1.

(a) Light from a He-Ne laser at wavelength 633 nm illuminates two thin parallel slits with a separation of 2.50 mm. How far from the plane of the slits must a screen be placed (in air) so that the spacing of Youngs interference fringes on the screen is 1.30 mm? (b) A thin film of dielectric material of refractive index 1.46 and thickness 5.50 m is now placed over one of the slits (say the right-hand one). By how much will this change the optical path between the slit and the centre of the screen? (c) What will be the new order of interference at the centre of the screen, where zero order occurred originally? (The order m doesnt have to be an integer here) (d) Where will the zero order interference fringe now appear? Give the distance and direction (right or left) from the original position. [10]

2.

A Michelson interferometer is illuminated with Argon laser light at 514.5 nm, and the Haidinger fringe pattern is photographed with a camera using a lens of focal length 55.0 mm. The diameters of two adjacent bright circular fringes in the image are measured to be 1.50 mm and 2.63 mm. (a) How far would the mirror that is further away from the beamsplitter need to be moved in order to set the interferometer at zero path difference? (b) How far and in what direction would this same mirror need to be moved from its original position in order to shrink the 1.50 mm diameter fringe in to the centre of the fringe pattern? [10]

3.

(a) White light is reflected from a thin film suspended in air (e.g. a soap film) with an angle of incidence, as measured in the air, of . If the refractive index of the film relative to air is n, and its thickness is d, show that the condition for destructive interference is:
m = 2d

(n

sin 2

(b) The light reflected from a film as in (a) is analysed with a spectrometer. At normal incidence it is found that the spectrum has a minimum at wavelength 600 nm. As the angle of incidence is increased to 54, the position of this minimum (i.e., this order of interference) shifts to 480 nm, and the next minimum comes to be at 600 nm. (i) What are the orders of interference of the two minima involved? (ii) What is the refractive index of the film? (iii) What is the thickness of the film? [10]

4.

A single rectangular aperture with a width of 0.35 mm and a height of 0.55 mm is illuminated at normal incidence by a uniform plane wave of laser light with a wavelength of 630 nm. The diffraction pattern produced by the aperture is observed on a screen at a distance of 5.0 m from the aperture. The power density at the centre of the diffraction pattern is measured to be 3.0 W/m2. (a) Verify that the Fraunhofer condition is satisfied in this situation.

(b) What is (a) the width and (b) the height of the central bright maximum of the diffraction pattern, measured between the two dark fringes on either side? (c) What is the power density half way between the first and second dark fringes on one side of the central maximum? [10] 5.
? ? 20 o

A 50 mm wide diffraction grating is made up of slits with a separation of 5.5 m. A broad beam of light of wavelength 590 nm is incident on the grating at an angle of 20 (see diagram). (a) What angles do the plus and minus first order diffracted beams make with the direction of the zero-order transmitted beam (see diagram)? (b) pw 4/4/12 What is the minimum resolvable bandwidth in the first order beams? [10]