Scattering of light... 0... pees 2-1 *3. Refraction of light 2.2... pees 13-1 *4. Reflection of light . 2.2... pees T4-1 *5, Diffraction... 0.2.0... ee 5-1 *6. Absorption of light . . 16-1 *7. Polarization of light ~"Polaroi Lt-1 *8. Interference .......... 1.81 I. Reflection and Images * 1, Shadows and light rays, extended sources and point sources II. I-1 2, ‘Triangulation and distance. . Se eee *3. Laws of reflection... 2... ee er 4, Mirrors - plane and spherical... 2. .......... [4-1 5. Imaging with mirrors... . . eee itis 6. Optical lever Be er Il, Refraction and Lenses *1. Index of refraction oe ele 2, Total internal reflection... 2.2... 2. eee M.2-1 3. Refraction by prisms - lens... 2... ee M1.3-1 *4, Focusing with lenses... . . ee eens MII.4-1 5. Imaging with lenses... Bee eee ere I.5-1 6. Magnification and the microscope 11112111) III. 6-1 IV. Light Waves: Interference and Diffraction 1, Interference of coherent beams . ee wie *2, Single slit diffraction pattern... 2.0.0.0... IW.21 *3, Diffraction by a circular aperture ............. IV.3-1 4. Resolution ......... eer 1V.4-1 +5. Interference of waves ~ ‘the double slit experiment... IV.5-1 *6. Diffraction grating and measurement of wavelength |... — IV.6-1 oe | Diftraction stanede eee re pene ee WT 8. Thickness measurement by interference +2... 1... IV.8+1 *9. Hologram... ... eee ee ee vor V. Polarized Light 1. Polarizing, or Brewster, angle . Bee eee veld 2. Scattering of light and polarization ©... 12.12. Vi2el 3. Rotation of plane of polarization - half-wave plate |. 1) © V.3-1 * Selections from among those experiments marked with an asterisk may be considered for use for a "shorter" treatment of optics. ® Registered Trademark of the Polaroid Corporation. WW18 USER SUPPLIED MATERIALS Incandescent Lamp Fluorescent Lamp Mercury or Other Are Lamp Blue, Green and Red Cellophane Atomizer Room "Freshener" Aerosol Spray Chalk-Board Eraser Source of Smoke Tissue Paper Handkerchief Razor Blade 3" x 5" File Cards Blue or Black Ink Meter Stick ProtractorI.1_ NATURE OF LUMINOUS SOURCES Everyone has certainly seen several different types of light sources at home or in school. The most common ones are the incandescent lamp and the fluorescent lamp. Although the general appearance of the light from both is white, the way in which the light is obtained from these two lamps is quite different. In the incan- descent bulb a thin tungsten wire is heated to a temperature sufficient to make it glow white by passing through it an electrical current. If you have the means for lowering the current, you will observe that the color turns yellowish. With further decrease in current the wire glows bright red, then dark red, and finally it turns black, These changes in color are quite continuous. ‘The fluorescent lamp works on a different principle. The tube contains mercury vapor, argon for aid in starting, and is coated on the inside surface with fluores- cent material, The mercury vapor isexcited electrically (see appendix, "Principles and Properties of the Laser") and emits, along with a number of distinct visible wavelengths, ultraviolet radiation. The ultraviolet light is absorbed by the fluo- rescent coating which then emits the observed white light. If the current through the tube is decreased, less light is emitted but the color remains just about the same. This behavior is quite different from that of the incandescent bulb. If the fluorescent coating is not present, yet a third type of light is seen, this time having a bluish color. This color is the result of the mixing of several distinct wavelengths that are radiated strongly in the mercury vapor discharge. It is this light that is seen in mercury lamps often used for highway and street lighting. In the appendix, "Principles and Properties of the Laser", the laser light is de- scribed as highly monochromatic, i.e. , it contains essentially only one wavelength. However, when one looks at the light from the side of the laser discharge tube, there is seen a different color than that of the laser radiation. The color is simi- lar to that seen in neon signs. This side light is a mixture of several wavelengths, just as with the mereury vapor discharge. There are devices to analyze the wavelength (color) content of light sources. Among these are the prism and the diffraction grating. If we do not insist on being precise, color filters can be used. These have the property that they transmit light ina certain color range and absorb the rest. We shall use such filters to compare several light sources, Equipment: © laser * fluorescent lamp red and green square plastic filters mercury or other gas discharge lamp* incandescent lamp © blue, green, red cellophane** * fluorescent lamps without the internal coatings are excellent for this purpose. ** cellophane available from stationery stores requires single thickness for an effective red filter, but four thicknesses for effective blue and green filters. Observe the incandescent light bulb, the fluorescent lamp and the mercury damp through the various cellophane color filters. High-pressure mercury lamps are Liedvery bright; do not view these directly. Note that with the incandescent and fluorescent sources the intensity appears fairly equally bright for all the colors. With the mercury vapor lamp the light transmitted through the red filter is noticea- bly weaker, showing that the intensities are not all equal for the various colors. DISCUSSION: When light from the incandescent bulb or the fluorescent lamp passes through the red filter, all but the red color is removed from the white light. If this remaining light now passes through either the green or blue cellophane, little, if any, light is seen since the blue and green filters absorb the region of color transmitted by the red filter. Graphs that give the relation between light transmission and color for the various cellophane filters are shown in Figure 1. 7 — A THICKNESSES OF GREEN CELLOPHANE 00,——— PERCENT TRANSMISSION vaiow- “ORANGE 50) » BL or tts eetiSmane [ | z sol. 3 1 | {TWcRNESSES OF aLuE CELLOPHANE é SF = ale 3 é = g rot tue oneen g ‘YELLOW. = eo —T Snot sue onsen | YELLOW “ORANGE Figure 1. Light Transmission of Colored Cellophane 11-2With the help of these graphs the experiments with single filters and filter com- binations can be explained. Part 2: Squares of red and green plastic filter material are included with the kit. Let the laser beam strike a screen which all can see. Interpose the red filter in the beam. ‘Then interpose the green filter. The light transmission of these two materials is shown in the graph of Figure 2 with an arrow on each graph indicating the color of the light of the laser beam, CAUTION DO NOT LOOK INTO THE LASER LIGHT BEAM THROUGH CELLOPHANE FILTERS OR THROUGH THE PLASTIC SQUARES, 9 - %, see Ste x z z 3 a g LASER a feo square Fier 3 Sts 5 2 g _ z gr GREEN SQUARE FLTER 8 8| G i ° ° i Vout sue cen] % } Va mo uk owen 1 vettow " yetiow omance Lmomnct Figure 2, Light Transmission of Plastic Filters wee 11-3SCATTERING OF LIGHT Part 1 One of the ways objects are seen is by the light that they scatter toward our eyes. This is as true for the walls and furniture in the room as it is for the large number of gas molecules that make up the atmosphere of the earth. When astronauts travel in orbit beyond the earth's atmosphere, they are indeed largely in the dark because of the lack of light scattered toward them. Because the laser light is so intense and quite unidirectional, scattering can be readily demonstrated. Equipment: © laser © dusty chalk-board eraser, or ¢ atomizer with water, or source of smoke © room "freshener" aerosol spray, or Experiment: Turn on the laser and point it at a right angle to the observers in the darkened classroom. If the air is fairly free of dust, the light beam should be barely ob- servable, or possibly not visible. Spray the atomizer or the aerosol along the path of the laser beam. Or the chalkboard eraser can be used by tapping it (preferably a few feet away from the laser) so that the laser light traverses the chalk dust. ‘The red light beam will now be clearly visible because of scattering toward the ob- servers by the large number of chalk particles. The experiment can be done equal- ly well with the use of particles that make up smoke. Part 2 ‘The kit includes a display tank which is used with a mixture of water and 5% of con- centrated colloidal silica solution, This scattering mixture makes beams of light traversing the liquid highly visible to the class. Equipment: © laser © display tank © optical bench © water and concentrated display solution IsPLaY TANK Laser LASER BEAM ‘OPTICAL BENCH Figure 1 1.261122 Experim: Place the tank with only water in it (to within 1 cm of the top) on the aligned bench and demonstrate to the class that the beam is traversing the water. Little or no scattering should occur in the clear water but the beam location is shown by putting a white card or finger against the tank wall. Add concentrated scattering solution; 1/20 of the original water volume is the cor- rect amount. The beam in the tank is thus made visible; stir if necessary. The scattering particles are such small pieces of silica (sand is almost entirely composed of silica) that they remain suspended indefinitely in the water and do not settle to the bottom of the tank. ‘This solution should be saved for use in later demonstrations.3 REFRACTION OF LIGHT When a light beam enters one medium from another medium in a direction that is not perpendicular to the separating surface, the direction of the beam changes at this surface. This "bending" of the light beam is called refraction. The direction of the light beam is not changed if it is incident perpendicularly on the surface that separates the two media. In Experiments II.1, “Index of Refraction", and 111.2, "Total Internal Reflection", we shall examine quantitatively the relationship between the angle of incidence and the angle of refraction. In this experiment refraction effects will simply be observed. Part 1 ‘Equipment: laser ¢ plastic rectangle © optical bench © plastic prism (truncated) beam multiplier assembly © display tank with dilute display ‘mount solution Experiment Attach the optical bench to the laser and align. Place the beam multiplier on the bench near the laser so that five beams are generated, Place the display tank at the other end of the bench so that the five beams are visible in it. Place the vertical support between the beam multiplier and the tank. Insert the T-mount into the proper hole in the vertical support so that when the plastic rectangle is attached, the central beam will pass through the plastic as illustrated in Figure 1. fo AQIS eS SS Laser BEAM Ao ontican vyeRticat BENCH SUPPORT Figure 1 Refraction by a Prism with Parallel Sides 13-1Note that the central beam seen in the tank is undeviated when it strikes the sur- faces of the rectangular piece at a right angle. Observe that this beam is deviated toward the directions A and then B as the rectangle of plastic is rotated first slightly counterclockwise and then clockwise. The deviated beam is seen in the display tank to remain parallel to the other beams (that is, to its original direction before entering the plastic medium). Further, note the direction of the beam within the plastic rectangle for both normal incidence and incidence at some other angles. Refraction is seen to occur at both entry and exit surfaces for non-normal cases. Replace the rectangle with one of the smaller truncated prisms as shown in Figure 2. It is observed in the display tank that when the beam passes through the two non-parallel surfaces it does not remain parallel to the direction of the unrefracted beams. Again, it is observed that the light beam is deviated at both entry and exit surfaces of the plastic. And the beam entering the display tank other than perpendicularly to the wall is refracted once again. ocAM MULTIPLIER ASSEMBLY “eM DISPLAY TANK. LASER BEAM LASER = SOPTICAL BENCH VERTICAL SUPPORT Figure 2 Refraction by a Prism with Non-Parallel Sides Part 2 Equipment: © laser ‘* beam raiser assembly © optical bench © Snell's wheel assembly 13-2Experiment: ‘The set-up should be changed to conform to Figure 3. Adjust the angles of the two pivoted mirrors of the beam raiser assembly to cause the beam to strike the plastic Snell's wheel at its center. (See page 8 under "Beam Raiser" for adjustments. ) Make the light incident from the direction of the cutout section of the wheel; also be sure that the beam is parallel to the optical bench rails. ‘This permits the light to traverse the annular section of the wheel along a radius and without deviation by refraction (compare to the rectangular plate in Part 1). The light beam visible in the thin annular section thus shows and allows measurement of the direction of the light incident on the solid half of the wheel. SNELUS REFRACTOR WHEEL LASER BEAM, Laser \ = ‘| I — = BEAM RAISER ‘OPTICAL BENCH ASSEMBLY Figure 3 Turning the wheel causes the laser beam to strike the plane air-plastic boundary surfaces at any angle of incidence from 0° to 90°. Observe the directions of the beam in air (same as in the annulus when properly set up) and in the plastic for a variety of angles, including normal incidence. The numbers printed on the wheel permit easy determination of the angles of incidence and refraction. Refraction is studied quantitatively in Experiments II. 1, "Index of Refraction", Experiment Ill.2, "Total Internal Reflection" and II1.3, "Refraction by Prisms~Lens", Note that the refracted beam makes a smaller angle with the normal in the plastic (r Figure 3) than the angle that the incident beam makes with the normal in the air (9% of Figure 3). Note what happens if the wheel is rotated so that the beam traverses the solid semi~ circle before striking the diameter. The phenomenon of total internal reflection, which may be seen, is studied in detail in Experiment II. 2. 1.3+31.4 REFLECTION OF LIGHT Most opaque objects are visible because light striking them is scattered into many directions at their surfaces. This random redistribution of the light is characteris- tic of diffuse reflection. Highly polished surfaces, on the other hand, have the property of redirecting the light that strikes them into well-defined directions. This is called specular, or mirror-like, reflection. ‘The quantitative aspects of mirror reflection will be demonstrated and studied in Experiment II.3, "Laws of Reflection". In the following experiment the difference between diffuse and specular reflection will be shown, ‘Equipment: © laser © square mirror with pivot mount © optical bench © display tank with dilute display © vertical support solution Experiment Attach the optical bench to the laser and align. Place the display tank on the op- tical bench near the laser (see Figure 1). Set the mirror with pivot mount in the vertical support near the far end of the bench. Rotate the mirror until its surface is nearly vertical and observe in the display tank both the laser light beam going toward the mirror as well as a reflected beam. DISPLAY TANK ene) MIRROR WITH Lasee, PIVOT MOUNT LASER CAM lo (ON VERTICAL oS SUPPORT oPticat BENCH Figure 1. Reflection of Light by a Plane Mirror ‘These two beams appear to be of the same quality, a fact that permits the use of the mirror in the formation of images. A reduction of intensity in the reflected beam may be observed; this results from energy lost by scattering when the beam first traverses the display solution and because the mirror does not reflect quite all the light that strikes it. There is a further loss of light by reflection at the plastic tank walls. Notice also that if you look at the mirror surface with the laser beam reflected back on itself (CAUTION: Use care not to turn the mirror so that the reflected laser Laelbeam shines into the eyes of any person), relatively little light is seen when com- pared to the amount seen if you place a piece of white paper in front of the mirror. The paper reflects diffusely and much light reaches the eye no matter from where in the classroom the paper is viewed. The mirror reflects into a definite direction; the little light that is seen at its surface is diffusely reflected by mirror imper- fections and dust on the mirror. Ascertain that the light reflected by the paper does not return a beam of light into the display tank, even with the paper directly against the wall of the tank. 14-2I.5 DIFFRACTION An important phenomenon which can be demonstrated readily with the use of the laser is that under appropriate experimental conditions light can be observed not to travel in straight lines. If the light is allowed to pass near the edge of an obstacle, light and dark bands are seen near the edge of the shadow. If the light passes through small openings, we see light bent away from the incident beam, often pro- ducing attractive patterns. ‘These effects describe the diffraction of light. They are studied with the experiments in Section IV. Here we simply wish to observe them. Equipment: © laser © thin (tissue) paper © optical bench © handkerchief © 10X objective © razor blade © pinhole (0.005" dia. ) © white card or paper objective cell Experiment: Attach the optical bench to the laser and align it. Project the laser light beam on a screen or the wall and make note of the spot appearance, Insert in the beam a piece of thin tissue paper and observe that the light spot has spread out and looks fu: Now let the laser beam go through a taut handkerchief. Again the light beam is spread out, but you observe a regularity in the (diffraction) pattern because of the regular arrangement of the small openings in the cloth. Rotate the handkerchief in its own plane. Set up the beam cleaner as follows (see page 10). Screw the 10X objective into the laser, Thread the pinhole (0.005" dia.) into an objective cell. Place the cell on the optical bench with the small aperture about 7mm from the front of the 10X lens. 10x microscore ‘opvecrive LASER 0,005-INCH PINHOLE IN CELL 3 SCREEN Figure 1. Diffraction at an Edge‘Maximize the light coming through the pinhole by use of the adjusting screws at the laser end of the optical bench, observing the light on a screen or card held in the beam. If the pinhole is not exactly at the focus of the objective, concentric sets of dif- fraction rings will be visible on the screen, Make slight movements of the cell along the bench until a uniformly illuminated circular area is seen. Use of the beam cleaner reduces the extraneous patterns which would be seen if the ‘beam from the objective did not pass through the small aperture. Now insert into the light path a straight edge, such as a razor blade or the edge of a sheet of paper, so as to obstruct about half of the illuminated area on the screen. Observe that there is not a single shadow boundary between dark and light areas on the screen, but that near the shadow edge are many dark and light bands parallel to edges of the object casting the shadow. 5-2I.6 ABSORPTION OF LIGHT When we look at a light bulb or sunlight through colored glasses or cellophane, for example, green or red, we see light of the particular color of the glass or the cello- phane since these light sources give off all colors (see Experiment 1.1, "Nature of Luminous Sources"). If we look through two thicknesses of red cellophane rather than one, no change is seen in the color reaching the eye. However, if the light is viewed with several thicknesses of green cellophane following the red cellophane, only.a little light comes through. The green cellophane has removed the red light by absorbing it. Equipment: © laser © cellophane, green and red © optical bench © ink, blue or black © display tank with diluted display solution CAUTION DO NOT LOOK INTO THE LASER LIGHT BEAM THROUGH CELLOPHANE. Project the laser beam on a screen or wall and note its intensity (the display tank is not to be on the optical bench). Insert one thickness of red cellophane into the path of the laser beam. Observe that there is little absorption of the red laser light, although there may be some loss through light scattering (see Experiment 1.2, "Scattering of Light"). A second sheet of red cellophane still lets through almost all of the laser beam. Repeat the procedure with first a single thickness of green cellophane, then two thicknesses, then three thicknesses and so on. Note that the intensity of the laser beam is reduced substantially by just a single thickness and the amount of absorption depends on the absorber thickness (number of sheets of green cellophane). 16-1Part 2 Place the display tank on the bench as shown in Figure 1. Pour some of the standard mixture of the display solution into the tank toa depth of about one inch. ‘Then add one drop of blue or black ink and stir the solution to disperse the ink drop uniformly. Observe the beam in the tank. If the beam is seen to go all the way through the tank, add another drop of ink and stir again. Depending on the ink used, a concentration will be reached where the beam seems nearly to vanish before reaching the end of the tank, The beam intensity is seen to decrease rapidly with increasing path length through the dilute solution of absorbing ink. Laser DispLAYy Vv “TANK Laser = BEAM OPTICAL BENCH Figure 1. Absorption of Light By Ink Solution wae 1.6-21.7 POLARIZATION OF LIGHT - POLAROID ®POLARIZER Polarization is a phenomenon associated with the wave nature of light; other obser- vations of phenomena associated with the wave properties are made in Experiment 1.5, "Diffraction" and Experiment 1.8, "Interference", Light waves are transverse waves, the vibrations occur at right angles to the direction of propagation of the light. Sound is propagated by longitudinal waves, waves in the direction of propagation. When sound travels through air, the air is compressed and rarefied periodically along the direction of sound propagation, at one instant molecules of air are closer together at one region and farther apart at another region than the average distance between molecules in "quiet" air. After the time required for one half wavelength motion of the sound wave in air, the situations of compression and rarefaction will be interchanged in the two regions cited. As another example, if a taut rope, tied to a fixed support at one end, is shaken up and down at the free end, a sine wave (more or less) is seen to move along the rope from the end moved. A ribbon tied to the rope would be seen to move up and down but not to move along the direction of propagation of the wave. The direction of the transverse vibration is the polarization direction; in the case of the rope, vertical. When a transverse wave vibration is in only a single plane, we refer to the wave motion as linearly polarized. This is not really so ambiguous, if we look in the direction of the propagating wave, the plane of vibration appears as a line. Light from most natural sources in generally unpolarized, that is the direction of the transverse vibration can assume all possible orientations (about the direction of propagation). Thus different orientations of the polarization directions exist in different portions of a cross section of a light beam. In a specific portion of a beam the polarization orientation also varies from one time to another. However, many lasers, including the AO Model 3100, produce nearly completely linearly polarized light, i.e., the orientation of polarization in the laser beam is constant across the beam diameter and unchanging in time. In the AO laser, the plane of polarization is vertical. Linearly polarized light can also be obtained by passing a beam from a “natural! source through a polarizer. Such materials as the crystals tourmaline and the organic compound iodosulfate of quinine have the property of transmitting light of only one polarization direction. These polarizers selectively absorb all light with polarization perpendicular to that orientation. The orientation of the transmitted polarization is associated with a given direction in each of these crystals. Polaroid polarizers have an orderly array of the quinine iodosulfate crystals em- bedded in plastic. Such Polaroid materials sometimes are used for sunglasses and automobile visors. When light is incident on a piece of glass, or the surface of water, at angles other than perpendicular to the surface, a smaller amount will be reflected for light polarized ina direction contained in the plane of incidence than in a direction per- pendicular to this plane (see Experiment V.1, "Polarizing, or Brewster, Angle"). The meaning of plane of incidence is illustrated and explained in Figure 1. ® "Polaroid" is the registered trademark of the Polaroid Corporation. LvlREFLECTED WAVE. NORMAL TO, GLASS PLATES 4 > Les wave GLASS PLATE TRANSMITTED WAVE Figure 1: DIRECTIONS OF POLARIZATION: The polariza- tion direction indicated by dashes is contained in the plane formed by the direction of incidence and the normal to the glass surface (plane of incidence). The polarization indicated by the solid lines perpendicular to both the dashed polarization and the direction of propagation. If the laser light is linearly polarized, when a sheet of Polaroid polarizer is in~ serted in its path, maximum transmission results for a given relative orientation; if the polarizer is now rotated 90°, zero, or nearly zero, transmission will result. In practice neither is the laser output beam completely linearly polarized, nor is the Polaroid polarizer a perfect linear polarizer. Equipment: © laser © square of Polaroid polarizer © optical bench © slide holder Experiment Attach the optical bench to the laser, Let the laser beam pass through the Polaroid polarizer set in the slide holder placed on the optical bench, striking a screen or wall as in Figure 2. Observe the transmitted intensity as the slide holder with the Polaroid sheet is rotated about an axis parallel to the rails of the optical bench. Note the position for maximum intensity. Rotate the holder 90 degrees and observe that the transmitted intensity is now near zero. This illustrates the polarization of the laser light. The demonstration can be repeated with a pair of Polaroid sun- glasses. Sometime, when outdoors, observe with Polaroid sunglasses or a piece of polarizing sheet, as used above, light reflected from water, reflected from sloping automobile windows, and light directly from different portions of the blue sky. As the polar- izing materials are rotated about the viewing direction, note whether the light intensities change. Also, observe whether sunlight (or indoor light) reflected from a sheet of white paper is polarized. SCREEN. POLAROID. Laser POLARIZER IN SLIDE HOLDER Nopricat sence Ld-2 Figure 21.8 INTERFERENCE The phenomenon of interference is an important aspect of the behavior of light. Interference can be demonstrated readily with use of the laser. If we divide the laser beam into two portions and make them incident on a common area of a screen or wall a pronounced pattern of varying light intensities is seen, This so-called fringe pattern disappears if only one of the light beams illuminates the area. In Experiment IV.1 “Interference of Coherent Beams" the interference of two beams is interpreted in terms of the wave nature of light. The interference of the two light beams is analogous to the interference of ripples in water from two sources. In the area where the two ripple patterns cross, there are positions where the wave crests add to produce a higher resultant wave than either wave alone. In other positions the water is still; here the crest of a wave from one source and a trough from the other source coincide and cancel each other. Equipment; © laser © vertical support ‘© optical bench Square mirror with pivot mount * 10X microscope objective Experime! Attach the optical bench to the laser. Screw the 10X microscope objective into the laser housing, Insert the mirror with pivot mount into the lowest hole of the vertical support and set it on the optical bench as shown in Figure 1. Allow the laser light coming from the microscope objective to strike the (essentially horizon- tal) mirror. The reflected light from the mirror and the direct light from the objective are the two beams that will be caused to overlap. Two distinct illuminated areas are seen on the screen when the mirror is too low to demonstrate the desired interference effect. The fringes that are observable within the separate areas are caused primarily by diffraction (see Experiment 1.5, "Diffraction"). ‘These are not the fringos of interest here. The two illuminated areas are made to overlap by raising the mirror, using the vertical adjusting screws of the optical bench. When the overlap is achieved, a set of new, very distinct, horizontal bands or fringes, caused by interference of the two beams, is observed, Figure 2. (Once the fringes are obtained, a more delicate adjustment of the fringe spacing can be achieved with the use of the single front screw in the support leg of the optical bench. ) eRricat SUPPORT DIRECT BEAMS SCREEN ox onective; ‘overtar REGION’ MIRROR WITH PIVOT MOUNT ‘ADJUSTING, OPTICAL BENCH Screws REFLECTED BEAMS Figure 1 18-1Figure 2, Llyod's Mirror Interference Fringes 1.8-21.1 SHADOWS AND LIGHT RAYS, EXTENDED SOURCES AND POINT SOURCES We are familiar with shadows formed by light sources which are extended over fairly large areas. Incandescent lamps, fluorescent lamps and the sun are ex- amples of extended light sources. When explaining shadow formation we consider light rays as traveling in straight lines from the source to a screen, interrupted in places by opaque objects. For extended sources we must consider each point on the source surface as an emitter of light which propagates in all directions from that point. ‘As shown in Figure 1, extended sources produce indistinct, fuzzy shadows composed of two general regions: an umbra, which receives no light and a penumbra, which receives partial illumination. The relative size of these regions depends on the distance between the source and the object causing a shadow. The laser with an appropriate focusing device, provides an excellent point source of light. Shadows produced from such a source are sharp shadows with no penum- bral region. The sharpness will be limited by edge diffraction effects of the shadowing object (refer to Experiment 1.5, "Diffraction"). Let us examine the formation of shadows of objects that are illuminated with ex- tended light sources and compare the results to the shadows obtained with laser light. Equipment: © laser * 10X microscope objective © incandescent light bulb, frosted Experiment: Part 1 First observe the shadow of an object illuminated with an extended source, i.e. the incandescent light bulb. Interpose an object, such as a card, a key or coin, or the hand, between the light source anda screen or wall. Note that the shadow is not uniformly black but that there is a grey border. The experiment may be done by the students sitting at their desks, using the ceiling light as a light source and a pencil, held close to a sheet of paper (the "'screen"’), as the object. Part 2 Screw the 10X microscope objective into the laser and project the light on a wall or screen. (The interference and diffraction patterns that are observed are caused by properties of the laser light and the interaction of the laser light with dust particles on glass surfaces and by multiple reflections between glass surfaces; they are not of interest in this experiment. ) Again observe the shadows of the objects. They are now seen to be nearly uniformly black. The narrow illuminated border visible around the edges is discussed in the study of diffraction in Experiment 1.5, "Diffraction" and Experiment IV7, "Diffraction at an Edge".DISCUSSION: With the light bulb, which is an extended source, the black and grey parts of the shadow can be accounted for by tracing the rays as shown in Figure 1, a view of bulb, disc and screen showing formation of the shadow. Light from the entire bulb illuminates points on the screen beyond C and D. Be- tween A and C, and B and D the disk intercepts some of the rays, but not all, causing a partial darkening, a region known as the penumbra. Between A and B the disk intercepts all of the rays giving rise to the black part of the shadow; this region is known as the umbra, When the microscope objective is used with the laser light beam, the light is brought to a focus at 0 of Figure 2 and the light traverses the paths as shown in the figure. PENUMBRA SCREEN Figure 1. Shadows From An Extended Source MICROSCOPE OBJECTIVE ‘opaque Sse SCREEN Figure 2, Shadows From A Point Source ‘The focused laser light acts as a single point source at 0. The region AB is com- pletely dark, but between AC and BD there Ts now the same illumination as. before the disk was inserted (except for the diffraction effects that were already mentioned). Thus there is not the penumbra, i.e. the region of partial darkening that was ob- served with the extended light source. 111-21,2 TRIANGULATION AND DISTANCE ‘The narrow intense beam of the laser can be propagated over a distance, providing a reference line of long span; the laser can, therefore, be a useful aid in surveying work and in construction. For example, the laser has been used as a directional guide for boring machines making tunnels under mountains. The laser, of course, must remain fixed in pointing direction for this use. In this application, the boring machine can literally “ride” the laser beam by having light sensing means and electrical controls to maintain the machine direction along the beam. It is not possible to demonstrate such a dramatic use of the laser as the instance cited. In this experiment the laser will be used for distance measurement by triangulation. Such measurement is commonly made by a surveyor using a transit, a small telescope whose angles of pointing direction are easily read from scales which are incorporated in the mounting of the telescope. Equipment: © laser measuring tape © protractor Symbol: @ ~ alpha B - beta 1 = gamma 3 - delta Experiment: On a table (which must not be moved once the experiment has begun) place the laser as shown in position 1 of figure 1. The back of the laser should be at the back edge of the table. 8 WALL POSITION 2. Ts LYN Figure 1, Distance Measurement by Triangulation 2-1Let the laser beam strike a distant spot B on the wall. Mark this spot. With a protractor measure the angle § between the laser beam direction (edge of the laser housing) and the back edge of the table. Move the laser to position 2, and again cause the laser beam to strike spot B on the wall. Be sure the back of the laser is at the same edge of the table. Measure the distance, D, that the back end of the laser has been moved, and measure the angle, a , that the laser beam now makes with the table's rear edge. ao Figure 2. Geometry of Figure 1 Referring to figure 2, we can now, from the measurements made of two angles « and 6 , and the side D of triangle BOA, determine the distances Ly and La from the laser locations A and O to the distant point B. Because the line AX representing the back edge of the table, is a straight line, 27 = 180° -26 and, as for any triangle, “e+ 2Y +26 = 180° then b= 180° ~2a - 27 = 180" - 2a - (180° - 2p) 2s- 2B - Za. From the Law of Sines, valid for any triangle, D LiL Ly sing sina sinHence, the distances are given by sin sina a sng ~ P Sin(Bza) ey a _ pp sin_(ig0r = 8 . sin ( Boa) Since in equations (1) and (2) all quantities but Ly and Ly are known from measurements made on the table, the values for the distances to point B are readily calculated. The geometry of an obtuse triangle was used in the examples above. The method is, of course, equally valid for acute triangles and right triangles. Suggestion: It might be of considerable interest to the students to perform this experiment outdoors, as on a football field,1,3 LAWS OF REFLECTION ‘The behavior of light falling on rough surfaces, and on smooth mirror surfaces was observed in Experiment 1.4, "Reflection of Light". By measuring the directions of the incident and reflected light beams in relation to each other and to a mirror surface we can establish the laws of mirror-like, or specular, reflection. Equipment © laser © square mirror with pivot mount © optical bench © white cardboard, or © vertical support cardboard protractor Experiment Attach the optical bench to the laser and align. Insert the square mirror pivot into one of the lowest holes of the vertical support and place the support on the optical bench near the end away from the laser, as in Figure 1. Adjust the mirror (have its coated surface upward) so that the laser beam is reflected toward the ceiling. OPTICAL BENCH Figure 1, Reflection by a Plane Mirror Part 1 Hold the white cardboard with one edge against the mirror so that the incident laser beam grazes the cardboard surface and is thereby made visible. Move the card- board with its edge remaining in contact with the mirror, and so that the incident beam remains visible, until the reflected beam also becomes visible by grazing the cardboard surface; this is achieved when the plane of the cardboard is vertical. The reflected beam is thus seen to lie in the same plane as the incident beam and the perpendicular to the mirror, since the cardboard is observed to be perpendic- ular to the mirror surface. Repeat for different inclinations of the mirror. I. 3-1Part 2 Draw a line perpendicular to the edge near the middle of the cardboard (as shown by the dashed line in Figure 1). Again place the cardboard on the mirror so that ‘the incident and reflected beams are both visible. Move the cardboard to a position so that the end of the line that was drawn (which is now perpendicular to the mirror) touches the point where the incident beam strikes the mirror. Draw lines on the cardboard along the direction of the incident and reflected beams. Measure with the protractor the angles between the mirror perpendicular and the incident and reflected beams, in Figure 1. ‘The result will check the second law of re- flection which states that the angles of incidence and reflection are equal. Alternatively, a cardboard protractor can be affixed to a card or other support and the angles can be read directly. Part 3 Now repeat the procedure of Part 2 for a number of different inclinations of the mirror and compile a table of measured angles of incidence and corresponding angles of reflection; then tabulate the differences between successive angles of incidence as in the column 6; , and successive angles of reflection, as in the column Aé;, of Table 1. (A, delta, is a symbol used to denote a change in the quantity it precedes. ) TABLE 1 6 4a or der Ao + Aor 20° e 20° a e oo 10 an 10 20 30° |____ 10° 30° | ____ 0" 20° 40° 40° 40° . . . 20) op 20 40 From Figure 1 it is seen that @; is a measure of the inclination of the mirror and A@; is a measure of change in mirror inclination or tilt. But the reflected beam is deviated from the incident beam by Ad; + Soy for a change in mirror angle of 40j. It is thus seen that a beam of light reflection by a mirror is turned through twice the angle the reflecting surface is turned. In summary, at reflection: (1) The incident beam, reflected beam, and normal to the mirror at the point of reflection lie in a plane. (2) The angle of reflection is equal to the angle of incidence. (3) When a mirror is turned, the reflected beam is deviated by twice the angle through which the mirror was rotated. tee 11.3-2Il.4 MIRRORS - PLANE AND SPHERICAL It has been seen that when light is reflected from a specular (mirror-like) surface, the angle of reflection of the light ray is equal to the angle of incidence. The incident ray, the reflected ray and the perpendicular to the mirror surface at the point of reflection lie in the same plane (see Experiment II.3, "Laws of Reflection"). To see how a system of plane mirrors can be used to concentrate light, consider the system of three mirrors shown in Figure 1. It is seen that there is now a region where the light beams reflected from mirrors Mj, Mg, and Mg overlap, thereby concentrating the light. A higher degree of concentration, or focusing, can be achieved by reducing the size of the mirrors, increasing their number, and setting them at appropriate angles. Mirrors of continuous curvature (spherical or paraboloidal, for example) can be approximated in this manner by many small plane mirrors. INCIDENT m UGHT BEAM 2 Figure 1. Concentration of Light by Plane Mirrors Equipment: @ laser © vertical support © optical bench © two square mirrors with pivot mounts © beam multiplier assembly © gimbaled mirror with swivel mount © display tank Experii ent: Part 1: Plane Mirrors On an aligned optical bench set up the beam multiplier, display tank, and vertical support with two pivot mounted square mirrors as in Figure 2. Adjust the angles of the square mirrors so the reflected beams cross each other at the middle incident beam. (If the top mirror reflects only one beam, lower the bench by using the screw in the bench leg. ) T.4-1BEAM. aekoRs witit MULTIPLIER DISPLAY TANK. PIVOT MOUNTS Laser LASER BEAM OMIAL ence vyercat Figure 2. Concentration of Light by Plane Mirrors The light spread into five beams by the beam multiplier is seen to be concen- trated into an area along the central beam by reflection at plane mirrors in a manner exactly as illustrated diagrammatically in Figure 1, So far, we have used no mirror Mg (Figure 1) to reflect the central beam back on itself, but this can be readily accomplished with the plane mirror in the gimbaled mount by inserting the swivel mount in the crosspiece of the end of the laser bench farthest from the laser as shown by dashed lines at the right of Figure 2. ‘The square mirrors can be rotated on their pivots to cause the reflected beams to cross the central beam closer to or farther from the mirrors. This is equivalent to approximating a concave mirror of shorter or longer focal length. If the mirrors are adjusted so that all the reflected beams are parallel to each other (as one special case, to retrace the paths of the incident beams), the mirror array will simulate a single plane mirror, of “infinite focal length". With the vertical mount and two square mirrors removed, this is demonstrated with the plane mirror in the gimbaled mount reflecting all five beams. cumsaveo BEAM MIRROR MULTIPLIER DISPLAY TANK: OPTICAL BENCH Figure 3. Concentration of Light by a Concave Spherical Mirror 14-2Part Concave Spherical Mirror With the display tank on the optical bench and the gimbaled mirror in its swivel mount in the crosspiece of the bench, cause the five beams to strike the concave mirror of the gimbaled assembly so the beams are reflected into the display tank (Figure 3). Observe that the five beams are now concentrated, or focused, nearly perfectly to a single point by the concave spherical mirror. DISCUSSION: ‘The focal distance, f, of the concave spherical mirror can be related to the mirror radius of curvature, R. The mirror is a section of a sphere having this radius, R. Only light beams incident on the mirror close to and parallel to the mirror axis are considered here. Figure 4, Spherical Mirror Geometry In Figure 4, OC is the mirror axis. An incident beam, i, parallel to the mirror axis is reflected at point A on the mirror. OA is a radius of the mirror and since it is perpendicular to the mirror surface at A, the incident and reflected beams make equal angles, @, with this radius. Beam i and beams parallel to it all cross the axis, or to state this another way, are focused, at F. Now from the geometry of Figure 4 we can determine the relationship between focal distance and mirror radius. For beams close to the mirror axis the distance HC is negligible. Thus, OH = FH = FC f. 11.4-3Also the angles 9 and 26 are small so that one can use the approximate value tan @= 6 (6 is the angle in radians; 1 radian = 57.3°). Therefore AH _ eto 3 = tanoxo x AH _ ~ AH _ AH AH = tan 20 = 29% SH. AJ From these two expressions we have AH = RO = 2f0 or a eas ‘The radius of a curved mirror surface determines the focal distance f. ‘The radius of curvature of the gimbaled concave mirror provided in the AO kit is 15.5 cm (6.1 inches). The relation between focal length and radius may be checked with the experiment, If the focus is formed in the display tank, effects of refraction in the tank will cause erroneous values of the focal distance to be measured. (In Experiment TII.5, "Imaging with Lenses" the method to allow for tank refraction is given.) However, if the display tank is moved toward the laser so that the focus is formed at the tank wall nearest the mirror, the correct value of f is the distance measured between the mirror and this wall of the tank. Th. 4-4IMAGING WITH MIRRORS Mirrors are suitable as components of optical systems which form the image of an object. The object can be illuminated by a light source, or be self-luminous, for example a glowing lamp filament. Each point on the object may be thought of as sending out diverging spherical wavelets (which can be visualized as similar to ripples from a pebble dropped in water). These can be made to converge to a focus by the optical system. The image is formed by the focused spots of all the wavelets arriving from the light source points on the object. Image formation by a mirror will be illustrated with the use of a mirror having a spherically shaped surface. The laser beam, focused to a small spot, acts as a typical point of an object. This "object" point is self luminous rather than being illuminated by an external light source. Equipment: © laser © Plexiglas® rod (cylindrical lens) © optical bench © gimbaled mirror with swivel mount © display tank © meter stick or ruler (not furnished) © vertical support Experiment Attach the optical bench to the laser and align. Insert the Plexiglas rod into the bottom hole (farthest from the laser) of the vertical support, as shown in Figure 1. DISPLAY ace CONCAVE miRROR TANK "POINT: (OF GIMBALED ASSEMBLY SS ‘OPTICAL BENCH VERTICAL SUPPORT swaver MOUNT CYLINDRICAL tens Figure 1 Put’ the swivel mount of the gimbaled mirror assembly into the hole in the cross- Piece at the end of the optical bench so that the gimbaled mirror when inserted into it is between the rails of the optical bench. The concave spherical mirror surface is to be illuminated. Place the display tank almost in contact with the mirror. Position the vertical mount with two Plexiglas cylindrical lens near the laser end of the display tank. Adjust the leveling screws of the optical bench so that the laser beam passes through the axis of the cylindrical lens. © "Plexiglas" is a registered trademark of the Rohm and Haas Corporation, I.5-1‘The cylindrical lens focuses the laser beam into a line perpendicular to the plane of the illustration. When the line is viewed on end this constitutes the "point" source representative of the object. Set the angle of the spherical mirror so the focused spot formed by this mirror can be observed in the tank in a region not already illuminated by the incident light. This focused spot is the image point. Part 1 Move the vertical support carrying the cylindrical lens along the optical bench toward the laser. Since the laser beam is focused a few millimeters to the right of the Plexiglas cylindrical lens in Figure 1, this means that the "point" source object is also being moved away from the spherical mirror. Observe that even though fewer beams from the object point are now intercepted and reflected by the mirror, the focused image point is formed just as in the case when the cylindrical lens was close to the display tank and most of the beams were reflected by the mirror. Part 2 Measurements now are to be made to confirm the relationship, given under "Discus- sion", between the object and image distances and the focal length of the mirror. Because of refraction that occurs as the light beams enter and leave the display tank, measurements made when the tank is used require somewhat complicated and cumbersome analysis. The analysis is made simpler by removing the tank, For the measurements therefore use as a screen a card or piece of paper by which the light beams incident on the mirror are made visible. If the paper is held at an angle, the light beams can be seen by the students in the classroom. Move the paper toward the Plexiglas cylindrical lens until the minimum size focus spot is seen, very close to the Plexiglas cylinder surface. This is the position of the ob- ject point. Measure the distance u from the object to the mirror surface. Deter- mine similarly the position where the light reflected from the mirror is brought to afocus. This is the image point. Measure its distance v from the mirror surface. The mirror radius R is 15.5 em (6.1 in.) and the focal length f = _R_ (see Experi- ment II.4, "Mirrors - Plane and Spherical"). 2 DISCUSSION: The relation between the object distance u, the image distance v, and the focal length of the mirror f is now derived. Again, as in Experiment Il.4, it is as- sumed for simplicity that the light beams are very close to the mirror axis. The angles that the incident and reflected beams make with the axis are then small and we can use the small-angle approximation tan ¢~@ (angle in radians, 1 radian = 57.3"). Refer to Figure 2. 11, 5-2Neglecting the small distance HC, PC = u~ PH Ic =v> lH From the geometry of Figure 2 we have PRLS pen ars Sy = tanawe AH ston (a+ 2gea + Using Equations (1) in (2), we obtain AH ~aPH~ au and AH (a+ 2g) IH= (a+ 28) Vv. But it is seen from the figure that we have also OH ~ OC = AB stan (at p)~ a+B . Hence AH® (at+g@) OH (a+6)R. @ 115-3From (3) and (4) we obtain (a+68)R=au or (6) where the result f= from Experiment 11.4 was used. Similarly we have from Equation (3) the relation eo which can be rewritten, by substituting from Equation (5) A cus[er ech ene] Dividing through by a , we have 2 w uav+i _ oy and dividing by uv, the result is obtained 1 1 1 wivF: .) For the mirror in the kit the focal length f = 7.75 cm (23 in). 115-41.6 OPTICAL LEVER A light beam can be used to advantage to detect small mechanical motions. If a mirror is attached to an object and a light beam is reflected from this mirror and projected to a distant screen, any small motion of the object will be greatly magni- fied in the motion of the light-spot formed by the reflected beam. ‘This comprises an optical lever. The laser, because of its high intensity and high degree of colli- mation, is particularly well suited as a light source for this purpose. ‘The principle of the optical lever is used in the light-spot galvanometer, wherein a mirror is attached to a fiber-suspended current-carrying coil placed in a magnetic field. A change in current causes the coil to rotate, The spot formed by light reflected from the mirror to a distant scale permits very small changes in current to be detected as measurable light-spot deflections. In this experiment the optical lever will be used to measure the pitch of the ad- justing screw in the leg of the optical bench. Equipment: @ laser © gimbaled mirror © optical bench meter stick or measuring tape Experiment: Place the gimbaled mirror in its swivel mount into the crosspiece at the end of the optical bench farthest from the laser; refer to Figure 1. Wau = u TASER 8 = =i SERTICAL 4 Busan orticat senc ib cee SIE oe 4 Figure 1. 6-1Cause the laser beam to be reflected from the plane mirror back over the laser case to a wall or screen at some distance. CAUTION USE CARE TO INSURE THAT THE LASER BEAM STRIKES NO PERSON IN THE EYE. Mark the location on the wall where the beam spot falls. Rotate the front adjusting screw exactly one turn and measure the change in position of the spot on the wall. Measure also the distance from the mirror to the wall and from the center of the optical bench leg to the two vertical adjusting Screws about which the bench can pivot. DISCUSSION: For a single turn of the screw, the front of the optical bench is changed in height by 1/p, where p is the number of threads per unit length of the screw. For one turn of the screw the bench is tilted by the small angle 6, where OF tao = We a ‘The mirror attached to the bench is turned through this same angle 8. From Part 3 of Experiment II.3, "Laws of Reflection", we learned that a beam reflected by a mirror is turned through twice the angle the mirror is turned. Thus the angle 26 in Figure 1. Again, using the approximation valid for small angles, 20 = YD (2) Combining equations (1) and (2) 1 _ yl pre or p= aR @) Equation (3) gives us the pitch of the screw, threads per unit length, in terms of observed and measured quantities. veeIM. 1 INDEX OF REFRACTION The laser beam provides an ideal narrow pencil of light with which to study quantitatively the- laws of refraction. It was observed in Experiment I.3 that when Light enters at an angle from a rarer to a denser medium, such as from air into glass or Plexiglas plastic, the light beam is bent toward the normal to the surface at the point of refraction.’ From a measurement of the angles of incidence and re- fraction, the index of refraction of the denser medium can be determined, or, if the index is known, the angle of refraction can be predicted for a particular angle of incidence. Equipme: # laser © beam raising assembly optical bench (vertical support and two pivot @ Snell's wheel in vertical support mounted mirrors ) Experiment: Attach the optical bench to the laser and align. Put the Snell's wheel pivot in one of the highest holes of the vertical support and place the assembly on the optical bench toward the end farthest from the laser as shown in Figure 1. Place the beam rais~ ing assembly on the bench between the laser and Snell's wheel. Adjust the angles of the two pivoted mirrors to cause the beam to strike the plastic Snell's wheel at its center and also to make the beam parallel to the optical bench rails. Orient the wheel to make the light pass first through the cut-out section of the wheel. SNELU'S - WHEEL se age 2 mlkRORS WITH. PIVOT MOUNTS laste LASER BEAN = °| as al erTicat SUPPORT ‘OPTICAL BENCH Figure 1, Determination of Index of Refraction For various angles of incidence, read from the angle markings on the wheel the angles of the incident and refracted beams with respect to the normal to the diame- ter, Snell's law of refraction gives the relation Nair 5107 gir ~ Mplastic *° plastic where n is the index of refraction, ¢aj, is the angle of incidence and Opjastic the angle of refraction, Since for air the index of refraction is very closely equal to 1, Mplastic can be determined, MI. 1-1I.2_TOTAL INTERNAL REFLECTION We have studied the refraction of light as it enters from a rarer to a denser medium, that is from air into Plexiglas plastic, in Experiment III. 1, "Index of Refraction". It was seen that the behavior was described by Snell's law of refraction ny sin 6; = np sin ¢, ay i fegor ir where 0; and 0, are the angles of incidence and refraction, and nj and ny the indices of refraction in the media of incidence and refraction. The angle of re- fraction can be calculated from (1) A ain 9, = 7% ain 04 ® From the definition of the sine of an angle, and this can be seen in the tables of trigonometric functions, the largest possible value of the sine is 1, for an angle of 90°. When the light was incident from air into the Plexiglas plastic, the ratio i was less than 1, and since sin 0; could range between 0 and 1 the resultant br, value of sin 0, would also be less than 1. What happens now if the medium of the incident light has the larger index of refraction? It is seen from Equation (2) that since Ti > 1 and the maximum value of sin 0, = 1, the angle of incidence has to be such that sin 6; <7" Br In going from Plexiglas plastic to air (n, = 1), we have as a limiting condition sin 0; ~ 71> which corresponds to a maximum angle of incidence 0; = 42°. Be- yond this there is no refracted light, all the light is reflected at the plastic-air boundary: the light undergoes total internal reflection. Equipme: © laser © beam raising assembly optical bench (vertical support and two square © Snell's wheel in vertical support mirrors with pivot mounts) Experiment Attach the optical bench to the laser and align. Place the beam raising assembly on the bench and adjust as described in the introductory section of the manual. Set the Plexiglas plastic Snell's wheel in one of the highest holes of the vertical support so that the raised laser light beam is incident from the solid half direction on the center of the wheel as shown in Figure 1 on next page. Read from the angle scales imprinted on Snell's wheel the angles of incidence and refraction for several small angles of incidence (less than 42°). Again, as in Experiment Ill.1, determine the index of refraction of Plexiglas plastic and verify Snell's law, Equation (1). M1. 2-1SNELLS BEAM RAISER WHEEL ASSEMBLY LASER BEAM ‘OPTICAL BENCH Figure 1. Total Internal Reflection Observe the intensity and direction of the refracted ray as the angle of incidence is increased. Measure the angle of incidence when the angle of refraction is just about 90°. Verify that this corresponds to the predicted angle of incidence of approxi- mately 42° beyond which there is total internal reflection. Note that for larger angles there is no refracted ray and that the reflected ray is now much more intense, since it contains all the light formerly present in the refracted ray. tee I. 2-2IIl.3 REFRACTION BY PRISMS - LENS In Experiment IIl.1,"Index of Refraction", it was seen that when light is incident from air ona material whose index of refraction, n, is different from I(naj, = 1), the angle of incidence 9 qjy (that is, the angle between the incoming light beam and the perpendicular to the surface) and the angle of refraction 6, are related by Snell's law sin @air =n sin Oy. a) The light is changed in direction unless incident at a right angle on the boundary. If the light emerges from the material back into air, the light will be refracted again, that is, another change of angle will be produced at the second boundary, unless the light is incident normal to this second boundary. If the two boundaries between the air and the material are not parallel (as with the prisms of Figure 1), the direction of the light beam, after passage through the piece of material may not be parallel to the original light beam direction. hy. Ae PB Figure 1, Various Prisms By placing a number of prisms of various shapes in the path of a broad light beam, different, portions of the beam will be bent through different angles. ‘The prism can thus be thought of as a basic constituent of more complicated optical components such as a lens, for example. Equipment: © laser © beam raiser (vertical support and two © optical bench square mirrors with pivot mounts) © display tank with diluted © vertical support display solution plastic prisms © beam multiplier plastic convex lens protractor Experiment Attach the optical bench to the laser and align. Set up the beam raiser as shown in Figure 2. m.3-1BEAM oismay RAISER Prism TANK caser MABORS i = ° os use oma aencn ——yaMca sean Sieron g Figure 2, Refraction by a Prism Part 1: Procedure Insert the largest of the prisms supplied with the AO kit into the second vertical support placed on the bench beyond the beam raiser. Place the display tank on the bench just beyond the support with the prism and observe in the tank the di- rection of the laser beam after refraction by the prism. Rotate the T-Mount on its pivot and observe changes in the direction of the beam as the prism is turned. ‘There is additional refraction of the beam entering the display tank when the beam impinges on the tank wall at other than 90°. For the measurements now to be made, the observations would be complicated by this fact and so now remove the display tank and utilize a card or piece of paper, letting the beams skim these to provide visibility to the class. With the base of the prism set parallel to the incident laser beam, measure with a protractor the angle of deviation between the beam incident on the prism and the beam after refraction by the prism. Also measure the prism apex angle (smallest angle of prism). Rotate the prism on its pivot and repeat the deviation angle meas- urement until a prism position is found that produces the smallest deviation of the laser beam by the prism. Part 1: Discussion The deviation of the light beam by the prism can be calculated with the use of Snell's law at every boundary surface. The calculation is somewhat involved in general. For the smallest deviation, however, it is found that the incident and emerging (refracted) light beams are symmetrical as the light passes through the prism. The angle of deviation, D, between the emerging and incident beams, can then be calculated to give a simple result. Refer to Figure 3. I. 3-2REFRACTED EAM Figure 3 Since GA is perpendicular to EA, and AF is perpendicular to EF, 0, =; where P is the prism angle. The deviation angle D is the exterior angle in triangle ABC which is isosceles because of the symmetry that we have assumed. Hence, the angle BAF =P . From the figure, at point A, we see that D Pair *‘F: Hence D sin Jair = sin (Op +2) From Snell's law sin gp =n sind, Since we found that 6, = +, we have 2 Py Dy, - sin (G+B ‘This then gives the relation between the prism angle P, the angle of minimum deviation D, and the refractive index (n = 1.5 for the plastic used). Part 2: Procedure Now replace the beam raiser by the beam multiplier. Remove the large prism from the vertical support and put on this support the two smaller prisms and the rectangular plastic piece arranged as shown in Figure 4. Set up the display tank so that the three beams (use the cardboard shield) intersect at a point within it, The combination of the two prisms and the rectangular block thus serves to concentrate, or focus, the light at a point. I.3-3Remove from the bench the vertical support with the plastic pieces and in its place put the plastic convex lens on the bench so that it focuses the beams in the display tank. Compare the results obtained with the plastic plate and prisms to the results obtained with the lens. Use card appropriately positioned to re- move intermediate beams. PLASTIC PRISMS. EAM MULTIPLIER fictancue DISMAY ASSEMBLY aN = ase LASER _ BEAM VERTICAL oPrican SUPPORT BENCH Figure 4. Development of a Convex Lens From a System of Prisms Part 2: Discussion The “focusing” action by the set of prisms in Figure 4 is only rough. This can be seen if we consider additional beams of light, as in Figure 5. Although the light is concentrated ina fairly small region, it is certainly not focused well. A much smaller region of concentration would be obtained if there were more sec- tions of prisms. The prism angles must be chosen appropriately so as to direct all the emerging beams toward a single focus. A lens can be considered to be equivalent to just such a set of appropriate prism sections, as shown in Figure 6. Figure 5A foamy jam co SS Figure 6 Footnote: Dispersion of Light by a Prism A property of the prism that is important in practice relies on dispersion, the fact that the index of refraction, n, varies for different colors. From Equation (1) we see, therefore, that the amount of deviation of the light beam will depend on the color of the light. The prism thus can be used to spread the different colors (wavelengths) and produce a display, the spectrum, showing the separate colors comprising the original light beam. ‘Since the laser light is very monochromatic, that is, it contains almost entirely a single wavelength, no observable spreading of the light beam will be produced by the prism. I11.3-5UI.4 FOCUSING WITH LENSES The refraction of a light beam that occurs at a boundary of two media of different indices of refraction, such as air and glass, or air and plastic, was studied in Experiments II.1, "Index of Refraction", and 11.2, "Total Internal Reflection It was seen that after passage through the glass or plastic back into air, the direc- tion of the emerging light beam could be changed from the direction of the incident beam if the entrance and exit boundaries were not parallel. This is the case for a prism, or the combination of a set of prisms that can be thought of as making up a lens. In this experiment the focusing property of lenses is studied. We shall observe that both the curvature of the lens and its index of refraction, as well as the index of the medium in which the light propagates, are important in determining the focus- ing properties. Equipme © laser @ plastic concave lens © optical bench * (10X microscope objective, © display tank 42mm lens, for optional © beam multiplier assembly beam concentrator ) © plastic convex lens Experiment: Attach the optical bench to the laser, align, and put the beam multiplier on the bench as in Figure 1. Place the display tank toward the farther end of the bench to allow room for placing various lenses between the beam multiplier and the tank. oem convex MULTIPLIER 5 ASSeMeUy PLASTIC LENS DISPLAY TANK aa user |” Beam OPTICAL BENCH Figure 1 Set the double convex plastic lens on the bench close to the tank and observe the formerly parallel rays come to a focus in the display tank. Move the lens away from the tank until the light beams are focused at a point that is just at the en- trance face of the display tank. Measure the distance between the center of the lens and the point where the beams come to a focus. This is roughly the focal length of the lens, Now intercept the five beams with the plastic lens in the fluid in the display tank, as in Figure 2, The cover of the tank slides along the top of the tank and the lens MI. 4-1ean convex MULTIPLIER PLASTIC LENS ASSEMBLY DISPLAY TANK, rs 4 taser | Beam AG opticat BENCH Figure 2 mount has slots to match the tank sides so that the lens can be hung submerged in the liquid. In this position it intercepts again the five parallel beams that emerge from the beam multiplier. Note that the focal length is now much longer, the new focus is some distance beyond the end of the display tank. Replace the convex plastic lens with the concave plastic lens on the optical bench as shown in Figure 3, The light beams that are observed in the tank appear to diverge from a point that is on the same side of the lens as the incident beams. The change in focal length when the lens is inserted into the tank may again be observed. The results of using both lenses at the same time, close together as well as with varying separations between them, are instructive.’ Finer, somewhat more intense beams can be obtained by use of the beam concentrator placed between the laser and beam multiplier. The optional beam concentrator is described in the introductory section of the manual. BEAM CONCAVE MULTIPLIER PLASTIC LENS DISPLAY TANK ASSEMBLY LASER BEAM Pp 1 Lasee o OPTICAL BENCH Figure 3 4-2DISCUSSION: The increase in the focal length observed when the convex lens is immersed in the fluid in the tank can be understood with the use of the "lensmakers formula" + R) a The focal length is f, Ry and Rp are the radii of the two spherical surfaces of the Jens, and n is the ratio of the index of refraction of the lens material to that of the surrounding medium , The focal length f is therefore inversely proportional to a-1), For the first combination of the plastic lens and air, then n in Equation 1 equals nj poets = 7}3 = 1.5 . For the second combination of the plastic lens and Liquid (water), then n in Equation 1 equals ny = PSHE = 1-85 — 1.13, The ratio of the focal lengths for the two cases is 3.8 It is interesting to consider the expression for the focal length, Equation (1), if n is smaller than 1. The value of f then becomes negative, which corresponds to a diverging lens. The concave lens in air was seen to behave in this way. However @ convex lens behaves similarly when n is less than 1. We can realize this situation of n smaller than 1 with a hollow convex lens immersed in the liquid since then n = Dlens 1 Mmedium 1.33 Such a lens can be constructed by making a frame of two pieces of plastic, metal, or wood, in the shape of a convex lens. ‘The portion between these two pieces, somewhat separated, is covered with transparent plastic household wrap. This is to be done so that when the plastic sheet is pulled snug it is watertight, at least for a short while. This hollow convex lens, when inserted into the display tank, will now be seen to act as a diverging lens for the incoming parallel beams. 1.4-311.5 IMAGING WITH LENSES It has been seen that a lens focuses a parallel beam of light in its focal plane. If a lens is used to observe an illuminated object we are no longer dealing with a source of parallel light. Each point of the object now sends light in all directions and it is the property of the convex lens that it can bring together into focused spots these diverging light beams from each point of the object. ‘The sum total of these focused spots is found to make up the image. In this experiment will be shown the imaging of a "point" light source by the lens, and the relation between the focal length of the lens and the distances of object and image from the lens will be established. Equipment © laser © vertical support optical bench © Plexiglas rod © display tank with diluted (cylindrical lens) display solution © 42mm focal length lens Experiment: Set up the experiment as shown in Figure 1, The Plexiglas rod acts as a cylindrical lens and focuses the laser beam into a line perpendicular to the plane of the illus- tration, When the line is viewed on end this constitutes our "point" source and it represents the object. Before putting the 42mm lens in place, bring the display tank close to the Plexiglas rod and observe the divergent beam from the "point" source. Move the tank away and insert the 42mm focal length lens at approximately 6 cm (2-1/2 in.) from the front of the Plexiglas rod. The light is seen to come to a focus in the tank. Measure the distance u which is approximately from the front of the Plexiglas rod to the center of the 42mm lens. DISPLAY TANK VERTICAL ‘OR SUPPORT 2Mm FOCUSING SCREEN PLEXIGLAS ROD SPHERICAL, (CYLINDRICAL LENS) LENS Laser Last meAM \ opricaL: BENCH Figure 1: f = focal length of lens u_ = object distance from lens v= image distance from lens So ~ object distance from focal plane si = image distance from focal plane M1. 5-1Because the light is refracted as it enters the display tank, and this adds some complication, it is simpler first to obtain measurements of the relation between the object and image distances for a lens of focal length f without the tank. Remove the tank and instead observe the convergence of the light beam either as it grazes a piece of paper or cardboard, or by determining the position of the focused spot (the image) when the light beam impinges perpendicularly on the paper. Measure the image distance v from the 42mm lens. ‘Move the vertical support a small amount (say 1 cm) to change the "object" distance u. The 42mm lens may also be moved so that the image is formed at a more convenient position. Make measurements of the object and image distances for a few varied separations. For the alternate way of obtaining the object-image relations again place the display tank on the optical bench. The tank is then used to determine the location of the image. As before, measure the object distance u which is approximately from the front of the Plexiglas rod to the center of the 42mm lens. Measure the distance v’ (see Figure 2) from the center of the lens to the focused image in the tank. Also measure the distance x, shown in Figure 2, between the 42mm lens and the wall of the display tank on which the light is incident. Again repeat the measurements for a few varied object-lens separations. Since the light is refracted as it enters the display tank, the’ image distance ‘as directly measured is not correct for use in Equation (4), It is shown how to account for the refraction in the DISCUSSION section below. DISPLAY TANK 42m LENS Figure 2 DISCUSSION: The equation 818 = a) relates the object (89) and image (sj) distances from the focal planes with the focal length of the lens. The various distances are shown in Figure 1. The lens is assumed to be thin. Because it is more convenient to measure the object and image distances, u and v respectively, from the lens, let Equation (1) be expressed in terms of these measurable quantities. M.5-2w-f w-f=2 @ Multiplying out (2) we obtain w-(tyit = 2 @) Divide (3) by uvf we obtain an equation equivalent to (1) L,tla iver “ but which involves directly the measured object and image distances from the lens. We can account for the change introduced by focusing the light in the water of the tank (water has a refractive index n ~ 1.33) instead of in air (n = 1). The small additional effect of the thin Plexiglas walls of the display tank is ignored. In Figure 2 are shown both the location of the image point Pa in air in the absence of the dis- play tank and the location Py of the actual image point in water. We have AO AO 22 =tono,, 29 =tno,, OP, w “OP, w and OPy tan 6 w OP, = Tang If the angles 04, and 9, are fairly small, as they are in these experiments, tang sind. Also from Snell's law recall that sin 6, =n sin Oy, so that sin@y _ OPw OP, ~ OP Sia = : ©) To find the correct v to use in Equation 4, note that in Figure 2, v = x+0P, and from (5), oP, vextow, nm And since, in Figure 2, OPy = vi -x, then 6 It is readily seen that if the tank is moved away from the lens so the image is formed just as the light enters it, then v' = x and v = x (the distance from the lens to the tank wall). ste I.5-3II.6_ MAGNIFICATION AND THE MICROSCOPE In Experiment 1.5, "Imaging with Lenses", we studied the relation between the object distance, the image distance and the focal length. Another important re- lationship is that between the size of the object and that of the image of this object formed by the lens. The ratio of the image size to the object size is the magni- fication m. The value of m can be obtained with the aid of Figure 1. f is the focal length of the lens, so is the distance from the focal point of the lens to the object, measured on the object side of the lens; sj is the separation between the focal point and the image measured on the side of the lens where the image lies. Figure 1 A lens focuses parallel light in the plane of the focus of the lens; an incident light beam that is parallel to the lens axis therefore passes through the lens focus. Think of this light beam reversed, then an incident light beam going through the focus on one side of a lens would emerge parallel to the lens axis on the other side of the lens. These properties allow the image dimension to be determined, when the object dimension is known and the object distance from the lens is known, and the focal length of the lens is also known, Hence the magnification can be established. We have AO = Yo, the object height, and BC = Y;, the image height. Since the triangles AOF} and BEF; are similar, AO _ BC 7 7 on a fa ‘The magnification is therefore FF: QM MII. 6-1It can also be obtained from the similar triangles HGF, and ODF since now OD = Yj and HG = Yo, The result is t m=ay @) The figure shows that the image is inverted in relation to the object. If large magnifications are desired, the equations (1) and (2) show that a short focal length f and a small object distance sq are required. When one tries to accomplish both of these conditions in order to achieve greater and greater magnification, it is found that eventually the quality of the image begins to suffer, that is the image is not an accurate (enlarged) replica of the object. Various image distortions become visible and may be quite pronounced, Instead, ‘a second lens can be used to magnify further the image formed by the first lens. When this is arranged so that one looks at the final image through the second lens, the result is basically a compound microscope. However we are interested in having the second image projected. This also is done in photomicrography, where it is desired to record photographically the final, greatly magnified, image. Equipment © laser © tissue paper © optical bench © biologic specimen on 10X microscope objective in cell microscope slide* © slide holder © adhesive tape © 42mm lens * or other sample to be examined, such as a hair. Experiment Attach the optical bench to the laser. Either insert a specimen slide into the slide holder, or attach other objects to be examined to the slide holder by means of the adhesive tape. Place the slide holder on the bench near the laser end. Bring the mounted 10X microscope objective to about 7mm from the object, see Figure 2. SPECIMEN ON 10x MICROSCORE SLIDE IN ‘OBJECTIVE IN) AIM FOCAL LENGTH SCREEN Lasee scam, SUIDEHOWweR // ceLL Laser Focus oS 1 =} _—————— t ‘omricar BENCH Py FP Figure 2 Project the image on the screen and move the microscope objective until the image is sharp, that is, until it is in focus. Measure the distances of the image and object from the smaller diameter end of the microscope objective. Also, if the TIT. 6-2size of the object is known (the diameter of a human hair is about 0.002 inch), measurement of the image size permits determination of the magnification of this simple magnifier. Place the 42mm focal length lens near the other end of the bench. Adjust the microscope objective until the image is in focus on the screen. Again measure the distances from the microscope objective lens to the object, from the microscope objective to the 42mm lens, and from the 42mm lens to the image on the screen. Measure the image size so that the new magnification can be determined, DISCUSSION: The microscope objective has a focal length of 16mm, but we do not know precisely from where on the microscope objective assembly the focal planes are measured. When we use the microscope objective alone, the image distance v is sufficiently large so that not much error results from the fact that we do not know precisely from where to make our measurements. From Equations (1) and (2) we obtain or 859 ~ In Experiment 11,5, "Imaging with Lenses", an expression was developed in terms of the image and object distances, u and v, from the center of the lens (assumed thin), rather than from the focal planes (see Figure 1 of Experiment IlI.5). We obtained | i a u fi Since we know f(= 16mm) and measure the image distance v, the object distance u can be calculated. Note that this distance is greater than the separation between the small end of the microscope objective assembly and the object. We can then deduce where on the cell of the objective lens to start our measurements of f + 89 (=u). The magnification can then be calculated from (1) and (2). When the second lens is inserted the calculation must be repeated, to find the mag- nification of the second lens alone. The "object" for the second lens is the image formed by the microscope objective between the lenses, at FP} of Figure 2. This is determined from (4). Using the two lenses, the overall magnification M of the final image is the product of the magnification of the objective m, and that of the second lens mg, M = m x my The calculated results can be compared to the measured ones in the case of the object of known size, the hair, It will be found that lens tissue of open weave or prepared slides of such specimens as mosquito or fly wing provide very con- venient objects for this demonstration. ‘Two important observations must be made: 1) With the larger magnification M, obtained by using two lenses, the portion of the object that is observed is much smaller than with the single lens magnifier. MI.6-32) The intensity of illumination of the image using two lenses to obtain magni- fication is reduced considerably from that available with the single lens magnifier of lower magnification. The larger magnification is thus not obtained without some penalty. In the dis- cussion of diffraction it will be seen further that there are limitations on the size of object that can be resolved with the microscope, and that useful magnification cannot simply be increased without limit. MI. 6-4IV.1_ INTERFERENCE OF COHERENT BEAMS ‘The manifestations of wave phenomena are frequently demonstrated by means of water ripple tanks. With these tanks there can be observed such features as the wavelength of the waves, reflection and refraction, diffraction and interference. Laser light, because of its high intensity and coherence (see appendix, "Principles of the Laser") permits us to show these effects for light, directly and with high visibility. In this experiment there will be demonstrated qualitatively what occurs when two light waves interfere. Interference is discussed in more detail in Ex- periment IV.5, "Interference of Waves-The Double Slit Experiment". In order for the interference of two waves to be observable the two waves must have the same frequency (which 1s very high for light), the same wavelength, the same polarization, and they must maintain a constant phase relation during the ob- servation period. Thus if the observation is visual, it must be considered that the eye does not respond instantaneously to a stimulus and that visual response persists for a fair length of time after the stimulus is withdrawn. A good way to obtain two such waves, the relative phases of which are fixed in time, is to split one beam of Light into two parts. These parts then can be recombined to obtain interference ef- fects. Since the two parts of the original wave travel different path lengths, when they recombine they may do so with spatially varying phase relationships of one beam cross section with respect to the other beam cross section: for certain portions of the two overlapping beams two wave crests may be superimposed giving an in- tensity maximum; or a crest and a trough may be superimposed, giving an in- tensity minimum; or some intermediate relation may exist and an intermediate intensity be the result. Since the two beams are derived from the same original wave, these phase relationships do not vary in time and we can observe therefore essentially unchanging sets of interference fringes. This light wave phenomenon will be demonstrated by splitting the laser beam first by using the reflected beams from the front and back surfaces of a piece of glass, and then with the use of Lloyd's mirror. ‘Equipment: @ laser © uncoated square glass plate ‘© optical bench with pivot mount @ beam expander @ vertical support (10X microscope objective, gimbaled mirror with swivel mount 42mm focal length lens) © mirror with pivot mount Experiment: Part 1. Interference - glass plate Set up the laser, beam expander, and optical bench as in Figure 1, Set the gim- baled mirror into the swivel mount placed in the hole in the crosspiece at the end of the optical bench. Using the plane mirror side of the gimbaled mirror, reflect the light back on the pivot-mounted glass plate in the vertical support near the beam expander, Adjust this plate so that the beam striking it is reflected again in the original laser beam direction to a screen. Two nearby spots of light will be ob- served, one that corresponds to the beam reflected from the front surface of the bare giass, the other from the back surface. Move the 42mm lens a small dis- tance further away from the laser along the optical bench until the two now slightly divergent beams of light overlap. The interference fringes can now be observed. IV. 1-1PLANE MIRROR OF UNCOATED GIMBALED ASSEMBLY GLASS SQUARE LASER BE ox Lasee OBECTIVE aay LENS = foam yesticat orticaL, SUPPORT BENCH Part Interferences A second, even more dramatic way of demonstrating the interference of two beams is with the use of Lloyd's mirror. Insert the pivoted mirror into the lowest hole of the vertical support; the mirror is to be horizontal with coated surface upward, Position the support so that the edge of the mirror is about 5mm from the front of the microscope objective screwed into the laser. The position of the mirror with respect to the laser beam axis may now be adjusted by means of the two (vertical) screws on the bench adjacent to the laser. ‘This is shown in Figure 2. VERTICAL SUPPORT s (OPTICAL BENCH ‘ADJUSTING: SCREWS. Figure 2 A direct and a reflected light beam can be produced in this manner. The paths of such beams are shown in Figure 3. The angular spread of the light beam is determined by the microscope objective. By lowering the mirror with the vertical adjusting screws we can project first the two separate beams. Then, by raising the mirror, the beams are made to overlap and display the interference fringes in the region B-B. We should note that even when the two beams are separated, two sets of fringes are observed. These are caused by diffraction effects at the edges of the mirror, one set of fringes for each of the two beams. (See, for example, Experiment 1V.7, "Diffraction at an Edge".) The single field of two beam inter- ference fringes is, however, unmistakable, as these fringes are considerably more distinct. When these fringes are first obtained, and we continue to raise the mir- Iv.1-2ror, the spacing of these fringes is very sensitive to slight vertical motion of the mirror. (Once the fringes are obtained, a more delicate adjustment of their spacing ean be achieved by using the single front screw of the optical bench.) Figure 2 of Experiment 1,8, "Interference", is a photograph of the Lloyd's mirror interference fringes. VERTICAL SUPFORT DIRECT BEAMS SCREEN 10x OBJECTIVE Laser 8 _overtar REGION a MaURROR WITH [ADJUSTING PIVOT MOUNT REFLECTED BEAMS SCREWS OPTICAL BENCH Figure 3 DISCUSSION: We can account for the fringes observed with Lloyd's mirror by referring to Figure 4. TO SCREEN MeM! is mirror surface S, which is at the focus of the microscope objective shown in Figure 3, acts as a point source. Only the light beams between the extreme ones shown as 1 and 2 in Figure 4 are reflected by the mirror MM'. Since these reflected beams have their origin at the point source § they are coherent with and will interfere with the beams coming directly from § to the screen. The region AM’ in which fringes are ob- served is found from the geometry of Figure 4. We have _ AM! _ so a om Iv.1-3Because of the property of mirror reflection that the angle of incidence is equal to the angle of reflection, it is seen that the reflected beams appear to come from an effective (virtual) point source S'. Within the region AM' of Figure 4 (or BB in Figure 3) we can therefore look at the interference as though the light waves arrive from two point sources S and S'. This is then a situation almost identical to that studied in Experiment IV.5. The location of the fringes is obtained from Figure 5. lo DISTANT SCREEN Figure 5 At M! the light beams coming from $ and $' have travelled through equal distances. ‘Therefore, crests of both waves arrive together. With real sources S and S' this would produce a bright fringe. S* corresponds in fact to reflected light. However, when a wave is reflected at a mirror surface, the wave is flipped over, (that is, shifted 180° in phase or 1/2 wavelength), and a crest becomes a trough. Thus with Lloyd's mirror a dark fringe is produced at M'. If we observe the fringes on a distant screen, light at point P has travelled approxi- mately a distance S'H farther from S' than from S. Hence for S'H = nd (a integer) dark fringes will appear (it must be remembered that because of reflection the wave from S' is flipped with respect to the one arriving from S). Since @ shown in Figure 6 is a small angle, sin @ 9 (in radians, 1 radian = 57.3°) we obtain s ox aE: ‘The angles at which the dark fringes are found in the region of overlap of the direct and reflected light are given by ny = - ‘The separation y between successive fringes observed on the screen placed at a distance f from $ (the focus of the microscope objective) is then fh ¥ = £641 - On) = Be tee IV, 1-4IV.2 SINGLE SLIT DIFFRACTION PATTERN In this experiment the diffraction of light by a single slit is studied. Consider two portions, a and a', of the slit of width D shown in Figure 1, For every point a in the upper half of the slit there is a corresponding point a', D/2 away, in the lower half. Since the screen is far away from the slit, it can be considered that the directions of the light reaching the point P on the screen all make an angle with 00° approximately equal to 0. DISTANT SCREEN, (OR FOCAL PLANE OF LENS Ly) Figure 1 For the typical points a and a’ it is seen that the difference in the path lengths for the light waves to the distant point P is therefore e, The intensity at P will be zero if the waves arrive one with acrest, the other with a trough. An intensity minimum due to interference is thus observed when this path difference equals one half wavelength, or e=de. From Figure 1 this is seen to be Die » ysing => or Dsing =r. If the light is observed for points P at larger angles, the distance e is increased and corresponds to more than one half wavelength. Therefore the slit can be divided in a different way in order to account for the light intensity. This is shown in Figure 2, Part (a) shows the condition for the first minimum in the direction making the angle 61 with the normal to the slit. In (b), at a larger angle 0', the corresponding points in the aperture that contribute wavelets at point P with one half wavelength difference are only one third of a slit width apart and cover the portion SS’. The contribution from S'S" will not be cancelled out and will produce an illuminated region. In (c), we have again complete cancellation in the direction making a larger angle 9 since the conditions for (a) are simply repeated in the upper and lower half of the slit, The angles for zero intensity are thus found to be Dsin@, = nd (ninteger) . I.2-1Since the angles are generally small, the direction for which the light waves com- bine to give interference minima are sin 0, % = mA/D. Approximately half way between these minima the waves reinforce to produce in- tensity maxima. If the distance from the slit to the screen is F, then the intensity minima are found at Yn > FOq =F na/D. ‘The corresponding light distribution on the screen represents the single slit dif- fraction pattern, If a projector (telescope projection; 42mm lens; 10X microscope objective), as in Figure 3, is used to observe the diffraction pattern, then F is the focal length of the 42mm lens. The pattern is magnified with the microscope objective of focal length f and projected on the screen a distance P away. The magnification is therefore M = P/f, The intensity minima are now found at PF nd Y= My =F OD: a It is observed also that the narrower is the slit D the wider is the diffraction pattern, since yp or 8, are inversely proportional to D. Equipment: © laser single slit slide optical bench © telescope projection* © "diffraction experiments" template (42mm focal length lens © slide holder 10X microscope objective) * optional ‘The demonstration set-up is shown in Figure 3 with telescope projection in place. 1V.2-2SLIDE HOLDER AND SUDE 42MM LENS 10x OBJECTIVE SCREEN SER sae Lj 41 _- OPTICAL BENCH Figure 3 Experiment: Attach the optical bench to the laser and align. Attach the "diffraction experiments" template to the bench. Place the slide holder with slide on the bench with the narrower of the single slits in position to intercept the direct laser beam, The interference pattern is now visible on the screen, A photograph of the pattern is shown in Figure 4. To pro- vide a display of the interference pattern at higher magnification or if the screen is very close (under 6 ft.), use the telescope projection by placing the 42mm lens and the 10X objective in the appropriately labeled slots at the template end farthest from the laser. Adjust the position of the 10X lens to achieve sharpest images on the screen. The slide in its holder should be positioned as close to the 42mm lens as allowed by the long slot. Figure 4, Photograph of Single Slit Diffraction Pattern The diffraction experiments template has additional slots at the laser end for 10X objective and 94mm lens, here not used, These are for beam expanding optical elements needed later for the diffraction grating demonstration. Repeat the experiment with the other, wider single slit. Observe the decrease in the size of the structure of the diffraction pattern with the increased slit width. From the given slit widths D, the measured separations between the diffraction pattern minima yj, and the projection distance, verify quantitatively the relation- ship between y,, and D. IV.2-3IV.3 DIFFRACTION BY A CIRCULAR APERTURE ‘The diffraction of light by a circular aperture has special importance because the lenses and diaphragms in many optical instruments are round, as in the micro- scope and the telescope for example. The diffraction phenomenon here is similar to the one that was discussed in the case of the "Single slit diffraction pattern" (Experiment IV.2). ‘The waves from the various parts of the aperture arrive at an observation point P on a distant screen. The waves travel different distances and some arrive at P with crests, some with troughs. When, at a point P, most waves arrive with amplitude crests, or most with troughs, there is a maximum of illumi- nation. If as many waves arrive with crests as with troughs there is zero illumina- tion, Again a diffraction pattern is observed. ‘The calculation of the angles at which the maxima and minima of illumination occur is now more complicated because the contributions of the waves must be added in two dimensions, x and y, over the aperture (Figure 1) rather than simply in one dimen- sion as was done for the case of the single slit in (Experiment IV.2). It should be noted that for the circular aperture there are no preferred angles 9. Because of this circular symmetry the diffraction pattern appears as a set of rings. The angles at which the maxima and minima occur for the circular aperture are no longer given simply in terms of the function sin @ as for the slit, but in terms of a different fluctuating function. It is called the Bessel function; the properties of this function are not studied in elementary mathematics. However, it resembles a sine wave whose amplitude decreases with increasing angle; it also does not have a constant period. Figure 2 is a graphical representation of a sine function and a Bessel function. Figure 3 shows the geometry for diffraction by the circular aperture. For the single slit (Experiment IV.2), the minima of intensity were found at sin 0, = a ‘The minima in the case of the circular aperture are found at sind, ~ 9, =O & (a integer) e IV.3-1SIND ORC) SINE FUNCTION BESSEL FUNCTION 0.5 se) ANGLE # - RADIANS ° Figure 2 INTENSITY INIA —! | + DISTANT SCREEN DIFFRACTION PATTERN (OR FOCAL PLANE OF LENS 3) Figure 3 where f (1) = 3.832, f (2) = 7.016, f (8) = 10.173. ‘These numbers correspond to the places where the Bessel function is equal to zero. In terms of \/D, Table 1 shows for comparison the angles for illumination minima for the slit and the circular aperture. Xaing Order number of fn) diffraction pattern n ® minimum (slit) (circular aperture) 1 1 1.22 2 2 2,22 3 3 3.24 Table 1 IV.3-2When the diffraction pattern is projected on the sereen at a large distance F from the circular aperture, the radii r of the circles of minimum intensity are given by m= FO, . @) For example, the first dark ring has a radius rsher St , ® Equipment: © laser © 94mm focal length lens @ optical bench © 10X microscope objective in cell © 0.005 inch diameter pinhole © "pinhole diffraction" template in cell Experiment: Set up the laser, optical bench (align carefully), lenses, pinhole as in Figure 4, using the "Pinhole Diffraction” template. Without the pinhole in place ascertain that the 94mm lens and the 10X microscope objective, mounted in the cell, are in their correct positions by verifying that the laser beam diameter is constant between the microscope objective and the screen a few yards away. If not, adjust the positions of one or both lenses in their slots until this condition is obtained. 944 LENS. ox oajecrive 0.005" PINHOLE a SCREEN = = - S| TEMPLATE? Pid came Figure 4 Place the pinhole in its cell on the optical bench in its slot in the template, Adjust the bench screws so the laser beam strikes the pinhole, and produces maximum illumination through the pinhole on the screen, The diffraction pattern of the pin hole can now be observed on the screen. A photograph of the pattern is shown in Figure 5. Measure the radius of the first dark ring and the distance F from the pinhole to the screen. With the value = 6328A (1A = 107m) for the wavelength of the laser radiation, verify the result of Equation (4). 1V.3-3Figure 5. Photograph of Diffraction Pattern from a Circular Aperture IV.3-4IV.4 RESOLUTION In Experiment IV.3, "Diffraction by a Circular Aperture" it was found that the first dark diffraction ring has a radius ry = lard. a F is the projection distance from the circular aperture to the screen, D the di ameter of the aperture, and the wavelength of light used in the observation. Similarly in Experiment IV.2, "Single Slit Diffraction Pattern", the central bright spot was seen to extend over a distance zy -orh @ where now D is the slit width, In the cases of both the slit and the circular aper- ture it is seen from Equation (1) and Equation (2) that the smaller is the aperture D the larger will be the extent of the illuminated diffraction pattern. This indicates how the diameter of an aperture (the size of a lens, for example) can limit the resolving power of an optical instrument. Consider two nearby points that are to be resolved through an optical device such as a telescope. Each of these illuminated points gives rise to its own set of diffraction rings in the focal plane of the device. If the two sets of rings, in particular the central circular spots, are relatively small compared to their separation, the patterns are resolved, and they are readily recognized as two spots without overlapping. On the other hand if the diameters of the diffraction spots are so large that the patterns indeed overlap, then either a partially resolved or an unresolved picture is obtained. In the experiment, the decrease in resolution that results from a reduction of the diameter of the aperture is demonstrated with the use of a "resolution test pattern". ‘This consists of a number of closely spaced sets of fine lines. The closer the spacing of the fine lines, the more widely spread will be the diffraction pattern. ‘This is similar to the result that is obtained with the grating (see Experiment IV.6, “Diffraction Grating ---"): for smaller grating spacings, or grating constants, the diffraction angles are larger. In the imaging of the "resolution test pattern", if the diameter of the aperture is limited, only light that is diffracted at the smaller angles by the coarser sets of lines will pass through the aperture. Light from the finer sets of lines diffracted at the larger angles will be obstructed. A decrease in the diameter of the aperture will thus be observed to result in a loss of resolution. Equipment: © laser © optical bench @ slide holder © plug with 0.060" diameter aperture in cell resolution test pattern slide 94mm focal length lens 10X microscope objective in cell “resolution” template Experiment: Set up the laser, optical bench, lenses, and test pattern as in Figure 1, using the "Resolution" template. Do not yet put the 0,060" plug in place. IV.4-10.060 INCH PINHOLE PLUG 10X_ MICROSCOPE ‘OBJECTIVE RESOLUTION TEST PATTERN SLIDE 94MM LENS: SLIDE HOLDER. LAseR (OPTICAL BENCH scneen Figure 1 ‘Make small adjustments in the positions of the 94mm lens, and the 10X microscope objective until the sharpest image on the test pattern appears on the screen. Now insert the small (0.060" diameter) aperture stop which limits the diameter of the light beam to an appreciably smaller value. Observe that the resolution of the sets of fine lines is greatly degraded; for some sets, in fact, the lines can no longer be resolved as several lines, but merge into a blob. By moving the aperture stop somewhat closer to the 94mm lens the effect of the loss of resolution becomes even more apparent, since a greater portion of the light beams arriving at large angles that is used in forming the image is cut out, as can be seen in Figure 1. Figure 2 is a photograph of the test pattern slide. Figure 2, Resolution Test Pattern =Illl Note: enlarged 10 to 1 eae IV.4-2IV.5 INTERFERENCE OF WAVES - THE DOUBLE-SLIT EXPERIMENT ‘This experiment is based on the work of Thomas Young over 150 years ago and shows interference effects to be expected from a wave description of light. “When light emanates from two point sources of coherent light, that is the illumination from both sources is in phase, then the resultant light amplitude at some point at a distance will depend on the phase relation of the light waves that arrive at that point from the two sources. This phase relation is determined by the distances from the two source points to the observation point and is expressed by the fraction of a wavelength difference in the two paths multiplied by 27. If the waves arrive both with crests or both with troughs, intensity maxima are observed. If one wave arrives with a crest and the other wave with a trough, an intensity minimum is observed; this minimum is zero if the two sources are of equal strength. Other phase relations give rise to intermediate illuminations. ‘Young did not have a laser and produced his coherent light by illuminating a pinhole with sunlight. From this pinhole the light proceeded to two other pinholes that acted then as the two coherent light sources. The light intensity is rather weak in such an experiment, With the laser we have much higher coherent light intensity and we can perform the demonstration with greater ease and higher visibility. Equipment: © laser ¢ beam expander* © optical bench (10X microscope objective in cell, ‘© "diffraction experiments" template ‘94mm focal length lens ) © slide holder @ telescope projection* © double-slit slide (42mm focal length lens, 10X microscope objective in cell) * optional The experiment set-up shown in Figure 1 with beam expander and telescope pro- jection in place. oust su SLIDE 10x MICROSCOPE SuIDE ox miceoscore (Oauective AMM LENS — HOLDER 42hiM. LENS: oe ‘OPTICAL BENCH Figure 1 Experiment: Attach the optical bench to the laser and align. Attach the "Diffraction Experiments” template to the bench. Iv.5-1The first two slots provide for the beam expander components, 10X microscope objective in its cell and 94mm lens. The beam expander is necessary for the demonstration when the separation between the slits is wider than the diameter of the direct laser beam. (Beam expansion results in some loss of display intensity.) Place the slide holder on the bench with the double slit in position to intercept the laser beam. The interference pattern is now visible on the screen. Measure the separations between spaced interference minima and the distance between the slits and the screen. A photograph of the pattern is shown in Figure 2. Figure 2. Photograph of Double Slit Diffraction Pattern ‘To provide a display of the interference pattern at higher magnification or if the screen is very close (under 6 ft.), use the telescope projection by placing the 42mm lens and the 10X objective in its cell in the appropriately labeled slots at the tem- plate end farthest from the laser. Adjust the position of the 10X lens to achieve sharpest images on the screen, The slide in its holder should be positioned as close to the 42mm lens as allowed by the long slot. Again measure the separa- tions between the narrow spaced interference minima and the distance between the microscope objective and the screen. Now cover one of the slits. A different though familiar pattern, that of single slit diffraction (Experiment IV.2) is now observed (see Figure 3). Figure 3. Photograph of Single Slit Diffraction Pattern DISCUSSION: For a single slit of width a, the diffraction pattern is discussed in Experiment IV.2, "Single Slit Diffraction Pattern". With two slits we have the geometry of Figure 4. The difference in path lengths to the distant point P is approximately e=d sing IV.5-2SCREEN (OR FOCAL PLANE OF 420m LENS) ae LARGE DISTANCE F Figure 4 When e is equal to one wavelength, \, crests of both waves from $1 and Sp arrive at P. For a path difference x = \/2, a crest and a trough arrive, giving an in- tensity minimum. The interference of the two waves modifies (modulates) in this manner the single slit diffraction pattern. We thus have interference maxima for ends sind, ~ 6, =2X — (nintogor) . A 2d an ca ‘This gives the position of the maxima on the screen at yn = Fo =F at where F is the large distance from the slits to the screen. Alternately, if the diffraction pattern is observed in the focal plane of the 42mm lens, then F = 42mm. In the alternate (magnified) display of the diffraction and interference patterns the 42mm lens is used in conjunction with the second 10X microscope objective. With @ magnification M of the microscope objective (M = z where P is theprojection distance from this objective to the screen, and f is the focal length of the objective), the positions of the maxima on the screen are given by -PF na Gs cri 0 The minima are found half way between the Y,. Note also that Y, is inversely proportional to the slit separation, d. The focal length of the microscope objective is approximately 16mm. The laser radiation wavelength = 6328A (1A = 10-10m). Compare the measurements with the above results. IV,5-3IV.6 DIFFRACTION GRATING AND MEASUREMENT OF WAVELENGTH The diffraction of light by a single slit was studied in Experiment IV.2, "Single Slit Diffraction Pattern". In Experiment IV.5, "Interference of Waves - The Double-Slit Experiment", it was seen that when a second slit is added, the single- slit diffraction pattern is modified, because of the interference at various points on the screen between the light waves that arrive from the two slits. The single slit diffraction pattern becomes more intense in places where both waves arrive with crests, or the intensity is reduced to zero if one wave arrives with a crest, the other with a trough. If many more slits are added, with equal spacings be- tween thom, a diffraction grating is formed. In a similar fashion to the case of two slits, the directions in which the light beams must travel to produce the maxima of intensity can be determined, ‘These directions are such that all the waves from the slits arrive with crests, or all with troughs. Figure I(a) shows the geometry for the grating. TO DISTANT SCREEN. tl >_> meow | ee UcHr a » Figure 1 It is seen that the path difference between each successive beam is e. As for the case of two slits there are intensity maxima whenever e =m a where A is the wavelength andn are integers. In terms of the spacing d between the slits, which we call the "grating constant", the directions in which the beams produce maximum intensity are given by e=d sind = na @) or (0 integer) Sees en sno - 23,2... With different wavelengths the angles for which n = 1 constitute the so-called "first order spectrum", n = 2, second order, etc. Iv,6-1What is then the difference between the two slits and the grating, since there is the same condition for the angles where maxima of interference occur for both? The answer lies in how the light is distributed among the various intensity peaks. When compared with the two slits it is found that with the grating much more of the light is contained in the peaks that correspond to the maximum intensity condition of Equation (2) than appears in the remaining peaks. Compared to the minor peaks of Figure 2 the amount of light in the principal peaks becomes larger as the number of slits increases. A typical distribution of the light intensity from the grating, for a single wavelength, as a function of the angle @ is shown in Figure 2, Since the intensity peaks are seen to be very narrow, the grating is well suited for use in a spectroscope (an instrument that can disperse light into its constituent colors) be- cause different wavelengths will have intensity peaks at different angles. Modern diffraction gratings are capable of discriminating between wavelengths that differ by no more than two parts ina million. In this experiment the diffraction grating will be studied and used to determine the laser wavelength. é z ° ° » 2D a a Figure 2 Equipment: © laser © grating slide © optical bench @ telescope projection @ slide holder (42mm focal length lens and © beam expander 10X microscope objective in cell) (94mm focal length lens and © "diffraction experiments" template 10X microscope objective in cell) Experiment Attach the optical bench to the laser and align the bench. Set up the experiment as shown in Figure 3 making use of the template. The use of the telescope projection is optional. DIpBACTION oan sist 10x wictoscore suoe wee sun LENS HOWDER / {24 LENS ae R _— | Figure 3 IV.6-2Place the slide holder with the grating slide inserted on the optical bench. Adjust its position so that the grating is centrally illuminated with the expanded laser beam. ‘The diffraction pattern can be observed on the screen, The very bright spots cor- respond to the large peaks of Figure 2, the interference maxima. ‘The brightest spot is the zero order, n=0, The weaker spots in between correspond to the lower peaks. A photograph of the pattern is shown in Figure 4. Figure 4, Photograph of Diffraction Pattern Formed by a Grating If it is desired to obtain a magnified diffraction pattern, or if the distance to the screen is very short, say less than six feet, use the telescope projector, as shown in the experimental arrangement in Figure 3. Measure the separation xj between the brightest (zero-order) spot and the n-th spot on either side. Also measure the distance 2 between the diffraction grating and the screen. With the fairly large (compared to the laser wavelength) grating constant, d, and not too large n (in Equation (2)), the value of sing is quite small, so that sind is approximately equal to tan@ . From these measurements we can determine tan@ , which equals “2 . Given the grating constant, d, we can then calculate from Equation (2) the Wavelength of the laser radiation sino, (8) stan , (2) or : @) We recall that wavelengths are frequently measured in units of Angstroms (1A = 10-1m), and that for this laser the wavelength to be measured is A= 6328A, The grating constant d = 0.067mm (0.0026 inch). If we use the telescope projection the grating diffraction pattern is formed in the focal plane of the 42mm focal length lens, Figure l(b). Since the diffraction angles 6p are small, sin ny gn» and the diffraction maxima will have separations yp from the zero-order spot vn = F 0, + F sino, IV.6-3at the focal distance F of the 42mm lens. If we project this diffraction pattern with the use of the microscope objective of short focal length f (~16mm) onto the screen which is a distance P away, we obtain a magnification M= (The two lenses of the telescope projection combination are separated by a Mdistance f+ F.) ‘The bright diffraction spots will now be found on the screen with separations PF Yq = Myn = 3% sino y @) from the central (the brightest) zero-order spot. Hence, we can obtain the wave- Tength Ynf (a sin #n(2) - oF (2) ® from measurements of the separation, Yj, on the screen, the projection distance P, and the given values of d, F, and f.IV.7 DIFFRACTION AT AN EDGE The formation of shadows was studied in Experiment I.1, "Shadows and Light Rays...". There is another phenomenon that can be observed readily near the edge of a shadow with laser light illumination: it is a diffraction phenomenon that re- sults from, and again demonstrates, the wave nature of light. If an object with a sharp edge is illuminated with the laser, there can be observed on the screen light inside the region of the geometrical shadow. Light appears to be bent around the edge. The illumination increases gradually from inside the geometrical shadow region to the edge. At the geometrical shadow edge the illumination is found to be only one quarter of that seen in the fully illuminated region far away from this edge. Full illumination is achieved only after the illumination has gone through several maxima and minima, as shown in Figure 1, HLUMINATION DISTANCE FROM EDGE (OF GEOMETRICAL SHADOW Figure 1 These variations are observable as fringes in the vicinity of any shape of edge luminated by laser light. With an ordinary light source, even when it is filtered to provide fairly monochromatic light, these fringes are not seen because the light from the various portions of usual sources is not coherent (see appendix, "Principles of the Laser"), The sets of fringes produced by the light from each small portion of the source therefore overlap and are washed out. However, if the origin of the light is limited to one small region of the source, that is, almost a point area, then the fringes become observable; they are however very faint with usual sources. The existence of these fringes can be explained on the basis of the wave nature of light. According to a principle formulated by the Dutch physicist Huygens any point on a wave front can be considered to be a new source of secondary wavelets. The wave motion at some further point, at a later time, can then be obtained by adding the secondary wavelets from all the point of the original wave front. Consider now the illumination on the screen. It can be thought of as being the result of the contribution of many secondary wavelets that originate on the laser light wave front. ‘These wavelets must add up with their various crests and troughs in such a manner that the resulting illumination is uniform, which is what is observed, When a razor blade is inserted into the light path some of the wavelets are prevented from reach- ing the screen. The lack of their contributions will then make the illumination greater in places, less in other places, thereby producing the observed fringes. Equipment: © laser © pinhole in cell © optical bench © razor blade (not furnished) © 10X microscope objective IV.7-110x MICROSCOPE ‘OBJECTIVE LASER 0.005-INCH PINHOLE IN CELL SCREEN Figure 2 Experiment: Screw the 10X microscope objective into the laser housing. Hold the razor blade about two inches from the objective so that the edge cuts the laser beam. In the illuminated region on the screen, observe fringes that are parallel to the razor's edge. The brightness of these fringes varies as shown in Figure 1, Note that the region in the geometrical shadow of the razor is now illuminated because of diffraction. Illuminate the hole in the razor blade. Again observe that there are fringes parallel to all the edges. Some of the extraneous diffraction and interference patterns, seen particularly prominently when the spread beam from the objective is seen on a screen, can be made less prominent by the following "beam cleaning" procedure. Attach the optical bench to the laser. Allow the 10X microscope objective to remain in the laser housing. Position the pinhole, in its cell; at the point where the laser light is focused by the microscope objective, about 7mm in front of the nose of the objective. Adjust the pinhole position axially by moving the cell along the bench and laterally by using the bench adjusting screws. With the pinhole in the same plane as the focused spot, slight lateral movements of the pinhole cut off the light very abruptly. If the pinhole position is not correct, the light gets cut off much more gradually. Maximum and symmetrical illumination is seen on the screen when the pinhole is centered on the beam axis. If the pinhole is axially displaced from the focus po- sition, a distinct circular fringe pattern is seen. The edge diffraction patterns, produced by the razor blade, or other obstacles, are now more visible. The diffraction pattern of the circular aperture can also be observed. Place the pinhole approximately one inch from the microscope objective. Note the circular diffraction pattern on the screen, Move the pinhole a little toward the screen along the optical bench. Note that not only bright but also dark spots appear (alternately) in the center of the diffraction pattern. The bright center spots result when the various wavelets add to an intensity maximum. With small changes in axial position of the pinhole, the path lengths for the wavelets are varied so that they can produce varying intensities of illumination in the center of the diffraction pattern, IV.7-2IV.8 THICKNESS MEASUREMENT BY INTERFERENCE Color effects are commonly seen when ordinary light is reflected from oil slicks or soap bubbles. This can be understood on the basis of interference. Consider the light incident on a plate of thickness t as shown in Figure 1, Light rays 1 and 2 travel different distances before the waves that they represent recombine. Ray 1 is reflected on the first surface of the plate while ray 2 goes through the plate and is reflected on the back surface. When they recombine, the difference in the path lengths of the two rays is L = n(OA + AB) - OC a) Recall that the optical path in a medium that has an index of refraction n is n times the measured geometrical path. With reference to Figure 1 we have tm = on oor =o OA + AB=20A = 2t/cos r OC = OB sin i = 20D sin i = 2t tan r sin i With these relations Equation (1) becomes = 2h, [np - sin r sin i] ®) since tan r = sin r/cos r. Snell's law gives the relation between the angle of in- cidence i and angle of refraction r, n sin r = sin i, (3) with najy taken as 1. Using this in Equation (2) we have 2tn 2B. (1 | sith) = tin cos r. @ IV.8-1‘The last step in Equation (4) required the relation from trigonometry that 1-sin’r = cos2r, It is found that when light arriving from a denser medium is reflected at a boundary, what might have been expected to be a crest in the reflected wave actually becomes a trough. Therefore whenever L is equal to an integer number k of wavelengths 4, a crest of the wave shown by ray 1 and a trough of the wave shown by ray 2 will coincide, giving minimum intensity. This is observed as a dark fringe. If instead L = (@k +1) %/2, i.e. an odd integer number of half wavelengths, both waves arrive with peaks, producing an intensity maximum. This is observed as a bright fringe. ‘The angles at which the dark fringes are found are therefore obtained from L 2tn cos th = KA. Within the plate, the angles 3 between successive fringes can now also be deter- mined. Since the thickness t is many times the wavelength, k is a large number. ‘The fringe separation angles, 6 = ry - ry41, are therefore very small. We have a cos r= SL (a) +a 05 ry = SD (5b) We use the relation from trigonometry for the cosine of the difference of two angles K-38» cos(ry, = 8) = cosr_ cos 5+ sin ry, sind. (a) For small angles the approximate values sind =3, cos 5= 1 (the angle 6 is meas- ured in radians, 1 radian = 57.3°) can be used. Therefore 008 T+] = COs(ry3) = cos Ty + 8 sin TK. (6b) Using Equation (5a) and (5b) in conjunction with Equation (6b) we obtain a o= tmeinny * (ay or making use of Snell's law, Equation (3), Wesini (my ‘The small measured angles 4 , that correspond to these angles 3 within the plate, are obtained from Equation (7b) with the use of Snell's law, Equation (3), and the relationships from trigonometry sin (ty - 8) = sin ry cos 5 - cos rq sind asin rp - S008 rey and similarly sin (i, - A) = sin i, - Acos i . 1V.8-2(The small angle approximations were again used.) Thus n sin (rp - 6) = sin(ik - A) = n(sin r,-sc0s ry.) = sin i, - A cos ie (Te) Since n sin Ty = sin ix Equation (7c) becomes nb cos t= A cos ik « In the experiment, angles fairly close to the normal are used. For the small resulting values of ry, and ij, cos ry

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