Experiment:1B Energy gap of LED - Newton's Rings

Aim
Measurement of band gap energy of LED and thickness of a paper.
Apparatus
Lens and optical flat, reflecting plate, LED source, Collimating lens, Sodium lamp, Traveling
microscope
Theory:

Fig.1

Light from an LED is collimated and reflected downwards on to a biconvex lens resting on an

optically flat glass plate. (Note: Focusing of the beam by the lens causes the rays not to be

exactly perpendicular to the glass slab, as shown; the resulting fractional error in tn is of order

tn/R and may be neglected.) The rays reflected (i) at the lower surface of the lens and (ii) at the

upper surface of the flat are in a condition to interfere, the intensity depending on the path

difference, i.e. on the thickness of the air film. The reflected light passes upwards through the

reflecting plate into the objective of an observing microscope which is focused on the air film.

Interference rings are formed, the central spot being black (providing there is intimate contact

between lens and plate).

Let the radius of nth dark ring be pn and the thickness of the air film at this point be tn

For destructive interference:-

Path difference, 2tn = nλ, where λ,= wavelength of light used. (N.S. ray reflected from air at glass

suffers a phase change of π). From the geometry:

tn = R- ටܴଶ − ρଶ ௡

ଵ/ଶ
ρమ೙
=R-Rቀ1 − మቁ
ଶோ
ρమ೙ ρమ೙
=R - R ቀ1 − మ
ቁ for <<1
ଶோ ோమ

Hence:
ρమ೙
2‫ݐ‬௡ = = nλ for interference
ோ

ρଶ௡ = Rnλ
i.e. if ρଶ௡ is plotted against n, a straight line will be obtained whose slope is Rλ,.

Experimental

1. Focus the eyepiece on the cross-wires and tilt the reflecting plate till the field of view is

brightly illuminated. Focus the microscope on the air film and move the lens and plate

until the centre the ring system is near the centre of the field. A slight change in the focus

of the microscope will improve the distinctness of the rings. The magnification may be

increased by pulling out the draw-tube .containing the eyepiece and refocusing.

Now measure the diameters of, say, the 3rd , 6th , 9th , 12th , 15th , 18th dark rings,

taking in each case the mean of at least 2 diameters. Note that in order to avoid backlash

of the screw, the microscope must be moved in the same direction before each
 observation of the Vernier. Finally, plot a graph of ρଶ௡ against n. From the slope of the

graph, calculate the wavelength and hence the bandgap energy of the LED, assuming

the given value of the focal length of the lens.

Exercises:

1. What would happen to the ring system if the lens were slowly moved away from the plate?

This suggests a sensitive method for measuring small displacements.

2. How would Newton's rings appear when observed in transmitted light?

 PART II
A new application of Newton's rings experiment

This simple experiment would show how the Newton's rings can be used to determine the

thickness of a thin film or a paper.

Procedure

Get the Newton's rings as described in the above section. Carefully insert the thin film (say a

paper strip) between the plano convex lens and the plane glass plate until the paper stops

moving (see Fig.2), without disturbing the fringes.

Now look through the microscope. Start from the central dark spot and count the number of

dark fringes (or bright fringes) to the fringe that is adjacent to the thin film. Generally for ordinary

paper samples, the number of fringes are of the order of 175 to 230. Patience is needed!

For dark fringes

The thickness of the thin film, t, is given by 2t + λ/2 =(2n+1) λ/2 which simplifies to t = n λ /2

For bright fringes

The thickness of the film is given by

2t+ λ/2 = nλ which simplifies to t = (2n-l) λ14.

Fig.2