UNIVERSITY OF LONDON MSci/BSc EXAMINATION 2012

For Internal Students of Royal Holloway

DO NOT TURN OVER UNTIL TOLD TO BEGIN

PH2310 : OPTICS Time Allowed: TWO hours Answer Question ONE and TWO others
Approximate part-marks for questions are given in the right-hand margin

The total available marks add up to 120 No credit will be given for attempting any further questions

Important Copyright Notice This exam paper has been made available in electronic form strictly for the educational benefit of current Royal Holloway students on the course of study in question. No further copying, distribution or publication of this exam paper is permitted. By printing or downloading this exam paper, you are consenting to these restrictions. Royal Holloway University of London 2012

College Calculators are provided

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2011-12

PH2310

GENERAL PHYSICAL CONSTANTS Permeability of vacuum Permittivity of vacuum

0
0
1/ 4 0

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

4 10-7 8.85 10-12 9.0 109 3.00 108 1.60 10-19 9.11 10-31 1.66 10-27 1.67 10-27 1.67 10-27 1.76 1011 6.63 10-34 1.05 10-34 1.38 10-23 5.67 10-8 8.31 6.02 1023 6.67 10-11 9.81 2.24 10-2 1.01 105

H m-1 F m-1 m F-1 m s-1 C kg kg kg kg C kg-1 Js Js J K-1 W m-2 K-4 J mol-1 K-1 mol-1 N m2 kg-2 m s-2 m3 N m-2

Speed of light in vacuum Elementary charge Electron (rest) mass Unified atomic mass constant Proton rest mass Neutron rest mass Ratio of electronic charge to mass Planck constant

c
e

me mu
mp

mn e / me

h = h / 2

Boltzmann constant Stefan-Boltzmann constant Gas constant Avogadro constant Gravitational constant Acceleration due to gravity Volume of one mole of an ideal gas at STP One standard atmosphere

R
NA

P0

MATHEMATICAL CONSTANTS

e 2.718

3.142

log e 10 2.303

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PH2310 PART MARKS

1.

(a)

Explain what the terms ray, wave-front, optical path difference and phase mean. Assign each of those terms to either Physical Optics or Geometrical Optics. State the law of reflection and Snells law of refraction for a ray of light striking a plane interface between two media with different refractive indices. Draw a diagram to justify your answer. Use all three useful rays to locate an image of a small object situated in front of a thin diverging lens at a distance equal to twice the focal length of the lens. Define the lateral magnification. Draw a diagram of a prism spectrometer and label the source, the collimator, the rotating table, the prism and the telescope. Explain what the term dispersion of light means. Explain what is meant by the minimum deviation position when using a triangular prism. Explain what medium the refractive index corresponds to. Consider monochromatic light of wavelength 300 nm. (i) (ii) (iii) Taking the velocity of light as this light? m/s, what is the frequency of

[12]

(b)

[6]

(c)

[4]

(d)

[10]

(e)

If the light were to enter a medium of refractive index of 2, what would be its velocity, frequency and wavelength? If the light propagates 3 m inside the medium, what will be its phaseadvance? How many oscillation cycles will the light make, while propagating through the medium?

[8]

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PH2310 PART MARKS

2.

(a)

Describe the method of division of wave-front used to achieve interference. Explain using an equation what the term phase advance means. What is the difference between the phase advance and phase difference? In Fraunhofer diffraction theory a one dimensional diffraction pattern can be represented in an integral form as
2 I = A exp i x sin dx .
2

[8]

(b)

(i) (ii)

Define every symbol in this expression. Assuming A is a constant, demonstrate that the Youngs double slit diffraction pattern for a slit width a and slit separation d is
2 sin 2 = A 2= Aa, a sin , = and d sin cos 2 , where 2 2

I A 2

(iii) (iv) (v)

Explain the physical meaning of the sine and the cosine terms. How would the result be modified in the case of two single rectangular slits? Derive two conditions for constructive and destructive interference for a very small slit. For 500 nm and d 0.1 mm calculate the angle of the first minimum. d 3 sketch the Youngs slits diffraction pattern. a Explain when missing orders occur and indicate them on your sketch. For A 1 and

(vi)

[16]

(c)

The expression for the Fraunhofer intensity distribution, I, produced by monochromatic light incident normally on a grating which has N equally spaced slits is
sin 2 sin 2 N . I 2 sin 2

(i) (ii) (iii) (iv)

What does the second term in square brackets represent? If 0 , how will the expression be modified? What does 0 signify? Assuming 0 , what is the dependence of the zero order maximum intensity on the number of slits? Assuming = 0, demonstrate that if N 2 the expression is transformed into the Youngs double slit diffraction pattern with 2 .

[10]

(d)

See the next page for section 2(d)

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PH2310 PART MARKS

(d)

Describe the two following devices for achieving interference by division of wave-front: (i) Lloyds mirror; illustrate your answer with a sketch clearly showing where the virtual source is. Explain why the fringe corresponding to zero path difference between the direct and reflected beams is black. (ii) Fresnel bi-prism; illustrate your answer with a sketch clearly showing the overlap area. [6]

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PH2310 PART MARKS

3.

(a)

Explain the term constructive interference. Describe the method of division of amplitude used to achieve interference. Explain the principle of superposition. Derive an expression for intensity distribution for superposition of two disturbances with amplitudes a1 and a2 and phases 1 and 2 respectively. Sketch a Michelson interferometer and label the source, detector, beam splitter, mirrors, compensating plate and the path of a central ray. Indicate on the diagram the adjustments for aligning the interferometer light path angles and for changing the path difference between the beams. Sketch the Newtons rings experiment. Explain how Newtons rings are formed. It is found that in a Newtons rings set-up in reflection the radius of the 8th dark ring formed using a monochromatic light source is 3.1 mm. Calculate the wavelength of the light used if the radius of the curvature of the lens surface is 2 m. The expression for the reflected intensity for a parallel beam of light striking a thin parallel-sided glass plate at a near normal incidence and zero absorption is the glass is

[10]

(b)

[8]

(c)

[10]

(d)

(i) (ii) (iii) (iv) (v) (vi)

Define every symbol in this expression. Write down the condition for constructive interference. Is the fringe corresponding to zero optical path difference dark or bright? Explain why. Explain what the term visibility means. Accompany your answer with an expression. Derive an expression for transmitted intensity. Sketch two interference fringe patterns for transmitted light corresponding to good and poor visibilities. [12]

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PH2310 PART MARKS

4.

(a) (b)

Explain the phenomenon of total internal reflection. Explain what the critical angle means and derive an equation for it. Figure 4(b) represents two plane parallel interfaces between media whose refractive indices are as shown. A ray of light travelling from A to B is transmitted by the first interface and totally internally reflected at the second interface. Calculate the minimum value of the angle of incidence, i.

[4]

Figure 4(b) (c) An image is formed from an object which is equidistant from the lens and from the first focal point. The focal length is 100 mm. (i) (ii) Use all three useful rays to locate the image. Sketch the radiation wave-fronts after refraction.

[4]

(iii) Use the thin lens formula to calculate the distance of the image from the lens and the magnification factor. (d) Two thin lenses with focal lengths of magnitude 10.0 cm, the first converging and the second diverging, are placed 8.00 cm apart. An object 2.00 mm tall is placed 20.0 cm to the left of the first (converging) lens. (i) (ii) Sketch the image construction. Is the final image magnified or demagnified?

[12]

(iii) Is the final image real or virtual? (iv) Is the final image erect or inverted? (e) See the next page for section 4(e) [8]

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PH2310 PART MARKS

(e)

which Assume you have an extended line source placed along the axis emits light (see Figure 4(e)). The light is observed by a line detector placed along the axis at a distance L parallel to the source.

xs r 0 L
Figure 4(e) (i) (ii)

xd

Determine the phase advance of a ray propagating from an arbitrary point of the source to an arbitrary point of the detector. Demonstrate that if the Fresnel approximation is applied the phase advance is simplified to

(iii) Re-arrange the equation above and indicate the terms responsible for Fraunhofer diffraction and the first order Fresnel correction.

[12]

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PH2310 PART MARKS

5.

(a)

Explain what the term plane polarized light means. What is meant by the term plane of polarization? Explain the difference between unpolarized and circularly polarized light. Explain what the term birefringence means. Describe the concept of ordinary and extraordinary rays and their refraction properties. Explain how circularly polarized light can be obtained from plane polarized light using a quarter wave plate. Describe Brewsters law and derive an expression for the Brewster angle. Describe what the terms coherent light and coherence length mean. Describe the difference between spatial and temporal coherence. The degree of coherence for Youngs slits experiment is defined by the following expression
= 12
2 I a12 a2 = 2a1a2 cos +

[8]

(b)

[8] [4] [4]

(c) (d) (e)

f ( x ) e 4 L dx .
i x

kd

(i) (ii) (f)

Define every symbol in this expression. If , determine the degree of coherence. [6]

Describe the processes of (i) (ii) (iii) photon absorption, spontaneous emission, stimulated emission. [10]

Which process is responsible for emission of laser light? Describe the basic properties of laser light.

END

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