PH-UY 2131 “General Physics Laboratory II”

Experiment 5
Diffraction and Interference of Light

Table of Contents
Background ............................................................................................................................................. 1

Apparatus ................................................................................................................................................ 4

Part A: Diffraction and Interference ....................................................................................................... 4

Part B: Spectrometer .............................................................................................................................. 6

Analysis ................................................................................................................................................... 8

Report..................................................................................................................................................... 10

Background
Light is a wave composed of oscillating electric and magnetic fields propagating through space. If
two or more light waves, having fixed phase relationships, arrive simultaneously at a point in space, they
add to produce a stationary distribution of net fields. This phenomenon is called optical interference.
Optical diffraction occurs when part of a light beam is blocked by an obstacle. In each case,
characteristic patterns of light and darkness are produced, called interference and diffraction patterns.
The spectral width of the light source (that is the range of wavelengths emitted) determines the ease
with which interference and diffraction effects can be observed. A white light source emits all the colors
of the rainbow, but it does so by rapidly and randomly emitting each color for a short time. This makes

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the wave trains (uninterrupted piece of a wave) of the light very short, making it difficult for them to
produce stationary patterns when they overlap in space. The average length of a wave train is called the
coherence length. The diffraction and interference effects therefore are easier to observe for light
sources that are characterized by long coherence lengths. Low-pressure spectral lamps have spectra
containing sharp peaks called spectral lines and therefore emit well-defined colors. The wave trains of
these sources are much longer than those of incandescent lamps. Lasers very narrow spectral lines and
long wave trains.

Single slit or wire

A simple diffraction pattern occurs when a beam of light is partially obstructed by a single thin
wire or allowed to pass through a thin slit in an opaque screen. The resulting diffraction pattern consists
of two sets of alternating bright and dark patches formed beyond the obstacle. The pattern forms
perpendicular to the orientation of the slit or wire and is symmetric about the undisturbed beam location.
The diffraction minima (centers of the dark regions) occur at positions where the width of the slit
multiplied by the sine of the diffraction angle (between the incident beam and the direction to the
minimum) is equal to an integer multiplied by the wavelength of the light:
a sin =n, n= 1, 2, 3… (5-1)

Here a is the slit or wire width and  is the wavelength of the light. Since the angle between the optical

axis (unobstructed laser beam) and the direction of the diffracted light, , is small (see Figure 5-1), sinθ
≈ tan = y/L and for the linear position of the n-th minimum we have:

yn = nL/ a (5-2)
Unlike the minima, the locations of the maxima are not simply related to the diffraction angle.

Figure 5-1: Part A set up

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Double slit
If a second slit is added, parallel to the first, the pattern changes noticeably. Each slit will produce
a “single-slit” pattern as before. In addition, interference between light from the two slits will create a fine
pattern within the central maximum of the single slit pattern. This is an interference pattern with equally
spaced bright and dark patches. The bright patches in the interference pattern occur when the distance
from one slit to a point on the screen differs from the distance to the other slit by an integer number of
wavelengths of the light used. The angular positions of the maxima (not minima as it was in the single
slit pattern) are given by:
d sin =n, n=0,1,2,3… (5-3)
Assuming that  is small, the y-position of the n-th maximum on the screen is determined from a
relation quite similar to equation 5-2:
yn = nL/d (5-4)

Diffraction grating
As more and more slits are added to the obstruction, the pattern evolves, and the angular width
of the main bright spots gets smaller and smaller. In the limit of a large number of closely spaced slits,
the maxima are very sharp and far apart in angle. Such an array of slits is called a diffraction grating.
Gratings are often used in spectroscopy instead of prisms to spread out the different wavelengths
(colors) of light falling on them. The diffraction maxima for a grating occur when the product of the
average slit spacing and the sine of the diffraction angle equals an integer multiplied by the wavelength:
dg sin =n, n=0,1,2,3… (5-5)
where dg is the slit spacing of the grating. The vertical position of n-th maximum on the screen is related
to the diffraction angle  as
yn/L = tan , (5-6)
where L is the distance from the grating to the screen. For diffraction gratings, the deviation angle  is
not small as it was for single and double slits. Therefore sin  tan, but it rather should be calculated
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using the exact formula, 𝑠𝑖𝑛𝜃 = [(tan 𝜃)−2 + 1]−2 . Combining equations (5-5) and (5-6), one finds the
diffraction grating constant, dg, as:
𝐿
𝑑𝑔 = |𝑛|𝜆√( )2 + 1 (5-7)
𝑦𝑛

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Apparatus
The experimental setup for part A is shown in Figure 5-1. In part A, you will use a diode laser as a
light source, and three slides: one each with a single slit, a piece of thin wire, and a narrowly spaced
double slit. In part B, you will use two other light sources (Mercury and Hydrogen spectral lamps) and a
diffraction grating.

Safety Warning: Never look directly into the laser beam and don’t aim a laser pointer towards a
person’s head. This is to prevent the beam from getting into your or other person’s eyes, possibly
causing eye damage.

Part A: Diffraction and Interference

As you enter data, use the following:
Slit width: from the slide
Slit width uncertainty: .001 mm
Laser wavelength: from the laser
Laser wavelength uncertainty: 1 nm unless the laser states a band
of wavelengths, in which case use
half that bandwidth

Part A-1: Determining the laser wavelength (Single slit)

Record the width of the slit (Figure 5-2) and its uncertainty in the fields
provided in the measurement window (Figure 5-3). Also, make a
photograph of the slit as in Figure 5-2 for the specific slit you use.
Turn the laser on. Place the projection screen on the rail as far from Figure 5-2

the slit as possible and adjust the vertical and horizontal position of the laser beam. The beam must be
parallel to the rail and must strike the screen at its center. To change the direction of the laser beam, use
two alignment screws on the back of the laser. Attach a sheet of white paper (screen sheet) to the
projection screen.
Attach the slide with the single slit to the slide holder (it is held there magnetically). Adjust the vertical
and horizontal position of the slide so that the laser beam passes through the slit. You will observe a
diffraction pattern on the screen. Adjust the distance between the slit and the screen so that you will
clearly observe three diffraction minima on each side. Record the value of the distance, L, and its
uncertainty L.

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 Figure 5-3: Part A - Measurement screen

On the screen sheet, mark the centers of all diffraction minima you can locate (at least three), on
each side of the central maximum. Then take the slide out of the holder, and mark the center of the
unobstructed laser beam on the paper – this is the center of your diffraction pattern.
Take the screen sheet paper with your marks, place it on the table, and using a caliper, measure
distances from the center of the diffraction pattern to each of the minima marked on the paper. These
will be distances yn (equation 5-2). For distances to the right of
the center of the diffraction pattern, n will be positive (n=1,2,3…)
and yn will be positive. For distances to the left of the center of
the diffraction pattern, n will be negative (n=-1,-2,-3…) and yn will
be negative.
The uncertainty of the measurement will be determined by
the thickness of your marks on the paper. Measure them using Figure 5-4
the caliper.

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 Enter the values into the computer screen. Take a photograph of the screen sheet with your marks
and include the caliper measuring one of the distances (Figure 5-4).

Part A-2: Thin wire

Attach a new, clean sheet of paper to the screen and place the slide with a thin wire on the slit holder.
Repeat all the measurements you have done with the single slit, assuming that the observed diffraction
pattern is the same as that from a single slit with a width that is equal to the diameter of the wire, w. The
objective of this part is to find the diameter of the wire and its uncertainty. Use the value for the laser
wavelength provided by the manufacturer. As in part A-1, make a photograph of the screen sheet paper
for the report.

Part A-3: Double slit

Attach the slide with the double slit to the slit holder. If necessary, adjust your distance, L, and record
it. In this part, distance L should be selected as large as practically possible. Then take measurements
for the positions of the maxima (not minima as in parts A-1 and A-2) of the interference pattern. This
interference pattern is the fine structure inside the large central diffraction maximum. Take
measurements for at least four maxima on each side from the middle point. Record at least eight values
of yn with their uncertainties. In this part you are to find the slit spacing, d and its uncertainty. Use the
laser wavelength provided by the manufacturer. As in parts A-1and A-2, make a photograph of the screen
sheet paper for the report.

Part B: Spectrometer
In this part you will use the diffraction grating and a meter stick to construct a simple grating
spectrometer.

Safety Warning: Be careful, high voltage is used to operate the discharge lamp. When installing a
spectral lamp into the power supply, hold it in the middle and DO NOT touch electrodes inside the
sockets of the power supply.

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 Diffraction
Spectral lamp
Grating Images of the lamp

Your eye y

Figure 5-5: Part B set up

Set up the apparatus as shown in Figure 5-5. Make sure that the meter stick and the diffraction grating
are perpendicular to the axis of the experiment. The distance between the diffraction grating and the
meter stick should be between 30 and 40 cm. Place the Mercury lamp at the end of the rail. Turn the lamp
on, and look through the diffraction grating, as shown in Figure 5-5. You will see the white image of the
lamp, and several supplementary images of the lamp in colors distributed to the left and right of the lamp
as shown in the figure. Place the meter stick as close as possible to the lamp, perpendicular to the rail
so that the white glowing image appears just above the center (50 cm mark) of the meter stick when you
view the lamp through the diffraction grating (one person should hold the stick while another makes the
observations).
Carefully measure the distance from the meter stick to the grating, L. Record this distance and its
uncertainty into the measurement window (Figure 5-6).
Record the distance from the yellow mercury lines (578.0 nm) to the center of the tube, for both left
and right images. Repeat for the green and blue lines with wavelengths of 546.1, and 435.8 nanometers
respectively and record the distances for the right and left images of these lines.

Safety Warning: DO NOT touch the lamp – it is hot. When replacing the lamp, wait for several minutes
after the tube power supply is turned off.
Replace Mercury tube with a Hydrogen discharge tube. Repeat the above measurements using
the Hydrogen tube. You should be able to see at least three lines in the hydrogen spectrum: red (656.3
nm), green-blue or turquoise (486.1 nm), and violet (434.1 nm).

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 Figure 5-6: Part B Measurement screen

Analysis

Part A-1: Single slit

In this exercise, you will find the wavelength of the laser radiation.
Initial Data
Tabulate yn and its uncertainties versus the diffraction minimum order n.
Present the value of the slit width, a, and the distance to the screen, L, and their uncertainties.
Best Estimate Value
Plot yn vs. n and find the slope using the best-fit line and LINEST. From equation 5-2, find the relationship
between the slope and the laser wavelength, λ. Calculate λ.
Error Evaluation
Using LINEST, find the slope uncertainty, Δm.
Using Δm, Δa, and ΔL, and equation 5-2, derive the expressions and calculate the wavelength uncertainty
components, and then the total uncertainty Δλ.

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Part A-2: Thin wire
The analysis is similar to that in Part A-1 with the only difference that the slit width a, is replaced in
equation 5-2 with the thickness of the wire w. Contrary to part A-1, we assume here that the wavelength
is known and it is the value provided by the manufacturer and what we are interested in measuring is the
diameter of the wire.

Part A-3: Double slit

The analysis is similar to parts A-1 and A-2, but using equation 5-3 and using for yn the positions of
the maxima, not the minima as in parts A-1 and A-2. The objective is to find the slit separation, d. For the
wavelength and its uncertainty, use the value provided by the manufacturer.

Part B: Spectrometer
Using the measurements of the first order diffraction maxima and equation 5-7 you will determine
the value of the diffraction grating constant, d, for each color observed.

Initial Data

For a total of six colors, you have measured positions of two first maxima in the interference pattern.
The diffraction order n is either “1” (for images on the left) or “–1” (for images on the right). Therefore,
for each color, you must have two values for the positions of the maxima: y1 and y-1. If the meter stick
was held perpendicular to the rail, the values of |y1| and |y-1| should be close to each other. To find the
uncertainty caused by possible error in holding the meter stick, average the two values of for each color
to obtain the best estimate value, y. Also calculate the total uncertainty, Δy taking into account the
uncertainty of measuring |y1| and |y-1|. Specifically, the best estimate value is found as
|𝑦1 |+|𝑦−1 |
𝑦= (5-8)
2

Since both |y1| and |y-1| are measured by the meter stick, they both have uncertainty equal to the
instrument uncertainty of the meter stick. Calculate ∆𝑦 using equation (5-8) and the error propagation
technique.

Tabulate the data. Also present the measurement of the grating to meter stick distance, L and its
uncertainty.

Best Estimate Values

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 Using the value of y found on the previous step, and using equation 5-7 as the model function, find
the grating line spacing, dg, for each color separately.
Error Evaluation
Uncertainty Δdg is found by applying the error propagation procedure to the model function 5-7,
separately for each color.

Report
Follow the instructions of the “Lab Report Format” manual.

Conclusion
In the conclusion of your report, for part A-1, make a comparison chart comparing the ranges of
possible values for the laser wavelength found in part A-1 and that provided by the manufacturer.
For part A-2, make a comparison chart using a value of 1.27x10-4 m as the expected value for width of
the wire.
For part A-3, make a comparison chart using your results and the expected value of the slit separation
provided on the double slit slide.
For part B, make a single comparison chart showing the ranges of possible values for dg for all six
colors. Since we know that the grating has 600 lines per millimeter, draw a horizontal line on the
comparison chart representing the expected value for dg. Do you observe a systematic error? If so,
comment on which measurement can be responsible.
Comment on both the accuracy and precision of the results.
For each part (A-1, A-2, A-3, and B) examine the error propagation calculations and then state which
measured quantities had the biggest impact on the final uncertainties.
Change the laser wavelength in the template from that provided by the manufacturer to that obtained
in part A-1, and obtain the final results for parts A-2 and A-3. How different these results from those
obtained from the manufacturer-provided wavelength? Discuss the importance of avoiding systematic
errors and blunders in this experiment.
In the appendix of your report, state the workstation number where you performed the experiment,
and attach photographs of the single and double slits you used, as well as the screen sheets with your
marks and the scale for parts A-1, A-2, and A-3.

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