Rami Arieli: "The
Laser Adventure" Lab Experiments, Page 1
Interference and diffraction
- Experiments with lasers
Objective: Study
of the wave nature of light using interference and diffraction.
In each of these experiments, a beam
of laser light interacts with an optical
elements such as:
Single slit, double slit, pinhole, and diffraction grating.
With the help of these experiments, it is possible to come to conclusions
regarding the factors that influence the phenomena
of interference and diffraction.
As an example, it is possible to calculate
the wavelength of a laser, or when the laser wavelength is known,
it is possible to calculate the parameters of
the optical element that the beam interact with.
Equipment List for all the Experiments:
-
Helium-Neon Laser.
-
Diode Laser, plus Power supply (Battery packs of 3-4.5 Volts) for each
laser, potentiometers, Wires, crocodiles.
-
Optical Set - Magnetic mounts.
-
Set of slits, gratings, and pinholes.
-
Plastic ruler, metal ruler (length 10 [cm] at least).
-
Cut piece of compact discs.
-
Millimeter paper.
-
Measuring tape with length of few meters.
-
Screen 15*25 [cm].
Comment: All the
measurements are performed at a great distance (compared to the wavelength
of light) from the optical element. Thus, we can use the approximation
given by Fraunhufer:
sin q = tan q
= q [Rad]