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    8.2.5 The Diffraction Grating

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    Farhan Sadique
    A diffraction grating is a plate with many parallel, identical slits that produces a pattern of bright fringes when illuminated with monochromatic light. The grating equation relates the angles of these fringes to the grating's properties and the light's wavelength. By measuring fringe angles, the wavelength can be determined. Accuracy is improved by averaging multiple fringe spacing measurements and using a grating with more lines per mm.

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    8.2.5 The Diffraction Grating

    Uploaded by

    Farhan Sadique
    36 views5 pages
    A diffraction grating is a plate with many parallel, identical slits that produces a pattern of bright fringes when illuminated with monochromatic light. The grating equation relates the angles of these fringes to the grating's properties and the light's wavelength. By measuring fringe angles, the wavelength can be determined. Accuracy is improved by averaging multiple fringe spacing measurements and using a grating with more lines per mm.

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    A diffraction grating is a plate with many parallel, identical slits that produces a pattern of bright fringes when illuminated with monochromatic light. The grating equation relates the angles of these fringes to the grating's properties and the light's wavelength. By measuring fringe angles, the wavelength can be determined. Accuracy is improved by averaging multiple fringe spacing measurements and using a grating with more lines per mm.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    36 views5 pages

    8.2.5 The Diffraction Grating

    Uploaded by

    Farhan Sadique
    A diffraction grating is a plate with many parallel, identical slits that produces a pattern of bright fringes when illuminated with monochromatic light. The grating equation relates the angles of these fringes to the grating's properties and the light's wavelength. By measuring fringe angles, the wavelength can be determined. Accuracy is improved by averaging multiple fringe spacing measurements and using a grating with more lines per mm.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    of 5

    8.2.

    5 The Diffraction Grating


    DOWNLOAD PDFTEST YOURSELF

    The Grating Equation

     A diffraction grating is a plate on which there is a very large number of parallel, identical,
    close-spaced slits
     When monochromatic light is incident on a grating, a pattern of narrow bright fringes is
    produced on a screen

    Diagram of diffraction grating used to obtain a fringe pattern

      

     The angles at which the maxima of intensity (constructive interference) are produced can
    be deduced by the diffraction grating equation
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    Diffraction grating equation for the angle of bright fringes

     Exam questions sometime state the lines per m (or per mm, per nm etc.) on the grating
    which is represented by the symbol N
     d can be calculated from N using the equation

    Angular Separation

     The angular separation of each maxima is calculated by rearranging the grating equation
    to make θ the subject
     The angle θ is taken from the centre meaning the higher orders are at greater angles

    Angular separation

     
     The angular separation between two angles is found by subtracting the smaller angle
    from the larger one
     The angular separation between the first and second maxima n1 and n2 is θ2 – θ1

    Orders of Maxima

     The maximum angle to see orders of maxima is when the beam is at right angles to the
    diffraction grating
    o This means θ = 90o and sin θ = 1
     The highest order of maxima visible is therefore calculated by the equation:

     Note that since n must be an integer, if the value is a decimal it must be rounded down


    o E.g If n is calculated as 2.7 then n = 2 is the highest order visible

    Worked Example
    An experiment was set up to investigate light passing through a diffraction grating with a slit
    spacing of 1.7 µm. The fringe pattern was observed on a screen. The wavelength of the light is
    550 nm.

    Calculate the angle α between the two second-order lines.


    Exam Tip
    Take care that the angle θ is the correct angle taken from the centre and not the angle taken
    between two orders of maxima.

    Determining the Wavelength of Light


    Method

     The wavelength of light can be determined by rearranging the grating equation to make
    the wavelength λ the subject
     The value of θ, the angle to the specific order of maximum measured from the centre, can
    be calculated through trigonometry
     The distance from the grating to the screen is marked as D
     The distance between the centre and the order of maxima (e.g. n = 2 in the diagram) on
    the screen is labelled as h - the fringe spacing
     Measure both these values with a ruler
     This makes a right-angled triangle with the angle θ as the ratio of the h/D = tanθ
    The wavelength of light is calculated by the angle to the order of maximum

     Remember to find the inverse of tan to find θ = tan-1(h/D)


     This value of θ can then be substituted back into the diffraction grating equation to find
    the value of the wavelength (with the corresponding order n)

    Improving experiment and reducing uncertainties

     The fringe spacing can be subjective depending on its intensity on the screen. Take
    multiple measurements of h (between 3-8) and finding the average
     Use a Vernier scale to record h, in order to reduce percentage uncertainty
     Reduce the uncertainty in h by measuring across all fringes and dividing by the number
    of fringes
     Increase the grating to screen distance D to increase the fringe separation (although this
    may decrease the intensity of light reaching the screen)
     Conduct the experiment in a darkened room, so the fringes are clearer
     Use grating with more lines per mm, so values of h are greater to lower percentage
    uncertainty.

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