Wave Optics Problems: Diffraction Grating #1 & #2

Join the discussion
Registration is free. Ask a follow-up in this thread, or start your own.
3 replies · 9K views
G01
Science Advisor
Gold Member
Messages
2,709
Reaction score
19
#1 A diffraction grating having 500lines/mm diffracts visible light at 30 degrees([tex]\pi/6[/tex]) What is its wavelength?

the distance between slits is .002mm(500l^-1)

[tex]d\sin\frac{\pi}{6} = \lambda = 1000nm[/tex], which is too big. The answer is 500nm. What am I doing wrong?

#2

The slit spacing in a diffration grating is .0002m. The screen is 2.0m behind the grating. The distance of the first bright fringe is .004m. What is the wavelength of light?

y = L[tex]\tan\theta[/tex]
[tex]\tan^{-1}.004/2 = \theta = .0019[/tex]
[tex]d\sin\theta = \lambda[/tex]
[tex].0002m\sin(.0019) = \lambda = 400nm[/tex]

If this is right then I read from a graph wrong. If this is wrong, then I would appreciate anybody's input. Thank you for your time.
 
Physics news on Phys.org
G01 said:
#1 A diffraction grating having 500lines/mm diffracts visible light at 30 degrees([tex]\pi/6[/tex]) What is its wavelength?

the distance between slits is .002mm(500l^-1)

[tex]d\sin\frac{\pi}{6} = \lambda = 1000nm[/tex], which is too big. The answer is 500nm. What am I doing wrong?
.

The correct equation is

[tex]d\sin\frac{\pi}{6} = n \lambda[/tex]

where is an integer. since n=1 gives you a result out of the visible spectrum (in the infrared), you try n=2, which gives something in the visible.


Pat