Department of Physics, IIT Roorkee

PHN–214 (Applied Optics)

Endterm Examination Max. Marks: 80
(01 May 2017, 09:00-12:00) Weightage: 50%

Note: Question No. 1 is COMPULSORY. Answer any other FOUR questions.

No credit will be awarded for simply writing down an answer without explanation.
Neat diagrams must be drawn wherever necessary.
All the parts of a question must be solved together.

Q1. (a) A fringe field is formed by two interfering plane waves.

i. Define fringe visibility. [2]
ii. What is the influence of polarization on the fringe visibility? discuss. [2]

(b) Plane waves (λ = 550 nm) impinge normally on a 5.00-mm diameter hole in an
opaque screen (Σ). The diffraction pattern is observed on another screen (σ), which
is slowly moved toward the aperture. At what distance from (σ) will the near-field
pattern (a system of bright and dark rings) show its first irradiance maximum on the
central axis (at point-P)? At what distance will a minimum first appear at P? [4]

(c) Given that the mirrors of a Fabry–Perot Interferometer have an amplitude reflection
coefficient of r = 0.8944, find
i. the coefficient of finesse, [1.5]
ii. the half-width, [1.5]
iii. the finesse. [1]

(d) What is the total number of lines a grating must have in order just to separate the
sodium doublet (λ1 = 5895.9 Å, λ2 = 5890.0 Å) in the third order? [4]

Q2. (a) A plane wave of light from a laser has a wavelength of 600 nm. The light is incident
on an opaque screen with two opened and identical slits. After passing through
the double slit the light is observed on another screen 100 cm beyond the double
slit. The intensity distribution of the interference pattern on the screen used for
observation is shown in the Figure below.
I

cm
-7 -5 -3 -1 1 3 5 7

i. What is the width of each slit? [4]

ii. What is the separation of the two slits? [4]
PTO
 (b) Consider an N -slit Fraunhofer diffraction pattern with slit width b and slit spacing
a, where a = 2b.

i. Write the conditions for the principal maxima and subsidiary maxima for the
phase α where α = (ka/2)sinθ. [2]
ii. What is the relative irradiance (as a fraction of I(0)) of the subsidiary maxima
in a three-slit Fraunhofer diffraction pattern? [3]
iii. Draw a graph of the irradiance distribution I versus sinθ for 0 6 sinθ 6 2λ/a
for systems containing two, three and four slits. [3]

Q3. (a) Light of wavelength λ is incident normally on a screen with a periodic array of N
slits separated by a centre-to-centre distance a and having a width b. Formulate the
Rayleigh criterion for resolution in line spectra obtained by an array of slits and
derive the expression for the resolving power of the given array. Assume that a  b
and a  λ. [8]

(b) Light of wavelength λ is diffracted by a circular aperture of radius a. For this aper-
ture, derive the mathematical expression for the Rayleigh criterion
1.22λ
∆θ = . [4]
2a

(c) The headlights of a car are 1.3 m apart. The pupil of the eye has a diameter of 4
mm. The mean wavelength of light is λ = 550 nm. Estimate the distance at which
the headlights can just be resolved. [4]

Q4. (a) Find the smallest thickness of a quartz plate cut parallel to the optical axis of the
crystal so that incident linearly polarised light could be converted to circularly po-
larised. Consider light of wavelength 500 nm. For quartz, the refractive indices at
this wavelength for the ordinary and extraordinary waves are no = 1.5442 and ne =
1.5533, respectively. [3]

(b) Natural unpolarised light is incident on two ideal linear polarisers. The intensity of
light measured after the second polariser is 10% of the initial intensity of natural
light. Find the angle between the transmission axes of the two polarisers. [3]

(c) Monochromatic light is incident on a system of two ideal linear polarisers having an
angle of 20◦ between their transmission axes. A half-wave plate is inserted between
the polarisers. The plate is rotated so that the intensity of the transmitted light is
zero. Find the angle of the optical axis of the half-wave plate and the transmission
axis of the first polariser. [5]

(d) Monochromatic circularly polarised light is incident on a detector. A quarter-wave

plate (QWP) and a linear polariser (LP) are inserted in the beam before the detector
with the LP next to the detector. The QWP is rotated around its axis. Derive the
expression describing the intensity of light measured by the detector as a function
of the angle between the optical axis of the QWP and the transmission axis of the
LP. [5]
Q5. (a) Consider the free propagation of a spherical monochromatic wave emitted from a
point source S. Show that, at any point P , the optical disturbance generated by the
entire unobstructed wavefront is approximately equal to one half the contribution
from the first Fresnel zone. Also, discuss, how this disturbance synthesized from
secondary wavelets is different from the primary wave that simply propagates from
S to P . To get full marks, draw illustrative diagram and state all the considered
conditions, viz. disturbance arriving at P from the lth zone, sum of the optical
disturbances from all m zones etc. [8]
(b) A slit illuminated with sodium light (589. 3 nm) is placed 60 cm from a straight edge
and the diffraction pattern is observed using a photoelectric cell, 120 cm beyond the
straight edge. Determine the irradiance at (i) 2 mm inside and (ii) 1 mm outside the
edge of the geometrical shadow. [8]

Q6. (a) A rectangular aperture of dimension a along x-axis and b along y-axis is illuminated
by coherent light of wavelength λ. Find out the Fraunhofer diffraction distribution
of intensity I(X, Y ) on the screen near the pattern center as a function of X and Y
and I0 , the intensity at the pattern center. [8]
(b) A source slit at one end of an optical bench is illuminated by monochromatic mer-
cury light of 435.8 nm. The beam diverging from the source slit encounters a second
slit 0.5 mm wide at a distance of 30 cm. The diffracted light is observed on a screen
at 15 cm farther along the optical bench. Determine the irradiance (in terms of the
unobstructed irradiance) at the screen (i) on axis and (ii) at one edge of the geomet-
rical shadow of the diffracting slit. [8]

PTO
Useful information:

The Cornu Spiral

1.5 √2
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2.5
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∞ B 50
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6(w)
2.0 3.5
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+0.2
w
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–0.5 +0.1 +0.2 +0.3 +0.4 +0.5 +0.6 +0.7 +0.8
–0.1
#(w)

–0.2

–0.3
2.0
3.5 4.5 4.0
–0.4
1.0
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20 10 –0.5
5.0 ∞ B 50
~ –

–0.6
2.5
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1.5

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