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Ray Optics Set-1 || Reflection

Light
Light is a form of energy which causes the sensation of vision. Light travels through empty space with speed c= 3x108 m/s. When light falls on a medium, it is partly reflected, partly absorbed and partly refracted into the medium. When it enters from air into medium, its velocity is reduced to 1/n times, where n is refractive index of medium. When white light beam falls as a prism, it is splitted into a number of coloured rays. This phenomenon is called dispersion.

Reflection
When a light ray incident on a smooth surface bounces back to the same medium, it is called reflection.

Laws of Reflection: (i) Angle of incidence is equal to the angle of reflection. i.e., i = r (ii) The incident ray, the reflected ray and the normal at the point of incidence, all lie in the same plane. These laws hold at each point on any reflecting surface whether plane or curved.

Spherical Mirror: A spherical mirror is simply a part cut off from the surface of a hollow sphere
which has been made smooth and silver polished as one side. Spherical mirrors are of two types: (i) Concave mirror: If outer side or bulging side of the spherical surface is silver polished, it is called a concave mirror. (ii) Convex mirror: If inner side of a spherical surface is silver polished, it is called a convex mirror.

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Ray Optics Set-1 || Reflection


Relation between Focal Length and Radius of Curvature: The distance between centre (C) of spherical surface and pole (P) of mirror is called the radius of curvature. It is denoted by R.

The rays parallel to the principal axis (CP) after striking the mirror meet at a point (F) (in concave mirror) or appear to come from a point F (in convex mirror). This point is called the focus (F) of mirror. The distance of focus (F) from pole (P) of a mirror is called the focal length of the mirror. It is denoted by f. The focal length f is half of the radius of curvature.

Mirror Formula: The mirror formula is

Where u = distance of object from mirror; v = distance of image from mirror; and f = focal length of mirror.

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Ray Optics Set-1 || Reflection

Magnification Produced by Mirror: The ratio of the size of image to the size of object is called the magnification produced by the mirror.

Mirror Formula

Mirror Formula:
(i) For concave mirror: is a concave mirror having pole P, focus F and centre of curvature C.

An object AB is placed in front of mirror with point B on the principal axis. The image formed by mirror is The perpendicular dropped from point of incidence D on principal axis is DN.

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Ray Optics Set-1 || Reflection

By Sign Convention Distance of object from mirror = u Distance of image from mirror = v Focal length of mirror PE = f

Radius of curvature of mirror PC = R = 2f Substituting these values in (4), we get

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Ray Optics Set-1 || Reflection


(ii) For convex mirror : is convex mirror having pole P, focus F and centre of curvature C. AB is object placed in front of mirror. A ray AD incident parallel to principal axis, after reflection is bent towards it appears to come from focus F. Another ray AE directed towards centre of curvature, after reflection, retraces its path. Both rays appear to meet at is virtual and erect image of object AB. Drop a perpendicular from point of incidence D on the principal axis to cut at N.

If aperture of mirror is very small, then point will be very close to P, so NF = PF

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Ray Optics Set-1 || Reflection

By sign convention, BP = u, PC = + R, PB = +u, PF = + f

Substituting these values in (4), we get

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Ray Optics Set-2|| Refraction Refraction


When a ray of light enters from one transparent medium into another, there is a change in speed and direction of the ray in the second medium. This phenomenon is called refraction.

Laws of Refraction:
(i) The incident ray, the refracted ray and the normal to the surface separating the two media, all lie in the same plane. ii) Snells Law: For two media, the ratio of sine of angle of incidence to the sine of the angle of refraction is constant for a beam of particular wavelength,

where and are absolute refractive indices of I and II media respectively and is a refractive index of second (II) medium with respect to first (I) medium. As light follows reversible path, we have

Also, the frequency of light remains unchanged when passing from one medium to the other.

The refractive index of a medium is defined as the ratio of speed of light in vacuum to the speed of light in a medium.

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Ray Optics Set-2|| Refraction

Formation of image by refraction:


According to Snells law if that is, if a ray of light enters from rarer medium to a denser medium, it is deviated towards the normal and if that is, if the ray of light enters from denser to a rarer medium it is deviated away from the normal.

Accordingly if the ray of light starting from object O in a denser medium travels along OP, it is deviated away from the normal along PQ. The ray PQ appears to come from I. Thus I is the virtual image of O.s It can be shown that

Refraction through a number of media:

Now let us consider the refraction of light ray through a series of media as shown in fig. The ray AB is incident on air-water interface at an angle i. The ray is deviated in water along towards the normal. Then

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Ray Optics Set-2|| Refraction


it falls on water-glass interface and is again deviated towards normal along CD. If the last medium is again air, the ray emerges parallel to the incident ray. Let be angles of refraction in water and glass respectively, then from Snells law,

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Optics Set 3 || Refraction and Lenses

January 7, 2012

Total Internal Reflection


When a ray of light is incident on the boundary from denser to rarer medium, it is deviated away from normal (Fig.(a)). With increase in angle of incidence, the angle of refraction increases:

For a certain angle of incidence in denser medium, the corresponding angle of refraction in rarer medium is 90 ((b)). This particular angle of incidence for which the corresponding angle of refraction is 90 is called the critical angle, denoted by C.

If angle of incidence is increased beyond critical angle, the incident ray is not refracted but returns in denser medium, following the laws of reflection (Fig. (c)). this phenomenon is called the total internal reflection.

Refraction at Spherical Surface and Lens


Refraction at Spherical Surface
Concave spherical surface: Let S be spherical refracting surface, which separates media 1 and 2. Medium 1 is rarer and medium 2 is denser. The refractive indices of media 1 and 2 are respectively. Let P be the pole and C the centre of curvature and PC the principal axis of spherical refracting surface.

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Optics Set 3 || Refraction and Lenses

January 7, 2012

O is a point-object on the principal axis. An incident ray OA, after refraction at A on the spherical surface bends towards the normal CAN and moves along AB. Another incident ray OP falls on the surface normally and hence passes undeviated after refraction. These two rays, when produced backward meet at point I on principal axis. Thus I is the virtual image of O.

If u, are object and image distances from the pole of surface and R is radius of curvature, then refraction formula is

The same formula holds for convex spherical surface.

Lens
A homogeneous at least transparent medium enclosed by two surface; at least one of which is spherical is called a lens. Lenses may be of two types:

Some Definitions
(i) Thickness of lens : The separation between the poles of spherical refracting surfaces of a lens is called the thickness of the lens. When the thickness of the lens is negligible as compared to the radii of curvature of its surfaces, the lens is said to be thin.

(ii) Principal axis : The line joining the centres of curvatures the principal axis of the lens.

of both the surfaces is called

(iii) Optical centre : If a ray of light is incident on a lens in such a direction that after refraction, the emergent ray is parallel to the incident ray, then the point of intersection of the refracted ray with the principal axis is called the optical centre. In Fig. is the optical centre of the lens. It divides the thickness of the lens in the ratio of the radii of curvature of its surfaces. If the radii of curvature of the surfaces of a lens are equal, then optical centre coincides with the central point of the lens. Vibhor Kaushik || The Outlaws of Physics || vibhor_kaushik@india.com ||9634176761

Optics Set 3 || Refraction and Lenses

January 7, 2012

For a planoconvex lens, the optical centre lies at the point of intersection of the spherical surface with the principal axis.

Though for the rays passing through the optical centre, the incident and emergent rays are parallel, but there is finite perpendicular distance between them, called the lateral displacement.

When the thickness of lens decreases, the lateral displacement decreases and becomes negligible for a thin lens. Therefore the light ray passing through the optical centre of a thin lens travels straight without any deviation.

(iv) Principal Foci and Focal length :

First Principal Focus : The point on the principal axis such that the rays starting from this point (in convex lens) or appearing to go towards this point (in concave lens), after refraction through the lens become parallel to the principal axis, is called the first principal focus. It is represented by or the plane passing through this point and perpendicular to the principal axis is called the first focal plane. The distance between first focal plane and the lens is called the first focal length. It is denoted by

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Optics Set 3 || Refraction and Lenses

January 7, 2012

Second Principal Focus : The point of on the principal axis such that the light rays incident parallel to the principal axis, after refraction through the lens meet at this point (in convex lens) or appear to diverge from this point (in concave lens), is called the second principal focus of the lens. It is denoted by or f.

The plane passing through this point and perpendicular to the principal axis is called the second focal plane. The distance between the second focal plane and the lens is called the second focal length. It is denoted by or f.

Commonly the second focal length of a lens is called the focal length of the lens. From Fig. it is clear that the principal foci of a convex lens are real, while they are virtual for a concave lens. According to sign conventions the focal length of a convex lens is positive, while that of concave lens is negative. When the media on both sides of the lens is the same (e.g., air), then the values of the first and second focal lengths are equal, i.e.,

Thin Lens Formula


If u and v are object and image distances from a lens of focal length f, then thin lens formula is

This equation holds for convex and concave lenses both, but proper signs of u, and f are to be used according to sign convention of coordinate geometry. Magnification produced by a lens

where I is size of image and O is size of object.

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Optics Set 3 || Refraction and Lenses

January 7, 2012

LeNs Makers FOrMuLa


If are the radii of curvature of first and second refracting surfaces of a thin lens of focal length f, then lens makers formula is

Where

is refractive index of material of lens with respect to surrounding medium.

If a lens (refractive index f is

) separates two media of refractive indices

then its focal length

Power of a Lens
The convex lens deviates the light rays incident on it, towards the principal axis while the concave lens deviates the incident rays away from the principal axis. Thus the function of the lens is to deviate the light rays incident on it. The power of a lens is measured by its ability to deviate the rays towards the principal axis. The more the lens bends the light rays towards the axis, greater is its power. As the convex lens deviates the incident rays towards the axis, therefore its power is taken positive while the concave lens deviates the incident rays away from the axis; therefore its power is taken as negative.

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Optics Set 3 || Refraction and Lenses

January 7, 2012

Every lens bends the light rays parallel to principal axis incident on it actually (in convex lens) or apparently (in concave lens) towards the second principal focus. Therefore smaller is focal length of a lens, more is the bending of light rays and hence greater is its power.

In fig the lens L2 has focal length less than L1, therefore lens bends the rays more than hence power of lens L2 is greater than that of L1 .

In SI system the focal length is in metre, the power of the lens is in diopter and C = 1

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Optics Set-4 || Combination of Lenses and Lenses immersed in Fluids

2012

Combination of Thin Lenses in Content


Suppose two thin convex lenses are placed in contact in such a way that they have same common axis. The focal lengths of lenses are respectively and the medium is same on both sides of lenses. O is a point object on the principal axis at a distance u from the first lens deviates the rays towards I, i.e., I is the image formed by the first lens alone.

If we replace the system of two lenses by a thin lens of focal length F, such that it forms the image of object O at I, then we have

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Optics Set-4 || Combination of Lenses and Lenses immersed in Fluids

2012

This relation has been derived for thin convex lenses, but this equation holds for all types of thin lenses placed in contact only the focal length with proper sign is to be used. For example if first lens is convex and the other is concave, then negative. If the focal lengths of convex and concave lens are equal, then will be

That is the equivalent focal length of a combination of convex and concave lenses of equal focal length in contact is infinite, i.e., this combination behaves as a transparent plate.

Lens Immersed in a Liquid

Now there arise three cases :

That is, the nature of lens remains unchanged, but its focal length increases and hence the power of lens decreases. In other words the convergent lens becomes less convergent and divergent lens becomes less divergent.

That is, the nature of lens changes. A convergent lens becomes divergent and vice versa.

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Optics Set-5 || Prism, Diffraction, Scattering

January 10, 2012

newtons formula
If the distances of object and image are not measured from optical centre, but from first and second principal foci respectively, then Newtons formula states

Refraction through a Prism


A prism is a transparent medium enclosed by two plane refracting surfaces. Let EF be the monochromatic ray incident on the face PQ of prism PQR of refracting angle A at angle of incidence This ray is refracted along being angle of refraction. The ray FG is incident on the face PR at angle of incidence and is refracted in air along GH. Thus GH is the emergent ray and is the angle of emergence. The angle between incident ray EF and emergent ray GH is called angle of deviation For a prism if A is the refracting angle of prism, then

If n is the refractive index of material of prism, then from Snells law

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Optics Set-5 || Prism, Diffraction, Scattering

January 10, 2012

If angle of incidence is changed, the angle of deviation changes as shown in fig. For a particular angle of incidence the deviation is minimum, called angle of minimum deviation

Minimum deviation: At minimum deviation the refracted ray within a prism is parallel to the base
of prism. So

Maximum deviation: For maximum deviation produced by a prism either

Dispersion
The splitting of white light into its constituent colours is called the dispersion. When white light falls on a prism, it is broken into constituent colours within the prism. So the emergent light has a number of coloured beams, the violet being deviated most and red the least in visible region.

Thus the prism causes deviation as well as dispersion. If are the deviations caused by prism in violet, red and mean yellow rays, then for small angled prism.

Angular dispersion

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Optics Set-5 || Prism, Diffraction, Scattering


Dispersive power,

January 10, 2012

Scattering of Light
The light is scattered by air molecules. According to Lord Rayleigh the intensity of scattered light

As

, accordingly blue colour is scattered the most and red the least, so sky appears blue.

At the time of sunrise and sunset, blue colour is scattered the most and red colour enters our eyes, so sunrise and sunset appear red.

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OPTICAL INSTRUMENTS
Introduction
Our eye acts as a convex lens, fixed in its place through ciliary muscles. This lens is called the eye lens. This lens forms the image of a luminous object on the retina of the eye. This image is real, diminished and inverted. Our brain processes and detects the image as erect.

The angle subtended by the object on eye is called the visual angle. Greater is the visual angle, greater appears the apparent size of the object. Optical instruments telescopes and microscopes have the ability to increase the visual angle; so the object appears magnified. Our eye has the ability to change its focal length, so that we can see objects clearly ranging from D = 25 cm to infinity. This characteristic of eye is called the power of accommodation of the eye.

Image Formation and Accommodation


Power of Accommodation of Eye : On account of elasticity of muscles, the eye lens has the ability to change its focal length, which enables us to see nearby and distant objects. The power of eye lens is called power of accommodation. The maximum distance at which an object can be seen distinctly by the eye is infinity. When the object is at infinity (or very far) from the eye, the parallel rays emitting from it and after refraction through eye lens are focused on the retina and the object is clearly seen. In this state there is no tension in muscles, i.e., the eye is in relaxed state and the focal length of eye-lens is the maximum. When the object is near the eye-lens, the muscles contract to increase the curvature (or decrease the radius of curvature) of the refracting surfaces of the lens. This causes decrease in focal length of the lens and again a clear image is formed on the retina. Thus eye can clearly see the nearby and distant objects. When the object is brought continuously from infinity towards the eye, then in order to form its image on retina the pressure on muscles is increased to decrease the focal length of the eye lens. But there is a limit of elasticity of muscles or limit of exerting pressure on muscles. Therefore a stage comes when the image of the object is not formed on retina. The minimum distance upto which an eye can see clearly by the maximum possible contractions of ciliary muscles is called the least distance of distinct vision. For normal eye this distance is 25 cm and is denoted by D. For normal eye the near point D is 25 cm and far point is infinity.

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OPTICAL INSTRUMENTS
Defects of Eye and Their Correction
Due to growing age or otherwise, eye may suffer the following defects:

(i) Myopia or shortsightedness: Myopia is the defect of eye in which a person can see only
nearby objects, but fails to see the far away objects distinctly.

This defect is due to (a) Decrease in focal length of the eye lens. (b) Spreading of the eye-sphere. Due to these reasons the image is formed in front of the retina.

Remedy: To eliminate this defect a concave lens of suitable focal length is used. The equivalent focal
length of concave lens and eye lens should be increased to a value such that the distinct image of far away objects is formed at the retina. If a myopic eye has a far point at F, then the parallel rays from infinity will be incident on concave lens and form its vertical image at F. This image will act as an object for eye lens and the final image (I) will be formed at the retina [Fig (b)]. Clearly, for elimination of myopia the focal length of corrective concave lens will be equal to the distance of far point of myopic eye from the eye lens.

(ii) Long-sightedness or Hypermetropia: Hypermetropia is the defect of eye in which a


person can see only farther objects but fails to see nearer objects distinctly.

This defect is due to (a) Increase in focal length of eye lens. (b) Contraction of eye-sphere. Due to these reasons the image of a nearby object is formed behind the retina.

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OPTICAL INSTRUMENTS
Remedy: The near point of hypermetropic eye is displaced from
D = 25 cm to some distant point. To eliminate this defect a convex lens of suitable focal length is used. The equivalent focal length of corrective convex lens and eye lens should be decreased to a value such that the distinct image of nearby objects is formed at the retina. Suppose the near point of a normal eye is at N and that of a hypermetropic eye is at O. The corrective convex lens forms the image of near point (N) at point O, then this image will act as the object for eye lens and the final image (I) will be formed at the retina. Therefore the corrective lens enables to form the distinct image of near point (N) at retina.

(iii) Presbyopia: In growing age, the eye lens loses its flexibility of changing the focal length.
Consequently, the near point of an eye is displaced farther and far point of the eye is displaced nearer, so that the eye is unable to see the nearby as well as far away objects. This defect of eye is called Presbyopia This defect may be eliminated by using bifocal lenses.

(iv) Astigmatism: The defect of eye in which horizontal and vertical objects at the same distance
are not focused at the retina clearly is called astigmatism. This arises when the cornea is not spherical in shape. For example cornea could have a larger curvature in vertical plane than in horizontal plane. If astigmatic eye sees a wire mesh or a shirt having horizontal and vertical lines, then vertical and horizontal lines are not equally well focused; if vertical lines are well focused, the horizontal lines may appear distorted or curved and vice versa. This defect may occur along with the myopia or Hypermetropia.

Remedy: The astigmation is corrected by using a cylindrical lens having a cylindrical surface of a
desired radius of curvature with an appropriately directed axis.

Magnifying Power of Optical Instruments


The size of an object depends on the angle subtended by the object on eye. This angle is called visual angle. Greater the visual angle, greater the size of object. Stars are bigger than sun; but appear smaller because stars are much farther away than sun and they subtend smaller angles on eye. The angle subtended on eye may be increased by using telescopes and microscopes. The telescopes and microscopes form the image of an object. The image subtends larger angle on eye; hence the object appears big. The magnification produced by optical instrument (telescope / microscope) is defined as the ratio of angle subtended by image on eye and the angle subtended by object on eye.

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OPTICAL INSTRUMENTS
Microscope
It is used to see nearer very small objects clearly.

(i) Simple Microscope: Microscope is a device to see nearer very small objects clearly. A simple
microscope consists of a convex lens of small focal length. The principle of simple microscope is that if an object is placed between the lens and its first principal focus, the virtual image formed by the lens is erect and magnified.

Let L be a convex lens of focal length f used as a magnifying glass. AB is an object placed between lens L and first principal focus The rays starting from AB are refracted from lens and form virtual, erect and magnified image

Magnifying power of a microscope is defined as the ratio of angle subtended by final image on eye to the angle subtended by object on eye, when object is placed at a minimum distance of distinct vision, i.e.,

When object AB is placed at a minimum distance (D) of distinct vision, then

But EB = D (by sign conventions)

Let u and v be the distances of object AB and image the lens, then distance

from the lens. If the observers eye is close to

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OPTICAL INSTRUMENTS

As u and v are negative, therefore from lens formula

Substituting this value in (1), we get

This is general formula for magnifying power of a simple microscope. Now there arise two cases

(i) When final image is at a distance of distinct vision, i.e. v = D, then

(ii) When final image is formed at infinity, then

(ii) Compound Microscope: A compound microscope essentially consists of two co-axial


convex lenses of small focal lengths. The lens facing the object is called an objective lens while that towards eye is called the eye lens.

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OPTICAL INSTRUMENTS

(0 symbolizes for objective and e for eye lens)

The length of microscope, L = length of the tube Special cases: (i) When final image is formed at a distance of distinct vision,

In a compound microscope, object is placed, just beyond the focus

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OPTICAL INSTRUMENTS
Telescope
(i) Refracting Telescope: It is used to see magnified images of distant objects. An
astronomical telescope essentially consists of two co-axial convex lenses. The lens facing the object has a large focal length and a large aperture and is called objective, while the lens towards eye has a small focal length and small aperture and is called eye lens.

The magnifying power of telescope is

Special cases (i) when final image is formed at a distance of distinct vision, then

(ii) Reflecting Telescope: In refracting telescope, the aperture of objective should be very
large to make the image of a distance object bright. But in lenses of large aperture and large focal length there arise spherical and chromatic aberrations. Moreover it is difficult to prepare lenses of large Vibhor Kaushik || The Outlaws of Physics || vibhor_kaushik@india.com || 9634176761

OPTICAL INSTRUMENTS
aperture and they are very costly. That is why in reflecting telescope concave mirror of large aperture is used in place of convex lens. By the use of concave mirror, the defect of chromatic aberration is completely removed but the defect of spherical aberration still exists. To remove the spherical aberration too, the paraboloidal mirror is used in place of objective lens.

Construction: It consists of a concave mirror of large aperture and large focal length fitted at one end of a wide tube. This mirror is called objective. The other end of tube is open and is directed towards the distant object. The tube carries a plane mirror which is placed just before the principal focus of concave mirror and is inclined at an angle 45 to the principal axis of concave mirror There is a narrow tube arranged in the side of wide tube. This tube carries a convex lens E of small aperture and small focal length. This lens E is called eye-piece. The eye-piece may be moved to and far in the tube.

Newtonian telescope

Working: Suppose AB is a distant object. The rays starting from AB fall on concave mirror The reflected rays move towards principal focus of but before being focused they are reflected by plane mirror The rays reflected from mirror form real, diminished image This image acts as an object for eye-piece E and its position is adjusted between eye-piece and its first principal focus. The eye-piece forms a magnified virtual image Thus the final image formed by telescope is magnified.

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OPTICAL INSTRUMENTS
Cassegrain modified Newtonian telescope by using a convex secondary mirror to focus the rays coming from large objective mirror. The rays reflected from convex mirror pass through a hole in the objective mirror fig. (b). It is known as cassegrainian telescope after its inventor.

Magnifying Power: The magnifying power (M) of a telescope is the ratio of angle
by final image on eye to the angle subtended by object on eye.

subtended

This may be calculated just as for refracting telescope. If is the focal length of objective concave mirror and the focal length of eye-piece and final image is formed at distance of distinct vision, then magnifying power

But if the final image is formed at infinity, then magnifying power,

Modern reflecting telescope uses a paraboloidal mirror objective to remove spherical aberration. A very large telescope has aperture of its objective equal to 200 inches (nearly 66 metres). It is placed at Mount-Palomar in California and used to study distant planets and stars.

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Wave Optics

Wave Optics
So far we have studied geometrical optics which assumes that a light ray travels along a straight line path through particles of medium called the corpuscles. Therefore, the theory is called the corpuscular theory of light. This theory was proposed by Descartes in 1637 and developed by Isacc Newton. It successfully explained the phenomena of reflection, refraction, dispersion and the rectilinear propagation of light. According to this theory the speed of light in denser medium was predicted greater than the speed of light in rarer medium. In 1678, the Dutch physicist Christiaan Huygens put forward the wave theory of light. He assumed that the light propagates in the form of waves just as sound does. The wave model could successfully explain the phenomena of reflection, refraction; however it predicted that the speed of light in denser medium is less than that in rarer medium. This is contrary to the prediction made by corpuscular theory of light. Due to Newtons authority, the wave theory remained silent up to 1850, when Foucault performed an engenius experiment and found that the speed of light in air and water. He found that speed of light is lesser in water than in air; thus supporting wave theory. In 1801 Thomas Young performed his famous interference experiment; which could not be explained by corpuscular theory. It was successfully explained by wave theory. After this experiment it was firmly established that light is indeed a wave phenomenon. After Youngs interference experiment, several other interference and diffraction experiments of light waves were carried out, which would only be explained satisfactorily by wave theory of light. The major difficulty for the acceptance of wave theory was that a wave required a medium for its propagation while light could propagate through vacuum. This was explained by Maxwell by putting forward his electromagnetic theory of light. He combined basic concepts of electricity and magnetism and developed a set of equations and using these equations he derived a wave equation, thus predicting the existence of electromagnetic waves. From the wave equation Maxwell showed that the speed of electromagnetic waves in free space is

Thus it was established that light wave is an electromagnetic wave.

Wavefront
A wavefront is defined as the continuous locus of all the particles which are vibrating in the same phase. The perpendicular line drawn at any point on the wavefront represents the direction of propagation of the wave at that point and is called the ray. Types of Wavefronts: The wavefronts can be of different shapes. In general we experience two types of wavefronts.

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Wave Optics

(i) Spherical Wavefront: If the waves in a medium are originating from a point source, then they propagate in all directions. If we draw a spherical surface centered at point-source, then all the particles of the medium lying on that spherical surface will be in the same phase, because the disturbance starting from the source will reach all these points simultaneously. Hence in this case the wavefront will be spherical and the rays will be the radial lines [Fig (a)].

(ii) Cylindrical Wavefront: If the waves in a medium are originating from a line source, then they too propagate in all directions. In this case the locus of particles vibrating in the same phase will be a cylindrical surface. Hence in this case the wavefront will be cylindrical. (Fig b)

(iii) Plane Wavefront: At large distance from the source, the radii of spherical or cylindrical wavefront will be too large and a small part of the wavefront will appear to be plane. At infinite distance from the source, the wavefronts are always plane and the rays are parallel straight lines. The equation represents the plane wave propagating along positive direction of X-axis.

huygens principle of wave propagation


This principle is useful for determining the position of a given wavefront at any time in the future if we know its present position. The principle may be stated in three parts as follows: (i) Every point on a given wave-front may be regarded as a source of new disturbance. (ii) The new disturbances from each point spread out in all directions with the velocity of light and are called the secondary wavelets. (iii) The surface of tangency to the secondary wavelets in forward direction at any instant gives the new position of the wave-front at that time.

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Wave Optics

Coherent and Incoherent Sources of Light


The sources of light emitting waves having a constant initial phase difference are called coherent sources. The sources of light emitting waves with a random phase difference are called incoherent sources. For interference phenomenon, the sources must be coherent.

Methods of Producing Coherent Sources:


There are two broad ways of producing coherent sources: (i) By division of wavefront: In this method the wavefront (which is the locus of points of same phase) is divided into two parts. The examples are Youngs double slit and Fresnels biprism. (ii) By division of amplitude: In this method the amplitude of a wave is divided into two parts by successive reflections.

Interference
Interference is the phenomenon of superposition of two coherent waves in the region of superposition. The positions of maximum intensity are called maxima, while those of minimum intensity are called minima. Methods of producing coherent waves: (1) Division of wavefront (2) Division of Amplitude.

Conditions of maxima and minima:


If are amplitudes of interfering waves and consideration, then Resultant intensity at a point in the region of superposition is the phase difference at a point under

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Wave Optics

Condition of maxima:

youngs double slit experiment


Thomas Young in 1801 first demonstrated the interference effects of light and established the wave theory of light on a firm experimental basis. This arrangement is shown in Fig. Young allowed sun-light to pass though a pinhole S and then through two pinholes placed equidistant from S and close to each other. The spherical waves first spread out from S and then two sets of spherical waves of same amplitude and wavelength emerge from and expand into the space. If we place a screen to the right of we get coloured (interference) bands of varying intensity. As a modification of the original experimental arrangement, sunlight is replaced by monochromatic light and then we get alternately dark and bright bands. The spherical wavefronts start from and superpose resulting in modification in intensity. Due to this modification the dark and bright lines are obtained on screen.

At points where a crest falls over a crest or a trough over a trough, the vibrations are large (i.e., the amplitude and hence the intensity is greatest). At these points the waves from reach with path difference 0, etc., i.e., even multiple of . Such positions on screen appear with maximum amplitude (and hence maximum intensity) and result bright fringes. At points where a crest of one falls over the trough of the other; the intensity is minimum. At these points the path difference is odd multiple of ; so the amplitude and hence result dark lines. Thus on the screen we get alternate bright and dark bands. These dark and bright bands are called interference fringes.

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Wave Optics

The fundamental requirement for the existence of well-defined interference pattern is that the light waves that travel from (fig.) to any point on the screen must have a constant phase difference between them; otherwise the intensity at that point on the screen will vary with time. Thus for sustained interference two interfering sources of light must be coherent.

For experimental purposes two virtual sources are obtained from a single parent source. In such a case all the random phase-changes occurring in the parent source are repeated in the virtual (or secondary) sources also, thus maintaining a constant phase difference between them. These virtual sources will then be coherent. An example of the coherent sources is Youngs double slit. In this device two narrow slits receive light from the same narrow slit S. Hence act as coherent sources.

formulae for youngs double slit experiment


Let be coherent sources at separation d and D be the distance of screen from sources, then path difference between waves reaching at P.

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Fringe width: Fringe width is defined as the separation between two consecutive maxima or
minima.

Use of white light: When white light is used to illuminate the slit, we obtain an interference
pattern consisting of a central white fringe having on both sides symmetrically a few coloured fringes and then uniform illumination. Remark: If point source is used to illuminate the two slits, the intensity emerging from the slit is proportional to area of exposed part of slit. In case of identical slits Diffraction: The banding of light from the edges of the obstacle is called the diffraction.

Use of White Light in Double Slit Experiment


White light consists of waves of innumerable wavelengths starting from violet to red colour. Therefore if monochromatic light in Youngs interference experiment is replaced by white light, then the waves of each wavelength form their separate interference patterns. The resultant effect of all these patterns is obtained on the screen. The path difference between waves starting from at the location (M) of central fringe is zero, i.e., for point M of screen the waves of all colours reach at mid point M in same phase. Therefore the central fringe (at M) is white. As fringe width and in visible region wavelength of violet colour is least and that of red colour is maximum, i.e., wavelength increases in order of colours denoted by VIBGYOR therefore on either side of it some coloured fringes are obtained in order of colour VIBGYOR. That is the violet (V) fringe appears first and the red (R) the last. After this the fringes of many colours overlap at each point of the screen and so the screen appears uniformly illuminated. Thus if we use white light in place of monochromatic light the central fringe is white, containing on either side a few coloured fringes (in order VIBGYOR) and the remaining screen appears uniformly illuminated.

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Wave Optics

Diffraction
When light is incident on a narrow opening or an obstacle in its path, it is bent at the edges of the obstacle or opening. This phenomenon is called diffraction. This phenomenon was first discovered by Francesco Grimaldi in seventieth century. For example consider a source S and a narrow circular aperture AB and a screen XY. If light follows straight line path strictly, then the part CD of screen will be uniformly illuminated, while the remaining part should be perfectly dark. But actually it is observed that in region CD, there appear some dark and bright fringes near C and D; and also the intensity is not strictly zero beyond C and D; but falls gradually. This is only possible if light rays bend from the corners A and B of aperture. This is diffraction and the pattern of dark and bright fringes obtained on screen is the diffraction pattern. Thus the departure of light from true rectilinear path or bending of light round the corners of the obstacle is called diffraction.

For diffraction the size of obstacle must be of the order of wavelength of light,

Diffraction at a Single Slit


When a parallel beam of light is incident normally on a single slit, the beam is diffracted from the slit and the diffraction pattern consists of a very intense central maximum, having on either sides minima, and secondary maxima alternately. If a is width of slit and the angle of diffraction, then the directions of nth maxima

The position of nth minima are given by where for various maxima on either side of principal maxima.

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Wave Optics

Width of Central Maximum


The width of central maximum is the separation between the first minimum on either side. The condition of minima is either side of central maximum is given by (n = 1, 2, 3,...). The angular position of the first minimum on

Linear Width: If D is the distance of screen from slit and y is the distance of the minima from the centre of the principal maxima, then

Linear half-width of central maximum

Total linear width of central maximum,

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Wave Optics

Resolving Power
The resolving power of an optical instrument is its ability to form distinct images of two neighboring objects. It is measured by the smallest angular separation between the two neighboring objects whose images are just seen distinctly formed by the optical instrument. This smallest distance is called the limit of resolution.

Smaller the limit of resolution, greater is the resolving power.

The angular limit of resolution of eye is

It means that if two objects are so close that angle subtended by them on eye is less than they will not be seen as separate.

The best criterion of limit of resolution was given by Lord Rayleigh. He thought that each object forms its diffraction pattern. For just resolution, the central maximum of one falls on the first minimum of the other (Fig. a). When the central maxima of two objects are closer, then these objects appear overlapped and are not resolved [Fig. (b)]; but if the separation between them is more than this, they are said to be well resolved.

Telescope: If a is the aperture of telescope and

the wavelength, then resolving limit of telescope

For spherical aperture,

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Wave Optics
is the well resolved semi-angle of cone of light rays entering the

Microscope: For microscope,


telescope, then limit of resolution

where

is called numerical aperture, NA.

Polarisation
According to Huygenss wave theory, the light propagates in the form of waves. The phenomenon of interference and diffraction verify that the light travels in the form of waves, but they do not tell about the nature of light waves, i.e., whether the light waves are transverse or longitudinal. Only the phenomenon of polarisation gives the information that the light waves are transverse. We know that in a transverse wave the particles of medium vibrate perpendicular to the direction of wave propagation. When Huygens proposed wave-theory, it was assumed that light waves propagate through the medium known as ether. Ether was assumed to be a transparent medium filled in all space. Therefore the transverse nature of light waves meant that the ether-particles vibrate perpendicular to the direction of wave-propagation. But it has been proved by modern experiments that there is no existence of mediumether. According to electromagnetic theory of light, the electric and magnetic field vectors vibrate perpendicular to the direction of wave-propagation and are mutually perpendicular too. Therefore in place of medium particles, we now assume that in a light wave the field vector (or electric field vector) vibrates perpendicular to the direction of wave-propagation. In ordinary light, the electric field vector vibrates in all possible directions perpendicular to the direction of wave propagation, i.e., the vibrations of electric field vector are symmetrical about the direction of wave-propagation. Such a wave is said to be unpolarised. For example if a wave is propagating along Z-axis, chosen perpendicular to plane of paper and the field vector vibrates along all possible directions in XY plane, the wave is unpolarised. But if by any device the vibrations of electric field vector are restricted only in one direction perpendicular to the direction of wave-propagation (i.e., the vibrations of field vector be made asymmetric about the direction of wave propagation); the light will be polarised and the phenomenon is called polarisation. Clearly, in a polarised wave, the vibrations of field vector are asymmetric about the direction of propagation of the wave. For example, if the wave be propagating along Z-axis, chosen perpendicular to the plane of paper, and the vibrations of field vector are along X or along Y-axis, the wave is polarised. Thus it is clear that the polarisation is possible only in transverse waves.

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Wave Optics

The phenomenon of asymmetry of vibrations of electric field vector about the direction of wave propagation is called polarisation.

Representation of Polarised and Unpolarised Light


In an unpolarised beam the vibrations take place along all possible directions at right angles to the direction of propagation of light. Therefore it is represented by a star (Fig.).

In the polarised beam of light the vibrations are along a single straight line. If they are parallel to the plane of the paper, they are represented by arrows (Fig.) : while those perpendicular to the plane of the paper are represented by dots (Fig.(c)).

Plane of vibration : The plane containing the direction of vibrations and direction of propagation of light is called the plane of vibration.

Plane of polarisation : The plane containing the direction of propagation of light, but containing no vibrations is called the plane of polarisation.

The plane of vibration and plane of polarisation are mutually perpendicular.

Polarisation by Reflection

In 1808, Malus found that when ordinary (unpolarised) light is incident on the surface of any transparent medium (like glass), then in general, the reflected and refracted beams are partially polarised. In 1811, Brewster found that the extent of polarisation in reflected light depends on the incident angle. When angle of incidence is changed, then for a particular value of angle of incidence the reflected light is completely plane polarised, while refracted light is still partially polarised. This particular angle of incidence is called polarising angle or Brewsters angle. Vibhor Kaushik ||The Outlaws of Physics || vibhor_kaushik@india.com || 9634176761

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Wave Optics

In plane-polarised reflected light, the vibrations of electric field vector are perpendicular to the plane of incidence.

In Fig., XX is the boundary of air and a transparent medium. PQ is a beam of unpolarised light incident on the boundary at angle of incidence equal to polarising angle The reflected beam QR is plane polarised and the refracted beam QS is partially polarised. The vibrations of electric field vector in polarised beam QR are perpendicular to plane of incidence.

brewsters law
If n be the refractive index of transparent medium and Brewster the polarising angle, then according to

It is called Brewsters law and angle of incidence is also called Brewsters angle. The value of Brewsters angle for glass is 57 and for water it is 53.

At polarising angle the reflected and refracted rays are mutually perpendicular. To prove it let polarising angle be angle of reflection and angle of refraction be r (Fig.).

Comparing (1) and (2), we get

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Wave Optics

Polarisation by Double Refraction


There are some crystals like calcite, quartz, tourmaline etc, such that when a ray of ordinary light is incident upon them, then on entering the crystal, the ray is splitted into two refracted rays. This phenomenon is called double refraction: Out of these one refracted ray obeys the ordinary laws of refraction and hence is called ordinary ray abbreviated as O-ray ; while the other refracted ray does not obey the laws of refraction and hence is called extra-ordinary ray abbreviated as E-ray. Both these rays are plane-polarised in mutually perpendicular planes. The vibrations of O-ray are perpendicular to the plane of incidence, while the vibrations of E-ray are in the plane of incidence. In practice one of the two polarised rays is separated by some device, so that the light emerging from the crystal may be polarised. In Nicol-Prism, the O-ray is separated by means of total internal reflection, while the E-ray emerges in the form of plane-polarised ray.

Polarisation by Selective Absorption (Dichroism)


Certain doubly refracting crystals have the property of absorbing the ordinary and the extraordinary rays unequally with the result that a plane polarised light emerges through them. The crystals exhibiting this property are termed as dichroic and the phenomenon is known as dichroism. The most prominent example of dichroic is tourmaline. When a ray of unpolarised light is passed through a thick (about 1 m.m.) crystal of tourmaline, cut with its optic axis parallel to its face, it is split up into ordinary and extraordinary rays ; both being plane polarised. The ordinary ray is absorbed completely by tourmaline crystal, while extraordinary ray is absorbed partly and so it emerges from the crystal. It is plane

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Wave Optics

polarised and has vibrations in the plane of incidence. In figure the direction of optic axis is

perpendicular to plane of paper and is shown by small circles.

Polaroids: Its construction is based on the principle of dichroism and it is a cheap commercial
method to produce plane-polarised light.

Construction : It is a large-sized film enclosed betwen two glass-plates. To prepare this film the crystals of quinine iodosulphate called Herpathite are spread on a thin sheet of nitrocellulose in such a way that their optic axes are along the same direction. These crystals are highly dichroic which absorb one of the doubly-refracted beams completely and the other beam emerges as a plane polarised light. When a beam of ordinary unpolarised light falls on a polaroid film, it is divided into two refracted beams into the film. The vibrations of field vector in one beam are parallel to the polarising direction (or optic axis); while in other beam, they are perpendicular to optic axis. Due to dichroism-property the components having vibrations perpendicular to optic axis are absorbed by the film while the components having vibrations parallel to optic axis get transmitted through the film. Thus the light emerging from the polaroid is plane-polarised which vibrations are parallel to the polarising direction.

Malus Law
According to Malus : When a completely plane polarised light beam is incident on a polarising sheet the intensity of the emergent light varies as the square of the cosine of the angle between the direction of electric field vector of the incident light and the polarising direction of the sheet.

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Wave Optics

Accordingly if I is the intensity of light emerging from polarising sheet and

is the intensity of incident

plane polarised light, then where is the angle between the direction of electric field vector of incident beam and the polarising direction of sheet.

If the polarising sheet is rotated, the angle changes and hence intensity (I) of transmitted light changes. Fig. (shown) represents the variation of intensity (I) versus angle between electric field vector and the direction of polarising axis of sheet.

Detection of Plane-polarised Light


The Polaroid (or tourmaline crystal or Nicol prism) can be used to test whether the given beam of light is unpolarised, plane-polarised or partially polarised. For this the given beam of light is made incident on a Polaroid and the Polaroid is rotated about the incident light and the intensity of light emerging from the Polaroid is noted. (i) If there is no change in intensity of the emergent light in any position, the given beam of light is unpolarised. (ii) If the intensity of emergent light changes but never becomes zero, the given beam of light is partially polarised. (iii) If the intensity of emergent light changes and becomes zero twice in one complete revolution, the given beam of light is plane-polarised.

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Dual Nature of Matter and Radiation

Dual Nature of Matter and Radiation


The phenomena of interference, diffraction and polarisation are explained by wave nature of light. There are some phenomena of light like photoelectric effect, Compton effect, Raman effect; which could not be explained by wave theory. To explain such phenomena, Einstein proposed the quantum theory of light, which assumes light to behave as particles called photons. Actually speaking Einsteins theory is extension of Plancks quantum theory which was assumed to explain black body radiations. According to Einsteins quantum theory, light is propagated in bundles of small energy; each bundle being called a quantum or photon. The energy of photon depends on the frequency of light and is given by These photons behave as particles. This theory successfully explained the phenomena of photoelectric effect, Compton effect, Raman effect and a number of other experimental observations. Thus light possesses wave-particle dual behaviour. In some phenomena it behaves as waves while in some other phenomena it behaves as particles. This is called dual behaviour of light. Nature has provided us a boon of symmetry. Therefore, it was thought that matter (material particles) too must possess dual nature. The particle nature of matter is well known. It was proposed by de-Broglie that all material particles in motion behave as waves. Thus like light, matter also possesses dual waveparticle behaviour. Now we shall study the experiments of particle behaviour of light and wave behaviour of matter.

Quantum Nature of Light: Concept of a Photon


Some phenomena like Photoelectric effect, Compton effect, Raman effect could not be explained by wave theory of light. Therefore, quantum theory of light was proposed by Einstein. According to quantum theory of light light is propagated in bundles of small energy, each bundle being called a photon and possessing energy.

Momentum of photon,

Rest mass of photon = 0 Dynamic or kinetic mass of photon,

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Dual Nature of Matter and Radiation


and energy W or

The number of photons in a source of monochromatic radiation of wavelength power P.

Photoelectric Effect
The phenomenon of emission of electrons from a metallic surface by the use of light (or radiant) energy is called photoelectric effect. The phenomenon was discovered by Lenard. For photoelectric emission, the metal used must have low work function, e.g., alkali metals. Cesium is the best metal for photoelectric effect.

Hertzs ObservatiOns
The phenomenon of photoelectric effect was discovered by Heinrich Hertz in 1887. While performing an experiment for production of electromagnetic waves by means of spark discharge, Hertz observed that sparks occurred more rapidly in the air gap of his transmitter when ultraviolet radiations was directed at one of the metal plates. Hertz could not explain his observations but other scientists did it. They arrived at the conclusion that the cause was the emission of electron from metal plate due to incidence of high frequency light. This is photoelectric effect.

Lenards ObservatiOns
Phillip Lenard observed that when ultraviolet radiations were made incident on the emitter plate of an evacuated glass tube enclosing two metal plates (called electrodes), current flows in the circuit, but as soon as ultraviolet radiation falling on the emitter plate was stopped, the current flow stopped. These observations indicate that when ultraviolet radiations fall on the emitter (cathode) plate C, the electrons are ejected from it, which are attracted towards anode plate A. The electrons flow through the evacuated glass tube, complete the circuit and current begins to flow in the circuit. Then Hallwachs and Lenard studied the phenomenon in detail. Hallwachs studied further by taking a zinc plate and an electroscope. The zinc plate was connected to an electroscope. He observed that:

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Dual Nature of Matter and Radiation

(i) When an uncharged zinc plate was irradiated by ultraviolet light, the zinc plate acquired positive charge.

(ii) When a positively charged zinc plate is illuminated by ultraviolet light, the positive charge of the plate was increased. (iii) When a negatively charged zinc plate was irradiated by ultraviolet light, the zinc plate lost its charge. All these observations show that when ultraviolet light falls on zinc plate, the negatively charged particles (electrons) are emitted. Further study shows that different metals emit electrons by different electromagnetic radiations. For example the alkali metals (e.g., sodium, cesium, potassium etc.) emit electrons when visible light is incident on them. The heavy metals (such as zinc, cadmium, magnesium etc.) emit electrons when ultraviolet radiation is incident on them. Cesium is the most sensitive metal for photoelectric emission. It can emit electrons with less-energetic infrared radiation. In photoelectric effect the light energy is converted into electrical energy.

Characteristics of Photoelectric Effect


(i) Effect of Intensity: Intensity of light means the energy incident per unit area per second.
For a given frequency, if intensity of incident light is increased, the photoelectric current increases and with decrease of intensity, the photoelectric current decreases; but the stopping potential remains the same.

This means that the intensity of incident light affects the photoelectric current but leaves the maximum kinetic energy of photoelectrons unchanged.

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Dual Nature of Matter and Radiation

(ii) Effect of Frequency: When the intensity of incident light is kept fixed and frequency is
increased, the photoelectric current remains the same; but the stopping potential increases.

If the frequency is decreased, the stopping potential decreases and at a particular frequency of incident light, the stopping potential becomes zero. This value of frequency of incident light for which the stopping potential is zero is called threshold frequency If the frequency of incident light is less than the threshold frequency no photoelectric emission takes place. Thus, the increase of frequency increases the maximum kinetic energy of photoelectrons but leaves the photoelectric current unchanged.

(iii) Effect of Photometal: When frequency and intensity of incident light are kept fixed and
Photometal is changed, we observe that stopping potentials versus frequency (v) graphs are parallel straight lines, cutting frequency axis at different points (Fig). This shows that threshold frequencies are different for different metals, the slope for all the metals is same and hence a universal constant.

(iv)Effect of Time: There is no time lag between the incidence of light and the emission of
photoelectrons.

Some Definitions
Work Function: The minimum energy required to free an electron from its metallic bonding is
called work function.

Threshold Frequency: The minimum frequency of incident light which is just capable of
ejecting electrons from a metal is called the threshold frequency. It is denoted by

Stopping Potential: The minimum retarding potential applied to anode of a photoelectric tube
which is just capable of stopping photoelectric current is called the stopping potential. It is denoted by

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Dual Nature of Matter and Radiation

einsteins expLanatiOn Of pHOtOelectric Effect


The wave theory of light could not explain the observed characteristics of photoelectric effect. Einstein extended Planck's quantum idea for light to explain photoelectric effect. According to this idea, The energy of electromagnetic radiation is not continuously distributed over the wavefront like the energy of water waves but remains concentrated in packets of energy content h, where v is frequency of radiations and h is universal Planck's constant Each packet of energy is called a photon or quantum and travels with the speed of light. The assumptions of Einsteins theory are :

1. The photoelectric effect is the result of collision of two particlesone, a photon of incident light and the other, an electron of Photometal. 2. The electron of Photometal is bound with the nucleus by coulomb attractive forces. The minimum energy required to free an electron from its bondage is called work function (W). 3. The incident photon interacts with a single electron and loses its energy in two parts: (i) in releasing the electron from its bondage, and (ii) in imparting kinetic energy to emitted electron.

Accordingly, if h is the energy of incident photon, then

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Dual Nature of Matter and Radiation

Equation (1) is referred as Einstein's photoelectric equation and explains all experimental results of photoelectric effect. The efficiency of photoelectric effect is less than 1%, i.e., only less than 1% of incident photons are capable of ejecting photoelectrons.

Matter Waves: Wave Nature of Particles


Light exhibits particle aspects in certain phenomena (e.g., photoelectric effect, emission and absorption of radiation), while wave aspects in other phenomena (e.g., interference, diffraction and polarisation). That is, light has dual nature. In analogy with dual nature of light, de Broglie thought in terms of dual nature of matter.

de Broglie Hypothesis
Louis de Broglie postulated that the material particles (e.g., electrons, protons, , atoms, etc.) may exhibit wave aspect. Accordingly, a moving material particle behaves as wave and the wavelength associated with material particle is Where p is momentum.

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Dual Nature of Matter and Radiation

The wave associated with material particle is called the de-Broglie wave or matter wave. The de-Broglie hypothesis has been confirmed by diffraction experiments. For charged particles associated through a potential of V volt,

Davisson and Germer Experiment


This experiment gave the first experimental evidence for the wave nature of slow electrons. Later on it was shown that all material particles in motion behave as waves.

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ATOMS AND NUCLEI


Atoms and Nuclei
According to Dalton, each substance is made of atoms. In 1857, J. J. Thomson discovered electron. The phenomenon of photoelectric effect gives clear evidence that metallic atoms contain electrons. Further experiments revealed that electron is a constituent of atoms of all the substances. The important properties of atoms are neutrally and stability. The neutrality of atom clearly indicates that atom must contain a positive charge. Rutherfords experiments on atoms showed that atom contains a positively charged nucleus at the centre. Most of mass is concentrated in the nucleus.

-particle scattering Experiments


Rutherford performed an experiment by bombarding a-particles (Helium nuclei Z = 2, A = 4 on a gold foil. Observations: (i) Most of -particles pass through the gold foil undeflected. (ii) A very small number of a-particles (1 in 8000) suffered large angle deflection; some of them retraced their path or suffered 180 deflection.

Conclusion: (i) Atom is hollow. (ii) Entire positive charge and nearly whole mass of atom is concentrated in a small centre called nucleus of atom. (iii) Coulombs law holds good for atomic distances. (iv) Negatively charged electrons are outside the nucleus. Impact Parameter: The perpendicular distance of initial velocity vector of from the nucleus, when the particle is far away from the nucleus, is called the impact parameter. It is denoted by b. For head on approach of a-particle, b = 0.

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ATOMS AND NUCLEI

Angle of Scattering : The angle by which -particle is deviated from its original direction is called angle of scattering.

where

is the initial kinetic energy for head on approach of alpha particle.

Impact parameter, b =0.

Distance of Closest Approach: Size of Nucleus


With the help of -scattering experiment, the size of nucleus may be estimated. are emitted with high velocity from the radioactive substance. The particle which goes straight (head on) towards the nucleus reaches nearest to nucleus. We know that Coulombs repulsive force acts between and positively charged nucleus and is given by

As approaches the nucleus, the Coulombs repulsive force increases and the kinetic energy of goes on changing into electrostatic potential energy. When whole of the kinetic energy of is converted into electrostatic potential energy, can not further approach the nucleus. At this instant its velocity becomes zero and due to Coulombs repulsive force it retraces its path. Thus is scatte red through an angle 180. If Z is the atomic number of nucleus and e is elementary charge, then charge on nucleus

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ATOMS AND NUCLEI

This equation gives the distance of nearest approach of Clearly distance of nearest approach depends on kinetic energy of Greater is kinetic energy of smaller is the distance of nearest approach. The distance of nearest approach is an upper limit for the size of nucleus.

Impact Parameter
The impact parameter is defined as the perpendicular distance of initial direction of velocity of from the nucleus. Suppose an approaches a heavy nucleus (N) from far away.

The trajectory traced by an alpha particle depends on the impact parameter (b). For large impact parameters (b, say) the electrostatic force of repulsion experienced by alpha particle due to positively charged nucleus is weak, therefore alpha particle goes nearly undeviated. (Path EF). For small impact parameter b (say) the electrostatic repulsive force experienced by alpha particles is strong and it suffers large angle scattering (path ABC). In the case of head on collision, the impact parameter is zero and the electrostatic repulsive force is strongest; so alpha particle rebounds back or it suffers 180 scattering (path GHG).

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ATOMS AND NUCLEI


The angle between initial and final directions of is called the angle of scattering. It is denoted by Rutherford calculated analytically the expression for impact parameter in terms of energy K and angle of scattering The relation is

Rutherfords Atomic Model


On the basis of experiments on scattering of Rutherford proposed an atomic model called Rutherford Atomic Model. According to this model an atom consists of a small central nucleus containing entire positive charge and almost whole mass of atom. The negatively charged electrons revolve around the nucleus in various circular orbits. The necessary centripetal force for circular orbits is provided by Coulombs force of attraction between electrons and nucleus. Drawbacks of Rutherford Model: Though Rutherford model was based on experimental observations, it has the following main drawbacks. (i) It could not explain the stability of atoms: According to classical theory an accelerated charge radiates energy continuously by means of electromagnetic waves. As negatively charged electrons revolve in circular orbits they are necessarily accelerated and therefore they must radiate energy continuously. Due to which the electrons will move in circular orbits of continuously decreasing radius with increased frequency of revolution and ultimately will collide with the nucleus; thus the existence of atom will be destroyed completely. (ii) It could not explain the line spectrum: According to Rutherford atomic model electrons revolve in all possible circular orbits and hence they must emit radiation of all possible wavelengths. This is not in agreement with experimental observations since atoms, like hydrogen, emit radiations of fixed wavelengths. In other words according to Rutherford model the spectrum emitted by atoms should be continuous, but experimental observations show that atoms emit line spectrum.

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Bohrs Atomic Model
Bohr modified Rutherford atom model to explain the line spectrum of hydrogen. Postulates of Bohrs Theory

(i) Stationary Circular Orbits: An atom consists of a central positively charged nucleus and negatively charged electrons revolve around the nucleus in certain orbits called stationary orbits. The electrostatic Coulomb force between electrons and the nucleus provides the necessary centripetal force.

where Z is the atomic number, m is the mass of electrons, radius of orbit. (ii) Quantum Condition: The stationary orbits are those in which angular momentum of electron is an integral multiple of

Integer n is called the principal quantum number. This equation is called Bohrs quantum condition. (iii) Heavy Nucleus: The nucleus is extremely massive than electron, so motion of nucleus can be neglected. (iv)Transitions: The electron does not radiate energy when in a stationary orbit. The quantum of energy (or photon) is emitted or absorbed when an electron jumps from one stationary orbit to the other. The frequency of emitted or absorbed photon is given by

This is called Bohrs frequency condition.

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Radius of Orbit and Energy of Electron in Orbit Condition of Motion of Electron in Circular Orbit is

Bohrs quantum condition is

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For hydrogen atom Z = 1 Energy of orbiting electron in H-atom

Equations (3) and (7) indicate that radii and energies of hydrogen like atoms (i.e., atoms containing one electron only) are quantized.

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Energy Levels of Hydrogen Atom
The energy of electron in hydrogen atom (Z = 1) is given (or series of hydrogen spectrum) by

If these energies are expressed by vertical lines on proper scale, the diagram obtained is called the energy level diagram. The energy level diagram of hydrogen atom is shown in fig. (a). Clearly the separation between lines goes on decreasing rapidly with increase of n(i.e., order of orbit). The series of lines of H-spectrum are shown in fig. (a). If the total energy of electron is above zero, the electron is free and can have any energy. Thus there is a continuum of energy states above E = eV.
Fig. (a) Energy Level Diagram

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Hydrogen Spectrum
Hydrogen emission spectrum consists of 5 series. (i) Lyman series: This lies is ultraviolet region. (ii) Balmer series: This lies in the visible region. (iii) Paschen series: This lies in near infrared region. (iv) Brackett series: This lies in mid infrared region. (v) Pfund series: This lies in far infrared region. Hydrogen absorption spectrum consists of only Lyman series.

Explanation of Hydrogen Spectrum : are the quantum numbers of initial and final states and are energies of electron in H-atom (Z = 1) in initial and final states we have

The relation explains successfully the origin of various lines in the spectrum of hydrogen atom. The series of lines are obtained due to the transition of electron from various other orbits to a fixed inner orbit.

(i) Lyman series: This series is produced when electron jumps from higher orbits to the first stationary orbit Thus for this series

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Obviously the lines of Lyman series are found in ultraviolet region.

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(ii) Balmer series: The series is produced when an electron jumps from higher orbits to the second stationary orbit. Thus for this series,

Obviously the lines of Balmer series are found in the visible region and first, second, third lines are called lines respectively. (iii) Paschen series: This series is produced when an electron jumps from higher orbits to the third stationary orbit

(iv) Brackett series: This series is produced when an electron jumps from higher orbits to the fourth stationary orbit Vibhor Kaushik || The Outlaws of Physics || Vibhor_kaushik@india.com || 9634176761

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(v) Pfund series: This series is produced when an electron jumps from higher orbits to the fifth stationary orbit

The last three series are found in infrared region. The series spectrum of hydrogen atom is represented in figure.

Composition of Nucleus
The atom consists of central nucleus, containing entire positive charge and almost entire mass. According to accepted model the nucleus is composed of protons and neutrons. The proton was discovered by Rutherford by bombardment of -particles on nitrogen in accordance with the following equation:

The superscripts (on the right) denote the mass number and subscripts (on the left) denote the atomic number. The neutron was discovered by Chadwick by the bombardment of on beryllium in accordance with

[A neutron is neutral (zero charge) particle and its mass number is 1]. The number of protons in a nucleus is called atomic number while the number of nucleons (i.e., protons + neutrons) is called the mass number (A). In general mass number > atomic number (except for hydrogen nucleus when A = Z). Since it is neutral, neutron is used for artificial disintegration.

Atomic Mass Unit


The masses of atoms, nuclei, etc are expressed in terms of atomic mass unit represented by amu or u. For this mass of C-12 is taken as standard

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Classification of Nuclei: Isotopes, Isobars and Isotones


On the basis of number of protons (atomic number Z) and number of nucleons (atomic mass in nuclei, they have been divided into following categories : 1. Isotopes The atoms of an element having same atomic number (Z) but different mass-numbers are called isotopes. Clearly, the isotopes have same Z and so they occupy same place in periodic table, therefore they should possess identical chemical properties. On account of this, they can not be separated by chemical means and different techniques have been developed to study their relative abundance. As they possess equal number of protons, therefore they must have equal number of electrons. Examples: All elements possess isotopes. Tin has maximum number (10) isotopes. The isotopes of some elements are given in table.

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Characteristics of Isotopes: (i) The mass numbers of all isotopes of an element are different, because their nuclei contain same number of protons; but different number of neutrons. Hence they have different physical properties. (ii) All isotopes of same element have same atomic number Z; therefore they occupy the same place in the periodic table and they have same chemical properties. (iii) Out of isotopes of a given element; some isotopes may be stable; while some may be radioactive. The reason is that their nuclear constitutions are different.

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2. Isobars The nuclei having same number of nucleons but different number of protons are called isobars. Clearly their mass numbers (A) are same, but atomic number (Z) are different. On account of being of different Z, they occupy different positions in the periodic table. On account of different Z-values, their atoms possess different electronic configurations; therefore they possess different chemical properties. The nuclei of isobars are of different elements. Examples of isobars

Characteristics of Isobars: (i) Isobars possess different atomic numbers (Z); therefore they possess different chemical properties. (ii) On account of having different number of fundamental particles (neutrons, protons and electrons), they possess different physical properties. (iii) Isobars have different positions in periodic table. 3. Isotones The nuclei containing the same number of neutrons are called isotones. They possess different atomic numbers (Z ) different atomic weights (A); but same (A Z). Examples:

Radioactivity
After the discovery of X-rays by Roentgen in 1895, Becquerel in 1896 discovered the phenomenon of radioactivity. Becquerel on the basis of experimental observations stated that uranium and some of its salts emit spontaneously some invisible rays which affect the photographic plate and penetrate through the opaque substances. These rays are called radioactive rays or Becquerel rays and the phenomenon of spontaneous emission from a substance is called the radioactivity. Vibhor Kaushik || The Outlaws of Physics || Vibhor_kaushik@india.com || 9634176761

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Properties of particle (i) are helium nuclei, so they have positive charge +2e and mass nearly 4X mass of proton. (ii) On account of positive charge, fields. have strong ionizing power. have small penetrating power. are scattered by metallic foils (e.g., gold foils) produce fluorescence in some substances like zinc sulphide. affect photographic plate feebly. Properties of particle (i) particles are fast moving electrons. (ii) The speed of in vacuum). is very high ranging from 03 c to 098 c (c = speed of light are deflected by electric and magnetic

carry negative charge equal to so they are deflected by electric and magnetic fields opposite to the direction of deflection of -particles.

Properties of particle (i) rays are electromagnetic radiations, of wavelength 001 . are neutral, so they are not affected by electric and magnetic fields. travel in vacuum with the speed of light. have the highest penetrating power. have the least ionizing power. Vibhor Kaushik || The Outlaws of Physics || Vibhor_kaushik@india.com || 9634176761

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Radioactive Decay Laws
Rutherford-Soddy law
(i) Radioactivity is a nuclear phenomenon. It is independent of all physical and chemical conditions. (ii) The disintegration is random and spontaneous. It is a matter of chance for any atom to disintegrate first. (iii) The radioactive substances emit along with These rays originate from the nuclei of disintegrating atom and form fresh radioactive products. (iv) The rate of decay of atoms is proportional to the number of undecayed radioactive atoms present at any instant. If N is the number of undecayed atoms in a radioactive substance at any time the number of atoms disintegrating in time t the rate of decay is so that

is a constant of proportionality called the decay (or disintegration) constant, Equation (1) results

Radioactive Displacement Laws


(i) When a nuclide emits an number by two, its mass number is reduced by four and atomic

(ii) When a nuclide emits a number increases by one,

-particle, its mass number remains unchanged but atomic

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The -particles is not present initially in the nucleus but is produced due to the disintegration of neutron into a proton, When a proton is converted into a neutron, positive -particle or positron is emitted.

(iii) When a nuclide emits a gamma photon, neither the atomic number nor the mass number changes.

Half Life and Mean Life and Activity of Radioactive Substance


Half Life and Mean Life
The half-life period of a radioactive substance is defined as the time in which one-half of the radioactive substance is disintegrated. If is the initial number of radioactive atoms present, then in a half life time T, the number of undecayed radioactive atoms will be and in next half and so on.

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Equation (3) is the basic equation for the solution of half-life problems of radioactive elements. The half-life T and disintegration constant are related as

The mean life of a radioactive substance is equal to the sum of life time of all atoms divided by the number of all atoms, i.e., Mean life,

Activity of Radioactive Substance


The activity of a radioactive substance means the rate of decay (or the number of disintegrations/sec). This is denoted by

Units of Radioactivity
(1) Curie: It is defined as the activity of radioactive substance which gives disintegration/sec which is also equal to the radioactivity of 1 g of pure radium. (2) Rutherford: It is defined as the activity of radioactive substance which gives rise to disintegrations per second. Vibhor Kaushik || The Outlaws of Physics || Vibhor_kaushik@india.com || 9634176761

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(3) Becquerel: In S.I. system the unit of radioactivity is Becquerel. 1 Becquerel =1 disintegration/second disintegration/second

Simple Explanation of
A proton in nucleus has a binding energy nearly 8 MeV; so to come out of a nucleus, it requires an energy 8 MeV; but such amount of energy is not available to a proton; hence proton as such cannot came out of nucleus on its own. On the other hand, mass of is subsequently less than the total mass of 2 protons + 2 neutrons. According to Einstein's mass energy equivalence relation sufficient energy is released in the formation of an within the nucleus. This energy appears in the form of kinetic energy of . With this kinetic energy, hits the wall of nucleus again and again and finally escapes out. The process may be represented as

are not the constituents of nucleus, then question is why and how they are emitted by radioactive nucleus. Pauli in 1932 suggested that at the time of emission of a a neutron in nucleus is converted into a proton, a and an antineutrino. This may be expressed as

Antineutrino is a massless and chargeless particle. The energy of the above process is shared by and antineutrino; that is why the energy of ranges from 0 to certain maximum value. -emission: When is emitted from a nucleus, the residual nucleus is left in an excited state. The excited nucleus returns to its ground state by the emission of a

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Mass-Energy Relation
According to Einstein the mass and energy are equivalent i.e., mass can be converted into energy and vice-versa. The mass energy equivalence relation is E=mc2. Accordingly, 1 kg mass is equivalent to energy

is equivalent to energy 931 MeV.

Mass Defect
It is observed that the mass of a nucleus is always less than the mass of constituent nucleons (i.e., protons + neutrons). This difference of mass is called the mass defect. Let (Z A) be the mass of nucleus, mp= the mass of proton and mn= mass of neutron, then the mass defect

Binding Energy per Nucleon


This mass defect is in the form of binding energy of nucleus, which is responsible for binding the nucleons into a small nucleus.

Variation of Binding Energy per Nucleon with Mass Number


The knowledge of binding energy per nucleon of a nucleus gives an idea about the stability of that nucleus. Greater is the binding energy per nucleon, more stable is that nucleus.

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If a graph is plotted between binding energy per nucleon and mass-number (A) of all known nuclei, then the curve is called the binding energy curve. The curve is shown in fig. This curve gives the following important information about nuclei. 1. The binding energy of each nucleus is positive. This means that to decompose a nucleus into its constituent nucleons external energy must be given. 2. The binding energy per nucleon is relatively small for lighter nuclei. It increases rapidly with increase of mass number (A), becomes maximum and then decreases steadily. But for nuclei below mass-number 20, some peaks are obtained. These peaks are for etc., which indicate that these nuclei are relatively more stable than their neighbours. 3. The nuclei heaving mass number 56 and near 56 have maximum binding energy per nucleon (nearly 8.8 MeV); so these nuclei are relatively more stable. 4. For nuclei having mass number above 56, the binding energy per nucleon decreases steadily and becomes 8 MeV at mass number 180. For nuclei having A > 180, its value becomes less than 8 MeV and for uranium, its value is about 7.6 MeV. Obviously nuclei having mass number above 180 are unstable and hence they are radio-active. 5. For nuclei having mass number below 56, the binding energy per nucleon also decreases. At mass number 20, it becomes 8MeV and for nuclei having mass number below 20, the binding energy per nucleon decreases very rapidly. For example deuteron (heavy hydrogen it is nearly 1 MeV. This shows that the nuclei below mass number 20 are relatively less stable. 6. The binding energy curve indicates that the binding energy per nucleon of very light and very heavy nuclei is generally less than that of middle-nuclei. This indicates that very light and very heavy nculei are less stable or unstable. From this two important conclusions may be drawn : Vibhor Kaushik || The Outlaws of Physics || Vibhor_kaushik@india.com || 9634176761

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(i) If we break a very heavy nucleus (like uranium) into two or more lighter nuclei. then the binding energy per nucleon will increase and energy will be released in the process of formation of new nuclei. This process is called nuclear fission. (ii) If we combine lighter nuclei (e.g., heavy hydrogen into a relatively heavier nucleus even then the binding energy per nucleon increases and again the energy will be liberated. This phenomenon is called nuclear fusion.

Nuclear Fission
The splitting of heavy nucleus into two or more fragments of comparable masses, with an enormous release of energy is called nuclear fission. For example when slow neutrons are bombarded on the fission takes place according to reaction

In nuclear fission the sum of masses before reaction is greater than the sum of masses after reaction, the difference in mass being released in the form of fission energy. Remarks: 1. It may be pointed out that it is not necessary that in each fission of uranium, the two fragments are formed but they may be any stable isotopes of middle weight atoms. The most probable division is into two fragments containing about 40% and 60% of the original nucleus with the emission of 2 or 3 neutrons per fission. 2. The fission of takes place by fast neutrons.

Chain reaction: If on the average more than one of the neutrons produced in each fission are capable of causing further fission, the number of fissions taking place at successive stages goes on increasing at a rapid rate, giving rise to self sustained sequence of fission known as chain reaction. The chain reaction takes place only if the size of the fissionable material is greater than a certain size called the critical size. There are two types of chain reactions: 1. Uncontrolled chain reaction: In this process the number of fissions in a given interval on the average goes on increasing and the system will have the explosive tendency. This forms the principle of atom bomb. 2. Controlled chain reaction: In this process the number of fissions in a given interval is maintained constant by absorbing a desired number of neutrons. This forms the principle of nuclear reactor.

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Nuclear Reactor
It consists of the following parts: (i) Fuel: The fuel is (ii) Moderator: A moderator is a suitable material to slow down neutrons produced in the fission. The best choices as moderators are heavy water (iii) Controller: To maintain the steady rate of fission, the neutron absorbing material known as controller is used. The control rods are made of cadmium or boron-steel. (iv) Coolant: To remove the considerable amount of heat produced in the fission process, suitable cooling fluids, known as coolants are used. The used coolants are water, carbondioxide, air, etc. (v) Reactor shield: The intense neutrons and gamma radiations produced in nuclear reactors are harmful for human body. To protect the workers from these radiations, the reactor core is surrounded by concrete-wall called the reactor shield.

Nuclear Fusion
The phenomenon of combination of two or more light nuclei to form a heavy nucleus with release of enormous amount of energy is called the nuclear fusion. It is obvious from the binding energy curve that for light nuclei the average binding energy increases with increase of mass number, i.e, the sum of masses of the individual light nuclei is greater than the mass of the nucleus formed by their fusion and during the process of fusion the difference in mass will be converted into energy. As an example of nuclear fusion we may consider the fusion of two deuterons to form a tritron (tritium nucleus) according to following reaction

The tritron so formed can further combine with a third deuteron to form on -particle (helium nucleus):

The net result is . Vibhor Kaushik || The Outlaws of Physics || Vibhor_kaushik@india.com || 9634176761

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Thus the energy released per deuteron fused is . Most of the liberated energy appears in the form of kinetic energies of neutron and proton. Alternatively the fusion of three deuterons into an -particle can take place as follows :

The net result is still the same as before and the energy released per deuteron is still MeV. In a fusion reaction the energy liberated appears much less than that released in fission reaction which is 200 MeV. But on a mass basis; the energy output per unit mass in the fusion process is about 6 times more than in the case of fission process. Difficulties with Nuclear Fusion: To achieve nuclear fusion in practice is quite difficult. The reason is as follows: When two positively charged nuclei come near each other to fuse together, strong electrostatic repulsive force acts between Them. To overcome this repulsive force, they require sufficient energy of the order of 0.1 MeV. This amount of energy may be available at extremely high temperature and extremely high pressure; which is not practicable. These conditions may either be achieved at sun or by explosion of atombomb. The fusion bomb or hydrogen bomb has been prepared using this principle. Superiority of Fusion Reactor over Fission Reactor: If scientists succeed to overcome the practical difficulties of occurrence of nuclear fusion on earth, then fusion reactors will be more convenient and economical than fission reactors due to following reasons: 1. No radioactive substance will be produced in fusion reactor; therefore there will be no problem of atmospheric pollution. In fission reactor unwanted radioactive substances are produced; the radiations from these substances are harmful for human beings and there is an additional problem to destroy them. At present the unwanted radioactive substance is sealed in stainless-steel drums and thrown in sea or buried deep in the ground in deserts. 2. The fuel used in fission reactor is uranium, which is quite costly and limited in quantity. It will be exhausted in a few hundred years. On the other hand fusion reactor uses deuterium which is found in abundance in sea water. It has been estimated that sea water contains so much quantity of deuterium that it may give fusion energy for the whole world for the next ten thousand crore

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Stellar Energy

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Electronic Devices
All electronic circuits use the devices in which a controlled flow of electrons can be obtained. Till about 1948 such devices were merely vacuum tubes (also called valves). These devices used metallic plates as electrodes. The metals emit electrons when heated, so the devices contain heated metallic cathodes for electron emission and one or more metallic electrodes for controlling the electron flow. The electron flow in these devices (thermionic emission) was controlled by applying suitable potential difference relative to cathode. In these devices the electrons flow only from cathode to anode (in one direction only); so these devices were called valves. The examples are diode valve containing two electrodes: cathode and anode plate; triode valve containing three electrodes: cathodes, control grid and anode plate etc. These vacuum tube devices are quite bulky, require high voltage for operation and consume high power. In 1948 transistors were discovered. A transistor is a solid state semiconductor device which contains charge carriers within the solid itself. In semiconductor devices simple excitations like light or small applied voltage can control the number of mobile charge carriers. These devices are very small in size, require low voltage for operation and consume low power. Moreover, these devices have long life and high reliability. Now a days all equipments e.g., television, computers are being constructed using solid state devices.

Semiconductors
The substances which contain free charge carrier are called conductors while the substances which do not contain any free charge carrier are called insulators. Semiconductors are intermediate to conductors and insulators. At NTP a semiconductor behaves as an insulator. The well known examples of semiconductors are germanium (Ge) and Silicon (Si).
Types of Semiconductors

The semi-conductors are of two types: (i) Intrinsic semiconductors: The pure semiconductors are called intrinsic semiconductors. Their conductivity is due to their own (internal) charge carriers. The well known intrinsic semiconductors are germanium (Ge), silicon (Si), i.e., they are tetravalent. The valency of each of Ge and Si is 4. The bonding between electrons of two neighboring atoms is covalent, therefore at NTP; there is no free charge carrier for conduction. When a semiconductor is heated, some covalent bonds break due to thermal agitation and thus some electrons get free for conduction. As soon as one electron gets free, there is a deficiency of electrons at its preceding position which acts as a positive charge and is called a hole. The number of holes is equal to the number of free electrons. Thus in an intrinsic semiconductor the conductivity is due to holes and electrons both, which increases with rise of temperature. At normal temperatures only 1 out of covalent bonds break, therefore the conductivity of intrinsic semiconductors is so small, that they cannot be used for practical purpose. The current in intrinsic semiconductors is of the order of micro amp A. In intrinsic semiconductor, the Fermi-level lies at the middle of forbidden energy band. (ii) Extrinsic semiconductors: If a small amount of trivalent or pentavalent impurity is introduced into a pure germanium (or silicon) crystal, the conductivity of the crystal increases appreciably. Such an impure semiconductor is called extrinsic semiconductor. The conductivity of an extrinsic semiconductor is due to impurities. Extrinsic semi-conductors are of two types:

2
(a) nType (b) pType (a) n-Type semiconductors : When a pentavalent impurity like Phosphorus, Antimony, Arsenic is doped in pure-Germanium (or Silicon), then the conductivity of crystal increases due to surplus electrons and such a crystal is said to be n-type semiconductor, while the impurity atoms are called donors. Thus in n-type semiconductors the charge carriers are negatively charged electrons and the donor level lies near the bottom of the conduction band. (b) p-Type semiconductors : When a trivalent impurity like Aluminium, Indium, Boron, Gallium etc. is doped in pure Germanium (or silicon), then the conductivity of the crystal increases due to deficiency of electrons, i.e., holes and such a crystal is said to be p type semiconductor while the impurity atoms are called acceptors. Thus, in ptype semiconductors the charge carriers are holes. Acceptor level lies near the top of the valence band. The conductivity of a semiconductor is where e is charge on positive or negative charge carrier, are concentration of electrons and

holes, are mobilities of electrons and holes. The mobility (i.e., drift velocity per unit electric field) of holes is less than that of electrons.

Semiconductor Diode
A semiconductor having p-type impurity at one end and n-type impurity at the other end is known as junction diode. The junction at which p-type and n-type semiconductors combine is called p-n junction. There are a number of ways to prepare p-n junction e.g. (i) grown junction diode (ii) fused junction diode. In p-type region there is majority of holes and in n-type region there is majority of electrons.

At the junction there is diffusion of charge carriers due to thermal agitation; so that some of electrons of nregion diffuse to p-region while some of holes of p-region diffuse into n-region. Some charge carriers combine with opposite charges to neutralize each other. Thus near the junction there is an excess of positively charged ions in n-region and an excess of negatively charged ions in p-region. This sets up a potential difference and hence an internal electric field across the junctions. The field is directed from n-region to p-region. This field stops the further diffusion of charge carriers. Thus the layers

on either side of the junction becomes free from mobile charge carriers and hence is called the depletion layer. The symbol of p-n junction diode is shown in Fig. I-V Characteristics in Forward and Reverse Bias When a potential difference is applied across the junction, there is no flow of current. The external battery is connected across the junction in the following two ways: (1) Forward Bias: In this arrangement the positive terminal of battery is connected to p-end and negative terminal to n-end of the crystal, so that an external electric field E is established directed from P to n-end to oppose the internal field as shown in Fig. The external field E is much stronger than internal field

Under this arrangement the holes move along the field from p-region to n-region and electrons move opposite to field from n-region to p-region; eliminating the depletion layer. A current is thus set up in the junction diode. The following are the basic features of forward biasing. (i) Within the junction diode the current is due to both types of majority charge carriers but in external circuit it is due to electrons only. (ii) The current is due to diffusion of majority charge carriers through the junction and is of the order of mill amperes. (iii) The current voltage characteristic of junction diode under forward biasing is shown by F in fig. (d).

The current increases with increase of external potential difference. The graph between potential difference V and current I is non-linear. 2. Reverse Bias: In this arrangement the positive terminal of battery is connected to n-end and negative terminal to p-end of the crystal, so that the external field is established to help the internal field as shown in Fig. Under the biasing the holes in p-region and the electrons in n-region are pushed away from the junction to widen the depletion layer and hence increases the potential barrier, therefore the current flow stops. When the potential difference across the junction is increased a very small reverse current of the order to micro-amperes is found to flow. The reason is that due to thermal agitation some covalent bonds of pure semi-conductor break releasing a few holes in n-region and a few electrons in p-region called the minority charge carriers. The reverse bias opposes the majority charge carriers but aids the minority charge carriers to move across the junction. Hence a very small current flows.

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The basic features of reverse bias are: (i) Within the junction diode the current is due to both types of minority charge carriers but in external circuit it is due to electrons only. (ii) The current is due to leakage of minority charge carriers through the junction and is very small of the order of (iii) The graph of voltage V versus circuit I in reverse bias is shown by R in Fig. (d). Thus the diode offers very small resistance in the forward bias while very large resistance in reverse bias. Avalanche Break Down: If the reverse bias is made sufficiently high, the covalent bonds near the junction break down releasing free electrons and holes. These electrons and holes gain sufficient energy to break other covalent bonds. Thus a large number of electrons and holes get free. Then the reverse current increases abruptly to high value. This is called avalanche break down and may damage the junction. This phenomenon is used in Zener diode used in voltage regulators.

Diode as a Rectifier
The conversion of AC into DC is called the rectification. (i) Half Wave Rectifier: The circuit diagram for junction diode as half wave rectifier is shown in Fig. Let during first half the cycle the secondary terminal of

transformer be positive relative to then the junction diode is forward biased. Therefore the current flows and its direction in load resistance terminal is from In next half cycle the then the diode is in reverse

is negative relative to

bias, therefore no current flows in diode and hence there is no potential difference across load Therefore the output current in load flows only when is positive relative to That is during first half cycles of input a.c. signal there is a current in circuit and hence a potential difference across load resistance while no current flows for next half cycle. The direction of current in load is always from A to B. Thus a single p-n junction diode acts as a half wave rectifier. Half Wave Rectifier Formulae: If is forward resistance of junction diode, then current amplitude

Ripple factor: The output of a rectifier contains some ac components or ripples. The ratio of ac components to dc is called ripple factor.

5
(ii) Full Wave Rectifier: For full wave rectifier we use two junction diodes. The circuit diagram for full wave rectifier using two junction diodes is shown in fig. Suppose during first half cycle of input ac signal the terminal is

positive relative to S and is negative relative to S, then diode I is forward biased and diode II is reverse biased. Therefore current flows in diode I and not in diode II. The direction of current diode I in load resistance to is directed from A to B. In next half cycle, the terminal due to

is negative relative

is positive relative to S. Then diode I is reverse biased and diode II is forward biased.

Therefore current flows in diode II and there is no current in diode I. The direction of current due to diode II in load resistance is again from A to B. Thus for input a.c. signal the output current is a continuous series of unidirectional pulses. This output current may be converted in fairly steady current by the use of suitable filters. Full Wave Rectifier Formulae: If is peak value of ac input voltage across secondary, then peak current

Remark: In full wave rectifier if the fundamental frequency of input ac signal is 50 Hz, then the fundamental frequency of output is 100 Hz.

L E D, Photodiode, Solar Cell, Zener Diode LED (Light Emitting Diode):


A light emitting diode is simply a forward biased p-n junction which emits spontaneous light radiation. When forward bias is applied, the electron and holes at the junction recombine and energy released is emitted in the form of light. For visible radiation phosphorus doped GaAs is commonly used. The advantages of LEDs are: (i) Low operational voltage and less power. (ii) Fast action with no warm up time. (iii) Emitted light is nearly monochromatic radiation. (iv) They have long life. I-V characteristics of LED are similar to that of Si junction diode but the threshold voltages are much higher and slightly different for each colour. The reverse breakdown voltages of LEDs are very low, about 5V.

Photodiode
It is a reversed biased p-n junction, illuminated by radiation. When p-n junction is reversed biased with no current, a very small reverse saturated current flows across the junction called the dark current. When the junction is illuminated with light, electron-hole pairs are created at the junction, due to which additional current begins to flow across the junction; the current is solely due to minority charge carriers. The characteristic curves of a photodiode for two different illuminations (c). are shown in fig.

Solar Cell
A solar cell is a junction diode which converts light energy into electrical energy. A p-n junction solar cell consists of a large junction with no external biasing. The surface layer of p-region is made very thin so that the incident photons may easily penetrate to reach the junction which is the active region. In an operation in the photovoltaic mode (i.e., generation of voltage due to bombardment of optical photons); the materials suitable for photocells are silicon (Si), gallium arsenide (GaAs), cadmium sulphide (CdS) and cadmium selenide (CdSe).

Working: When photons of energy greater than band gap energy are made incident on the junction, electron-hole pairs are created which move in opposite directions due to junction field. These are collected at two sides of junction, thus producing photo-voltage; this gives rise to photocurrent. The characteristic curve of solar cell is shown in fig. solar cells are used in satellites to recharge their batteries.

Zener Diode
A Zener diode is a specially designed heavily doped p-n junction, having a very thin depletion layer and having a very sharp breakdown voltage. It is always operated in breakdown region. Its breakdown voltage is less than 6V. Zener diode as a voltage Regulator: The Zener diode makes its use as a voltage regulator due to the following property: When a Zener diode is operated in the breakdown region, the voltage across it remains practically constant for a large change in the current. A simple circuit of a voltage regulator using a Zener diode is shown in the Fig. The Zener diode is connected across load such that it is reverse biased. The series resistance R absorbs the output voltage fluctuations so as to maintain constant voltage across the load. The operation of the circuit may be explained as follows : Let be the unregulated input voltage and be the

output voltage across to be regulated and be the Zener voltage of the diode. The value of the series resistance is so chosen that the diode operates in the breakdown region under the Zener voltage Let I be the current drawn from supply, through Zener diode and Then obviously If is Zener diode resistance, then we across it. the current

the current through load.

Applying Kirchhoffs law to the mesh containing resistance R, Zener diode and supply voltage have

When the input voltage is lower than the Zener voltage of diode, there is no current conduction

As input voltage is increased so that it becomes equal to the breakdown point is reached and the voltage across the diode becomes constant. A further increase of input voltage does not result in the corresponding increase in merely increases the voltage drop across Thus in breakdown region, we have Fig. (b) represents the plot of output voltage versus input voltage output voltage remains constant when the diode is in Zener region. but

It is clear from graph that the

8
It may be pointed out that for maintaining constant regulated output, the series resistance R for a given range of input voltage be so chosen that (i) the diode operates in Zener region and (ii) current should not exceed a certain value to cause burn out of diode.

Junction Transistors
A junction transistor is a semi-conductor electronic device, discovered by Willium Shockly in 1951. It is made in two forms: (i) p-n-p Transistor (ii) n-p-n Transistor (i) p-n-p Transistor: It is a single crystal containing two p-n junctions such that there is very thin central layer of n-type semi-conductor enclosed on either side by p-type semiconductor. The central layer has a thickness of about and is called the base. The p-type semiconductors on left and right side of base are respectively called the emitter and collector. The p-n-p transistor and its symbol are shown in fig. The arrow in symbol is from emitter to base. Action of p-n-p Transistor: The emitter-base junction is given a small forward bias, while base collector junction is given a large reverse bias. Under the forward biasing of emitter-base region, the positive holes of Pregion move towards the base. Due to thin base most of holes (about 98%) entering it pass onto collector while a very few of them (nearly 2%) combine with the electrons of base. As soon as a hole combines with the electron, a fresh electron leaves the negative terminal of battery and enters the base. This causes a very small base current The holes entering the collector move under the aiding reverse bias towards terminal C. As a hole reaches terminal C an electron leaves the negative terminal of battery collector current Both these currents and neutralizes the hole. This causes the

and combine to form the emitter current

Obviously the holes are the charge carriers within the p-n-p transistor while the electrons are charge carriers in external circuit. (ii) n-p-n Transistor: It is a single crystal containing two p-n junctions such that there is a very thin central layer of p-type semi-conductor enclosed in either side by n-type semi-conductors. The n-p-n transistor and its symbol is shown in fig. The arrow in symbol is from base to emitter. Action of n-p-n Transistor: The emitter base junction is given a small forward bias while the base collector junction is given a large reverse bias. Under the forward bias of emitter base region the electrons of emitter region move towards the base. Due to base being very thin most of electrons (about 98%) entering it pass into the collector while a very few of them (nearly 2%) combine with the holes of base. As soon as an electron combines with the hole a

9
covalent bond breaks within the base releasing an electron hole pair. The electron is attracted by positive terminal of battery and an electron leaves the negative terminal of the battery and enters to

emitter through terminal E. This process creates the base current and also a new hole in the base. The electrons entering the collector move under the aiding reverse bias towards terminal C and are finally attracted by battery This causes collector current an electron leaves the negative pole of is the sum of base current and

For each electron reaching the positive pole of battery battery

and enters the emitter. Obviously the emitter current

collector current The charge carriers in n-p-n transistor as well as in external circuit are electrons. Configurations of a Transistor: There are three configurations of a transistor: (1) Common Base Configuration (2) Common Emitter Configuration (3) Common Collector Configuration

Characteristics of a Transistor
In order to know the electrical behaviour of a transistor, the characteristic curves between various currents and voltages are plotted. The most important characteristics of common base configuration are its input and output characteristics. The circuit diagram for determining the static characteristic curves of p-n-p transistor in common base configuration is shown in fig. (a).

Input Characteristics: These characteristics are obtained by plotting the emitter current versus emitter base potential at constant collector-base potential The observations of against are

repeated for some other value of

Fig. (b) represents the input characteristics of common base p-n-p transistor at different collector-base potentials. These characteristics curves show: (i) The emitter current increases rapidly with small increase in

emitter-base voltage thereby indicating that the input resistance is very small. (ii) The emitter current is almost independent of collector base voltage (iii) The emitter current is finite at finite value of collector base voltage even when emitter-base voltage is zero. Therefore in order to reduce the emitter current to zero, the emitter must be reverse biased as shown by dotted lines. Input Resistance: It is the ratio of change in emitter base voltage

10

to the corresponding change in emitter current

at constant collector-base voltage

Physically input resistance is the hindrance offered to the signal current. The input resistance is very small, of the order of a few ohms, because a small change in causes a large change in Output Characteristics: These characteristics are obtained by plotting the collector current voltage at constant emitter current versus collector-base

The observations are repeated for some other value of Fig. (c) represents the output characteristic curves of a common base p-n-p transistor at different emitter current These characteristics show: (i) The collector current varies with collector-base voltage

only at a very low voltage (<IV). This variation is insignificant because the transistor is never operated in this region. (ii) As the collector-base voltage is raised above 1 volt, the collector current becomes independent of

collector-base voltage but depends only upon the emitter current The transistor is always operated in this region. (iii) A very large change in collector-base voltage produces a very small change in collector current; thereby indicating that the output resistance is very high. Output Resistance: It is the ratio of change in collector-base voltage to the corresponding change in collector current at constant emitter current

The output resistance is very high, of the order of several-tens kilo ohm because a large change in collector-base voltage causes a very small change in collector current.

Current Gains of a Transistor


The current gain is defined as the ratio of change in collector current to the change in emitter current for constant value of collector voltage in common base configuration i.e.,

Practical value of

ranges from 0.9 to 0.99 for junction transistor.

The current gain is defined as the ratio of change in collector current to the change in base current for constant value of collector voltage in common emitter configuration i.e.,

11

Transistor as Amplifier, Oscillator


Transistor as an Amplifier

An amplifier is an electronic device to increase the strength of a weak signal. The voltage gain of amplifier is the ratio of output voltage to input voltage

Voltage gain upto 1000 have been obtained in transistors. As a transistor has three terminals (emitter, base and collector). One of three leads is kept common to both the input and output circuits. Accordingly, we have three basic transistor circuits in which either the base or the emitter or the collector lead is kept common. They are termed as common-base, commonemitter and common-collector amplifier. Here we shall discuss only common emitter transistor amplifier. Common-Emitter Transistor Amplifier Common-emitter transistor amplifier gives the highest gain and hence it is the most commonly employed circuit. Fig. depicts the circuit for a transistor. In this circuit, the emitter lead is common to both the input (emitter-base) and output (collector-emitter) circuits and is grounded. The emitter-base circuit is forward biased and the base-collector circuit is reverse biased. In a common-emitter circuit, the collector-current is controlled by the base-current rather than the emittercurrent. Since in a transistor, a large collector-current corresponds to a very small base-current, therefore, when input signal is applied to base, a very small change in base-current provides a much larger change in collector-current and thus extremely large current gains are possible. Referring to fig., when positive half cycle is fed to the input circuit, it opposes the forward bias of the circuit which causes the collector current to decrease. It decreases the voltage drop across load and thus makes collector voltage more negative. Thus when input cycle varies through a positive half cycle, the output voltage developed at the collector varies through a negative half cycle and vice versa. Thus the output voltage in common-emitter amplifier is in antiphase with the input signal or the output and input voltages are 180 out of phase. Current Gain. The ratio of change in collector current defined as the alternating current gain denoted by to the change in base current is

12
Voltage Gain. The ratio of change in output voltage to the corresponding change in input voltage is called the voltage gain. It is denoted by is given by The voltage gain of common-emitter transistor amplifier

which is also higher than that in case of common base amplifier. For large voltage gain from the current gain and the ratio of load resistance to internal resistance should be high. Frequency Response Curve: From equation (2) it appears that the voltage gain of a transistor amplifier is independent of frequency, but it is not so. Due to presence of junction capacitance and external capacitances connected in a transistor amplifier, the voltage gain of a transistor depends on the frequency of input signal. Fig. 21.47 shows the voltage gain of a transistor against logarithm scale of frequency. It shows that the gain is constant at mid frequencies both at low and at high frequencies. Voltage gain of amplifier is constant at mid frequency range and falls at low and high frequency range.
Transistor as an Oscillator

and gain decreases

A transistor may be used as an oscillator. An oscillator is a device which converts dc into ac. The essential parts of an oscillator are: (i) LC circuit usually called a tank current. (ii) Transistor Amplifier: It amplifies the oscillations produced in LC circuit. (iii) Positive feedback circuit : In this arrangement a fraction of output voltage or current is fed back to input circuit in the same phase as the input signal.

There are a variety of oscillator circuits. A typical oscillator circuit is shown in fig. The frequency of oscillations in LC circuit is

Transistor as a Switch
A switch is a device which can turn ON and OFF current in an electrical circuit. A p-n junction diode and a transistor can act as a switch. We are familiar that when a junction diode is forward biased, it conducts current but when junction diode is reverse biased, it does not conduct current. If we treat the junction diode as a switch, then during forward biasing; the switch is ON and during reverse biasing, the switch is OFF.

13

In a similar manner a transistor can also be used to turn current ON or OFF rapidly in electrical circuits.

Operation : The circuit diagram of n-p-n transistor in CE configuration working as a switch is shown in fig. and Let are two dc supplies which bias base-emitter and emitter collector junctions respectively. be the input supply voltage. This is also input dc voltage The dc output voltage is taken

across collector-emitter terminals, is the load resistance in output circuit. Applying Kirchhoffs second law to input and output meshes (1) and (2), we get

Beyond voltage

V, the change in collector current and hence in output is non-linear and the transistor goes into saturation. With

further increase in the output voltage further decrease towards zero (though it never becomes zero).

14

If we plot we get the graph as shown in fig. [This characteristics curve is also called transfer characteristic curve of base biased transistor.] The curve shows that there are non-linear regions. (i) between cut off state and active state and (ii) between active state and saturation state; thus showing that the transitions (i) from cut off to active state and from active to saturation state are not sharply defined. Now we are in the position to explain the action of transistor as a switch. When transistor is nonconducting , it is said to be switched off but when it is conducting ( is not zero); it is said to be switched ON. As long as input voltage is low and unable to overcome the barrier voltage of the emitter base junction, is high so the transistor is switched OFF and if it is high enough to derive the transistor into saturation is low, very near to zero, so the transistor is switched ON. Thus we can say low input switches the transistor is OFF state and high input switches it ON. The switching circuits are designed in such a way that the transistor does not remain in active state.

Communication Systems 2012


Introduction
Communication means sending of massage (information) from one place and receiving it at the other places by means of some mean (e.g., by cables or electromagnetic waves). There by the two types of signals: (i) Analog Signal: It is in the form of a continuous sine wave. (ii) Digital Signal: It is in the form of discrete pulses coded by 0 or 1.

Element of Communication System


Communication system basically consists of three elements:

(i) Transmitter: The transmitter converts the message (or information) signal into a suitable
signal which may be passed on to a suitable medium called transmission channel. The signal processing for transmission usually involves modulation and coding.

(ii) Transmission Channel: It is the medium that carries the message in the form of a suitable
signal from one place to another. It may be a pair of wires, a co-axial cable, a radio wave or a laser beam. Every channel involves loss of energy during transmission. That is why signal power goes on decreasing with increasing distance.

(iii) Receiver: Receiver converts the suitable signal prepared by transmitter into actual message
(or information). Receiver operations include amplification of signal to compensate for the transmission loss, demodulation and decoding to reverse the signal processing performed by the transmitter. The three components of a transmission system are sketched in the fig.

Band Width of Signals


In a communication system the information may be in the form of voice, music, picture or digital data. Each of these signals has different frequency ranges.

(i) Speech Signals: The audible frequency range is 20 Hz to 20 kHz. For speech signals the
adequate frequency range is 300 Hz to 3100 Hz. Therefore, speech signals have a band width of (3100 300 = 2800 Hz). This is appropriate band width used in telephonic communication.

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Communication Systems 2012

For music signals the band width of 20 kHz is required because musical instruments produce sound of high frequencies.

(ii) T.V. Signals: The video signals for transmission of


pictures require a band width of about 4.2 MHz A T.V. signal contains both audio (speech and music) and video (pictures) signals and requires a bandwidth about 6 MHz.

(iii) Digital Data: There are two types of signals: Analog and Digital. Analog signals are usually in
the form of sine waves, while digital signals are in the form of rectangular waves.

According to Fourier series expansion method a rectangular wave is the resultant of superposition of infinite number of sinusoidal waves of frequencies is the fundamental frequency,

Figure shows a rectangular wave, (a) fundamental frequency wave, (b) superposition of fundamental frequency wave + second harmonic wave and (c) superposition of fundamental frequency wave + second harmonic wave + third harmonic wave. It is obvious that the rectangular wave can be reproduced exactly by superposition of all harmonics of frequencies This implies infinite band width for digital data.

However for practical purposes, the contributions from higher harmonics can be neglected, thus limiting the band width. This results in distortion of actual transmitted wave. If band width is sufficient to allow a few harmonics, then information is not lost. Thus band width of digital data varies with the rate of data to be transmitted. For faithful transmission of data signal, the band width must be widest as far as possible. The band width for digital data transmission is of the order GHz. ITU (International Telecommunication Union) has allotted different bands of frequencies to different Nations.

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Communication Systems 2012

Band Width of Transmission Medium


The transmission channels are of three types:

(i) Wires: The widely used wire medium is a co-axial cable. The band width of co-axial cables is about
750 MHz such cables are usually operated below 18 GHz.

(ii) Free Space: The free space transmission medium communicates radio waves over a wide range
of frequencies: from a few hundred kHz to a few GHz. This frequency range is further subdivided for allocation of various services as given in following table. Nature of Broadcast Amplitude Modulated Broadcast FM Radio Very High Frequency (VHF) T.V. Ultra High Frequency (UHF) T.V. Cellular Mobile Satellite Communication Frequency Band 5401600 kHz 88108 MHz 47230 MHz 470960 MHz 840935 MHz 5.925 6.425 GHz (Uplink) 3.74.2 GHz (Downlink)

(iii) Optical Fibre: An optical fibre has frequency range 1 THz to 100 THz (microwaves and
ultraviolet). It offers a transmission band width more than 100 GHz.

Propagation of Electromagnetic Waves


Space Communication: Space communication uses antennas and satellites. The electromagnetic
waves can be transmitted through three processes, (i) Ground wave propagation (ii) Space wave propagation (iii) Sky wave propagation

(i) Ground Waves: These are the waves radiated by antenna that travel parallel or at lower angles
with respect to earth's surface. As ground wave passes over the surface of earth, its energy is absorbed by earth's atmosphere; therefore they die out after travelling a short distance. Further low frequency waves are absorbed strongly. Hence ground wave propagation can be sustained only at low frequencies 500 Hz 1500 kHz.

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Communication Systems 2012


(ii) Space Wave Propagation: The space waves are limited to troposphere region of
atmosphere and has two components, (a) Direct waves: These travel directly from transmitting to receiving antenna. (b) Reflected waves: These travel from transmitting antenna to earth and then reflected to receiving antenna. (iii) Sky Waves: These are waves radiated by antenna at large angles, travel upward, and then reach the receiving antenna after suffering reflection from ionosphere or satellite. The refractive index of ionized layers depends on frequency and is given by

Satellite Communication: For satellite communication, the microwaves 1 cm to 3 cm are sent


to satellite, which reflects them to receiving antenna. The height of communication satellite from earth's surface is 35800 km. Three communication satellites are required to cover the entire globe of earth.

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Communication Systems 2012

Modulation
Need for Modulation
The sound waves of frequency 20 Hz 20,000 Hz get attenuated in atmosphere and cannot travel long distances. The higher frequency waves, (the order of megahertz) can travel long distances and are called carrier waves. To send farther the message signal (or information) is superposed on carrier wave. The process of superposing audible frequency waves on carrier wave is called modulation. The superposed wave is called the modulated wave. The modulation is needed due to (i) Transmission of audio frequency electrical signals need long impracticable antenna. (ii) The power radiated at audio frequency is quite small, hence transmission is quite lossy. (iii) The various information signals transmitted at low frequency get mixed and hence cannot be distinguished.

Types of Modulation
In general modulation is of two types depending on nature of carrier wave: (a) For continuous sinusoidal carrier wave of the type the modulation is of three types (i) (ii) (iii) Amplitude modulation (AM), Frequency modulation (FM), Phase modulation.

(b) For pulsed carrier wave, the types of modulation are: (i) Pulse amplitude modulation (PAM), (ii) Pulse time modulation (PTM), It is subdivided into classes (1) Pulse position modulation (PPM) and (2) Pulse width modulation (PWM) or pulse duration modulation (PDM) (iii) Pulse code modulation (PCM). Pulse modulation is preferred for digital communication.

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Communication Systems 2012

Production and Detection of A.M. Wave


(i) Production: In amplitude modulation, the amplitude of modulated wave varies according to
the instantaneous value of the message signal. A simple circuit for achieving this is shown in fig.

It is simply a common emitter amplifier for carrier wave. The modulating signal is applied on the base; so that base biasing voltage is not constant but is the sum of a d.c. voltage and modulating signal As the amplitude output has the same form as the input; therefore the output voltage will represent a modulated wave varying in amplitude in accordance with the biasing modulating voltage; thus giving amplitude-modulated wave.

Amplitude modulation is widely used for commercial broadcasting of audio (voice) signals. It is preferred because the production and reception of amplitude modulated signals are convenient and the equipments needed are cheaper. Moreover the carrier waves are of lower frequencies ranging from nearly 0.5 MHz to 2.0. But the main drawback of AM modulated wave is that it is noisy. The noise signals created by atmosphere and electrical disturbances also get mixed with the main signal. This creates reception problems for weak radio signals.

(ii) Detection: The process of recovery of audio-signal from the modulated wave is known as
demodulation or detection. Need of demodulation. When the radio frequency modulated waves, radiated from the transmitting antenna and after travelling through space, are received by receiving aerial, they induce very weak radio frequency currents and voltages in them. These high frequency currents cause no effect on audio frequency detectors like headphones or loudspeakers because sound devices are unable to respond to such high frequencies due to large inertia of their vibrating discs or diaphragms. These modulated waves

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Communication Systems 2012


cannot produce any direct effect on human ear because the frequency of modulated waves is much greater than the audible frequency range (20 20,000 Hz). Therefore the audio signal must be separated from the carrier.

Demodulation of AM Wave The demodulation of AM wave involves two operations: (i) Rectification of modulated wave. (ii) Elimination of RF component of the modulated wave.

Diode Detector for AM Wave As a linear detector: Figure represents the circuit diagram of most widely used diode detector employed for detection of amplitude modulated signals. The diode detector is called the linear detector because its output is proportional to the voltage of the input signal. Circuit Operation:

Of the various radio frequency voltages induced in receiver aerial, the tuned circuit selects only those of desired frequency due to electromagnetic induction between coils This signal is applied on the junction diode. This junction diode rectifies it. The result of this rectifying action is that the output of the diode consists of positive half cycles of modulated wave as shown.

The rectified modulated wave contains radio frequency (RF) wave and the audio frequency (AF) signal. The rectified modulated wave is passed on to low pass filter RC. The RF wave bypasses through capacitor C, because it offers low reactance to RF signals and high reactance to AF signals. The dc component of remaining signal is shunted through resistance R, because dc signal cannot pass through blocking capacitor The capacitor allows the low frequency signal to pass through. Thus audio frequency signal appears across output terminals, which is passed across the terminals of a suitable sound detector to hear the original sound.

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