UNIVERSITY OF NICOSIA

PHYS- 270-Spring 2016

HOMEWORK 5
Solutions
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1. In the following figure the waves along rays 1 and 2 are initially in phase, with the
same wavelength in air. Ray 2 goes through a material with length L and an index of
refraction n. The rays are then reflected by mirrors to a common point P on a screen.
Suppose that you can vary the index of refraction from n=1.0 to n=2.5. Suppose also that
for the above range the intensity of the light I at point P is shown in the figure below. At
what values of n grater than 1.4 is the intensity I (a) maximum and (b) zero? (c) What
multiple of gives the phase difference between the rays at point P when n=2.0?

1
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2. A disable tanker leaks kerosene (n=1.20) into Konnos Bay, creating a large slick on top
of the water (n=1.30)(a) If you are looking straight down from an airplane, while the Sun
is overhead, at a region of the slick were the thickness is 460 nm. For which
wavelength(s) of visible light is the reflection brightest because of constructive
interference? (b) If you are scuba diving directly under this same region of the slick, for
which wavelength(s) of visible light is the transmitted intensity strongest?

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2
3.

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4.
d sin m and a sin 1

d sin m d 0.150 103 m

Then we get m 5
a sin a 30 10 6 m
*In the homework set it was given that d=0.150 nm which was a typographic mistake.
he correct value is d=0.150 mm

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5

This means that m=5 and m=-5 are eliminated

Hence in the first diffraction envelope we have 9 maxima:
m 0, 1, 2, 3, 4
(b) What is the ratio of the intensity of the third bright fringe to the intensity of the
central fringe?
2
sin
I I m cos
2


where = (a/) sin , = (d/) sin , and Im is the intensity at the center of the
pattern. For the third bright interference fringe, d sin = 3, so = 3 rad and cos2 = 1.
Similarly, = 3a/d = 3/5.00 = 0.600 rad and hence

2
sin I
I I m cos2 0.255 I m 0.255
Im

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6. Diffraction gratings have an equally spaced number of slits and are rated in terms of
slits per cm. A common number of slits per cm is 6000. (a) If such a grating is used to
view a beam of pure blue light (440 nm) where will the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd order maxima
be located?

Solution:

1cm 0.01m
The slit to slit distance is d 1.66 10 6 m
6000 6000

We apply d sin m for m=1,2,3

For m=1, d sin 1 1 sin 1 0.264 1 15.3o

For m=2, d sin 2 2 sin 2 0.528 2 31.9 o

For m=3, d sin 3 2 sin 3 0.792 2 52.4 o

(b) In order to give an answer we need to know the number of slits N (in this problem is
missing). What we are given is the number of slits /cm. If we know the width of the
grading that is illuminated then we can find the total number N of illuminated slits.

If the width is 10 mm=1 cm then we have N= 6000

The resolving power at the second order is then R N m 6000 2 12000

The necessary resolving power to resolve the two lines is given by
589.59nm 589nm
avg 2
R 999
589.59nm 589nm

This means that the grating can resolve the two lines.