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Precision Interferometer

012-07137B

6

®

The Fabry-Perot Interferometer

In the Fabry-Perot Interferometer, two partial mirrors are
aligned parallel to one another, forming a reflective cavity.
Figure 4 shows two rays of light entering such a cavity and
reflecting back and forth inside. At each reflection, part of
the beam is transmitted, splitting each incident ray into a
series of rays.  Since the transmitted rays are all split from a
single incident ray, they have a constant phase relationship
(assuming a sufficiently coherent light source is used).

The phase relationship between the transmitted rays
depends on the angle at which each ray enters the cavity
and on the distance between the two mirrors. The result is
a circular fringe pattern, similar to the Michelson pattern,
but with fringes that are thinner, brighter, and more widely
spaced. The sharpness of the Fabry-Perot fringes makes it
a valuable tool in high-resolution spectrometry.

As with the Michelson Interferometer, as the movable

Setup and Operation

Laser Alignment

• If you are using a PASCO Laser and Laser Alignment

Bench, the setup and alignment procedure is as fol-
lows.

• If you are using a different laser, the alignment proce-

dure is similar. Adjust your laser so that the beam is
approximately 4 cm above the table top. Then align
the beam as in steps 4 and 5, below.

• If you are using a spectral light source instead of a

laser, see 

Suggestions for Additional Experiments

,

near the end of the manual.

To set up and align your PASCO Laser:

1.

Set the interferometer base on a lab table with the mi-
crometer knob pointing toward you.

2.

Position the laser alignment bench to the left of the
base approximately perpendicular to the interferometer
base and place the laser on the bench.

mirror is moved toward or away from the fixed mirror, the
fringe pattern shifts. When the mirror movement is equal
to 1/2 of the wavelength of the light source, the new fringe
pattern is identical to the original.

3.

Secure the movable mirror in the recessed hole in the
interferometer base.

4.

Turn the laser on. Using the leveling screws on the la-
ser bench, adjust its height until the laser beam is ap-
proximately parallel with the top of the interferometer
base and strikes the movable mirror in the center.  (To
check that the beam is parallel with the base, place a
piece of paper in the beam path, with the edge of the
paper flush against the base. Mark the height of the
beam on the paper. Using the piece of paper, check that
the beam height is the same at both ends of the bench.)

5.

Adjust the X-Y position of the laser until the beam is
reflected from the movable mirror right back into the
laser aperture.  This is most easily done by gently slid-
ing the rear end of the laser transverse to the axis of the
alignment bench, as shown in Figure 5.

You are now ready to set up the interferometer in any of
its three modes of operation.

Figure 4.  Fabry-Perot Interferometer

Adjustable

Movable

Partial Mirrors

Viewing

Screen

Содержание OS-9255A

Страница 1: ...Instruction Manual and Experiment Guide for the PASCO scientific Models OS 9255A thru OS 9258A 012 07137B PRECISION INTERFEROMETER Includes Teacher s Notes and Typical Experiment Results...

Страница 2: ...ion 4 Michelson Twyman Green Fabry Perot Setup and Operation 6 Tips on Using the Interferometer 9 Sources of Error Troubleshooting Experiments Experiment1 IntroductiontoInterferometry 11 Experiment 2...

Страница 3: ...ghted and all rights reserved However permission is granted to non profit educational institutions for reproduction of any part of the manual providing the reproductions are used only for their labora...

Страница 4: ...vide asimpleintroductiontothisimportantapplicationof interferometry Fabry Perot The Fabry Perot Interferometer is also an important contemporary tool used most often for high resolution spectrometry T...

Страница 5: ...Ocatalogfordetails Additional Equipment Recommended TheOS 9256AInterferometerAccessoriesincludes RotatingPointer VacuumCell ComponentHolder Lens 18 mm Focal Length Lens 48 mm Focal Length GlassPlate 2...

Страница 6: ...r Movable Mirror Adjustable Mirror Vacuum Cell Vacuum Pump withGauge Rotating Pointer Beam Splitter Compensator Plate Component Holder OS 9255A Precision Interferometer Lens 18 mm Fitted Case 2 Polari...

Страница 7: ...m the two slits struck the screen a regular pattern of dark and bright bands appeared When firstperformed Young sexperimentofferedimportant evidence for the wave nature of light Young s slits can be u...

Страница 8: ...he mirror a measured distance dm and counting m the number of times the fringe pattern is restoredtoitsoriginalstate thewavelengthofthelight canbecalculatedas 2dm m If the wavelength of the light is k...

Страница 9: ...aser see Suggestions for Additional Experiments near the end of the manual To set up and align your PASCO Laser 1 Set the interferometer base on a lab table with the mi crometerknobpointingtowardyou 2...

Страница 10: ...ks so that the beam is reflected to the fixed mirror Adjust the angle of the beam splitter as needed so that the reflected beam hits the fixed mirror near its center 4 There should now be two sets of...

Страница 11: ...t s at least 12 inches from the edge of the interferometerbase Fringesshouldappearinthebright disk of the viewing screen Fine adjustments of L1 may be necessary to find the fringes A piece of white pa...

Страница 12: ...he diffuser rather than on the viewing screen Just place the diffuser where you would normally place the viewing screen and look through it toward the interferometer Tips on Using the Interferometer F...

Страница 13: ...nd back surfaces of the mirrors and beam splitter of ten cause minor interference patterns in the back ground of the main fringe pattern These background patterns normally do not move when the mirror...

Страница 14: ...rferometerintheMichelsonmode soaninterferencepatternisclearlyvisibleonyour viewing screen See Setup and Operation for instructions 2 Adjustthemicrometerknobtoamediumreading approximately50 m Inthispos...

Страница 15: ...ht 2dm N then average your results If you tried the Fabry Perot mode also calculate the wavelength independently for that data The same formula applies PartII 1 From your observations in step 1 of the...

Страница 16: ...exactly 1 A graph of index of refraction versus pressure for a gas is shown in Figure2 1 Byexperimentallydeterminingtheslope the index of refraction of air can be determined at various pressures Proce...

Страница 17: ...helightnowgoesthroughonelessoscillationwithin the cell This has the same effect on the interference pattern as when the movable mirror is moved towardthebeam splitterby1 2wavelength Asinglefringetrans...

Страница 18: ...2 Placetherotatingtablebetweenthebeam splitter and movable mirror perpendicular to the optical path NOTE if the movable mirror is too far forward the rotating table won t fit You may need to loosen t...

Страница 19: ...ction of air see Experiment 2 ng the index of refraction of the glass plate as yet unknown 0 the wavelength of your light source in vacuum and N the number of fringetransitionsthatyoucounted Carrying...

Страница 20: ...pticalimperfections Thenremovetheviewing screenandreplacethelaserwiththespectrallight source Iffringesaren tvisiblewhenlookingintothe beam splitter proceedasfollows a Tape two thin pieces of wire or t...

Страница 21: ...ate the Micrometer Knob fully IN before storing the Interferometer MicrometerCalibration The micrometer is calibrated before it is shipped How ever ifrecalibrationbecomesnecessary usethefollowing proc...

Страница 22: ...03956 MovableMirror 003 03955 ComponentHolder 003 05161 Compensator 003 03958 InterferometerManual 012 05187 VacuumPump OS 8502 Component Part No VacuumCell 003 05162 RotationalPointer 003 05160 Fitt...

Страница 23: ...imitingfactorsareplayinthesystemanduncertainty inourmicrometerposition 6 Losingcountoffringes andinexactpositioningofthe fringes relative to our reference mark 7 In order to interfere the two light be...

Страница 24: ...e vacuum first then count the fringes as the vacuum was released The average slope starting at a guage reading of 60 was 3 462x10 6 0 9995 0 9996 0 9997 0 9998 0 9999 1 1 0001 1 0002 1 0003 1 0004 1 0...

Страница 25: ...drews Prentice Hall 1960 is Thesecondtermisnegligibleforvisiblewavelengths and may be ignored Notes General It is often difficult to count large numbers of fringes due to eyestrain If you find this to...

Страница 26: ...com web www pasco com Contacting Technical Support Before you call the PASCO Technical Support staff it wouldbehelpfultopreparethefollowinginformation If your problem is with the PASCO apparatus note...

Страница 27: ...PrecisionInterferometer 012 07137B 24...

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