LAB 1.

INTRODUCTION TO LAB AND OPTICAL MEASUREMENTS

Objective To become familiar with the optics lab and the optical part of the electromagnetic spectrum. After
this lab, the student should have in memory the frequency and wavelength ranges of the optical
spectrum. This lab will also introduce the students to some of the tools that will be used later in
the semester.

PRELAB
1) What range of frequencies (Hz) make up the RF portion of the E-M spectrum? Optical
portion? List one (any) wavelength that would fall within the following color groups: A) Red;
B) Green; C) Blue. For example, if yellow were required, we could answer with 589 nm.
2) How much total power is present in a laser beam whose spectrum is a rectangular function 1
nm wide with power spectral density of 1 μW/Hz? Assume a central wavelength of 1000 nm.
3) Bring a thumb drive to lab with which to save data.

PART I INTRODUCTION TO THE OPTICS LAB

Spend time exploring the lab and becoming familiar with the location of the optical components.
The Instructor/TA will provide a tour and will explain the proper care and handling of equipment.
Equipment, parts, pieces, optics, optomechanics, etc. are scattered all around the room, so you
should not be afraid to look around for things as you may need them throughout the semester. In
other words, look in the drawers too. It is required that optics (lenses, etc.) be stored separately
from the mechanical components to ensure their safety.

Note that there are four different stations in today’s lab (two are equivalent). You will rotate
through them this week. The first step is to split the class into 4 lab groups (no more than three
people per group). Next, with your group, move to one of the 4 stations and proceed to execute the
experiments below. The three parts can be done independently of each other. Please be strategic in
how you rotate around the room to prevent bottlenecks, such as two or more groups waiting for
the same station. Note that not all the future labs will require you to rotate.

PART II OPTICAL DETECTORS

Discussion The detection of optical signals, owing to the very small wavelength, is done in a way very
different from the traditional RF antenna receivers. Usually, a semiconductor is employed where a
photon is absorbed and creates an electron-hole pair and subsequently a photo-current is produced.
This is very different from inducing a current on a physical antenna. Since the detector absorbs a
photon, the detector turns power (and not a field) into current. Normally, a specification, known
as the responsivity, is provided for a detector. This specification usually has units of Amps per
Watt and is a strong function of wavelength (or color). We will gain basic familiarity with
detectors in this brief exercise since we will use them later.

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Experiment
1) Find an optical detector head inside one of the drawers or on the tabletop. If it has an attenuator
over it, remove it (it looks like a piece of dark glass that can unscrew from the detector head).
Why might there be an attenuator on the detector? Inspect the detector.

2) Connect a silicon detector to an oscilloscope (model Si, attenuator removed). What happens when
you hold the detector up to the light? Do the room lights have a continuous-wave (CW is the
optical analog of DC) or modulated output?

3) Now, connect the detector output (with attenuator) to a current meter. A HeNe laser is provided at
the station. With the attenuator on, measure the laser power. Hint: you will have to refer to the
correct data sheet (provided on the course website and at your station). Be sure to not allow the
reflection from the detector to leave your table. You will have to use the correct value for the
responsivity (correct wavelength with attenuator on). By looking at the data sheets, become
familiar with the wavelength ranges of the two detector types. The IR model is made from
germanium.

4) Now remove the attenuator and measure the power. Is the detector saturated? Explain.

PART III SPECTROSCOPY OF OPTICAL SOURCES

Discussion In this part of the lab, we will investigate the spectroscopy of optical sources, namely lasers and
black body radiators. At this point in the course, it is very important to gain a qualitative
understanding of the difference between narrowband and broadband optical spectra. For now, we
may consider that the laser spectrum is a ‘delta function’ or singular in frequency (i.e., purely
monochromatic). Later in the course we will learn that this is generally not the case, which can
lead to some very interesting consequences in beam propagation and image formation. We will
not assign arbitrary numerical bounds on whether a signal falls within the narrow or broad-band
category, since this generally depends on the application.

In this experiment we will use a commercial fiber coupled spectrometer with a CCD array to
measure these spectra. The CCD spectrometer data is in units of counts because a CCD array
absorbs photons and converts them (1-to-1, with some efficiency) to electrons that are stored in the
well of each pixel. ‘Counts’ is the number of electrons. Each well has a maximum number of
electrons it can hold, which leads to a saturation effect. The total number of counts (each data
point) is the integration within each resolution bandwidth of the spectrometer (which can be one or
more pixels of the CCD).

Experiment
1) Obtain and save a spectrum of a laser and white light source (small blue module) on your bench
using the Avantes optical spectrometer by shining light into its input fiber:

Be sure the spectrometer is attached to a USB input at the front of the computer. Launch the
Avantes software from C:\Program Files (x86)\AvaSoft8\avasoft8. Click on the Start button on
the top left and you should be able to see a spectrum (ask your lab instructor for guidance if you
are confused). If the tops of your spectra appear to be ‘flat’ or clipped, you are saturating the CCD
sensor inside of the spectrometer. In this case, move the fiber probe relative to the light source to
couple less light in. To save a spectrum, click ‘Save’ above the spectrum and put the file
someplace where you can find it later. It is in an Avantes proprietary format, so to convert it to
Excel, click File → Convert File To → Excel and then select the appropriate file. An excel
spreadsheet should then open with your data. Take some time to become used to the software.

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PART IV INTRODUCTION TO OPTICS

Discussion The purpose of this exercise is to become familiar with setting up optical experiments using the
parts found at your optical station. By using the imaging equation, we will determine the focal
length of a lens.

Procedure Mount a lens of unknown focal length. Using the provided white light source, form an image of a
slide on a screen using your lens (see figure). Measure the object and image distances from the
center of the lens. Measure the object and image heights using a meter stick to determine the
magnification M. Is the image upright or inverted? Move the lens relative to the object and move
the screen to find the new image plane. Measure several object/image distance pairs for the lens.
Plot 1/z1 vs. 1/z2 and fit a line to the data.

Image in Focus

Object Lens
Light Source
A

z1 z2

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WRITEUP QUESTIONS

1) Did you saturate the detector in Part II #4? Explain.

2) Estimate the temperature of a tungsten-halogen black body radiator using the data from Part III.
Hint: You will need to look up the black body equation. How would the emission spectrum of a
hot, glowing, electric stove top differ from the tungsten-halogen lamp? HINT: Think about the
color of the glow.

3) Qualitatively compare the spectral width of the tungsten emission spectrum with the theoretical
value for a black body radiator at the same temperature. Why is the former much narrower than
the latter? Hint: the CCD in the spectrometer is silicon based.

4) Assuming that both sources produce a total of 5 mW, plot your spectra from Part III in units of
Watts per Hz. Hint: You will have to normalize the spectra via numerical integration.

5) What is the typical peak frequency of a red laser? By how many orders of magnitude does this
differ from RF? Compare the information carrying capacity of RF and optical sources.

6) Determine the focal length of your lens from your plot in Part IV by using the imaging equation.
Discuss the significance of the intersection of your data with the axes. Are these intersections at
the same values on the abscissa and ordinate axes?