Can i use a prism to diffract(separate?) ultralight or microwaves

[skywolf]

can i use a prism to diffract(separate?) ultralight or microwaves,
if so, how far into the spectrum will it go?

for example, when i look at a rainbow, and the rainbow ends after the violet and before the red, does it really end? or am i just unable to see the missing wavelengths?

 

[berkeman]

Your retina is not sensitive to the near IR and UV radiation. You can get some kinds of glass to pass IR and UV, so you can make prisms that work for those wavelengths. For microwaves, I think you'd use a diffraction grating instead of a prism arrangement, but I'm not sure.

 

[Claude Bile]

The wavelengths you can separate with a prism is really only limited by the absorption of the prism material itself. Silica for example, tends to absorb most wavelengths below about 3 microns. Similarly, for a rainbow, the wavelengths that are present will actually depend what gets absorbed by the atmosphere and what doesn't. So to answer your question, no the rainbow does not end, you just can't see the missing wavelengths.

Prisms are, on the whole, the best way to separate broadband sources, diffraction gratings are best for high-resolution applications.

Claude.