William Chen

Fordham University

February 20th 2013

Physics II Lab

Lab #4: Laser: Interference and Diffraction

Objective:
In this experiment, we will look at the diffraction of light from single, double, and
multiple slits. We will then measure the wavelength of a laser light source.
Data:
Procedure 3: For a = 0.04 mm, d = 76.5 cm. It has the same band pattern.
Procedure 4:
- The half screen is about 38 cm away from the grating.
- The first two points are +16.2 cm from center, and -16.4cm from center.
- The second two set of points are +48.75 cm from the center, and -48.75 cm from
the center.

Screen shot of the data. There are two graphs for the multiple slit because we
ran the Xplorer twice for the multiple slit.

Analysis:
1) For procedure part 1, increasing the width yields more peaks that are shorter,
and the middle peak is more intense. As we decrease the width of the slit,
there are fewer peaks that are longer, and the middle peak is less intense.
For procedure part 3a (multiple slits), the peaks has the same peak patterns
are procedure part 2 (single slit). For procedure part 4, using the equation
d=1/N, we see that as the number of slits increase, the distance between the
peaks decrease which is why we see much more peaks, that are brighter, as
we increase the number of slits.

2)

Single Slit
0.7
0.6
0.5
0.4
Light Intensity (lux)

0.3
0.2
0.1
-6.5

-6

-5.5

-5

-4.5

-4

-3.5

-3

0
-2.5

Angular Position (rad)

Double Slit
1.2
1
0.8
0.6

Light Intensity (lux)

0.4
0.2
-2

-1.5

-1

Angular Position (rad)

-0.5

0
0

3) The distance between minima for slit A is 2.65 cm, which means y = 1.325
cm. Now, using equation a*sin = n, where sin is small, y/L is substituted
for it so ay/L= n where y = 1.325cm. And L is 78.4 cm and = 6.7E-5 and n
= 1, since this is the first diffraction pattern. Solving this, we get a = 0.004
cm, or 0.04 mm. We can then use this equation for the second diffraction
where y = 3.125cm, and L and remains the same, and n = 2. We get that a
= 0.034mm. For slit C, the distance between minima is 3 cm, so y= 1.5 and L
and remains the same. Since this is the first diffraction, n =1, giving us a =
0.04 mm. Again this equation can be used with the second diffraction pattern,
where y = 2.6cm and n=2 and all the other data remains the same, yielding
an a value of 0.046 mm.
4) For slits B and D, the distance between two widely separated minima is
measured and then divided by the number of maxima between them. This
value is equal to L/d. Dividing L by half this value will then yield d. For slit
B, the distance between the two minima was measured to be 8.5 cm, there
are five maxima between them so L/d = 1.7. This yields a d of 0.065mm. For
slit D, the distance between two minima is 1.9 cm, there are 9 maxima
between them so L/d = 0.21, which yields a d of 0.52mm.
5) Using equation 4.3, d*sin = m, where d=1/(6x10 5) = 1.667E-6, and =
arctan(16.2/49) = 18.29, and m = 1, we get = 5.23E-7. Comparing this to
the actual value of = 6.70E-7, we get a 22% error.
6) The situation involving the second order diffraction in procedure 4 is not
definitely valid. This is because the Y distance is very close to the L distance.
7) The maximum angle that can reach is 90 (which does not exist). Solving
for m using 90:
d*sin = m => 1.667E-6sin(90) = m(6.7E7), we get m = 2.477. This means
that the maximum number of diffractions we will see is only 2.
Discussion:
In this experiment, we learned to measure the wavelength of a laser light
source and how to analytically understand how many diffractions certain slits yield.
Although we yielded a 22% error in our measured wavelength, I believe that is more
of a result of poor technique than the lack of a correctly derived formula.