Spectrometer.

1
Aims:

• To determine the grating constant (N) of the grating spectrometer using the D2
line of Sodium spectra as the reference.

• To resolve the two lines of the Sodium doublet lines (D1 and D2 ) and to deter-
mine the wavelength separation of the doublet.

• To measure the wavelengths of the strong emission lines of a commercially

available household CFL lamp and to identify the spectral lines of Mercury
(Hg) in the spectra.

• To calibrate the given prism spectrometer by determining the Cauchy curve of

the prism which is the curve of the refractive index of the prism material as a
function of wavelengths using emissions lines of Hg from a CFL lamp .

Apparatus required:

Spectrometer, sodium vapour lamp powered by a 35watt transformer, CFL lamp,

transmission grating, glass prism.

Background theory:

Spectrometer:

An optical spectrum in its most general definition is the graph of the intensity of
light as a function of wavelength. In other context and subject, the intensity is plotted
as a function of the energy of the photon (frequency) or wavenumber. An optical
spectrometer, or simply a spectrometer is an instrument that is used to measure and
analyse the properties of light by spreading it into a spectrum. A spectrometer uses a
grating(prism) to diffract(disperse) the incoming light source to obtain the spectrum.
A simple spectrometer widely used in the undergraduate physics labs is shown in
Fig.1. It consist of a collimator with an adjustable slit aperture at the incoming end.
A collimator is a simple optical device that is used to direct the diverging light from
1
Students’ manual for the apparatus and set-up available at IIIT-B,India. T.Hongray,
c March
2015

1
the source into a narrow directed parallel beam of light. The collimator is fixed to
the base of the spectrometer. A circular scale is mounted above the base which can
be used to measure angles. Two verniers on a black disk, separated by 1800 slide
above the circular scale. On top of the circular scale is a rotating table on which
the grating or prism is mounted depending of the experiment. The last element of a
spectrometer is a telescope which is attached fixed to the circular scale, which can be
turned around the rotating table so that light spectrum can be observed at various
angles.
There are various knobs and screws in the spectrometer to adjust and fine tune
the spectrometer set-up. The knobs V1 and V2 are used to adjust the vernier scale. V1
is used lock the verniers on to the circular scale. When V1 is not tightened, the vernier
scales attached to the rotating black disk is free to move. Once V1 is tightened, the
verniers are locked and the black disk is fixed to the circular scale and only then V2
can be used for small movements of the vernier. Use V1 and V2 to adjust the position
of the verniers and set the initial angle.

P
L2 L3
T2
F1 F2
L1
T1 Telescope
S V2
V1
Collimator

Figure 1: Schematic diagram of a spectrometer

Another set of knobs T1 and T2 are used to adjust the position of the telescope.
When T1 is loose, the telescope is free to rotate around the rotating table by almost
3600 , which is only obstructed by the collimator. When T1 is locked or tightened,
the telescope along with the circular scale is locked to the verniers and the telescope
cannot be moved. Only after T1 is locked do the T2 knob becomes functional and can
be used to adjust the fine movement of the telescope. F1 and F2 is used for the focus
adjustment of the collimator and the telescope respectively.

2
 Finally P is used to lock or release the rotating table and L1 , L2 and L3 is used
to adjust the level of the table.

Initial adjustment of the spectrometer:

Before the start of any experiment, the spectrometer needs to be adjusted initially
which involves the focussing of the telescope and the collimator. This step in most
essential and must be executed precisely as described below before the
start of any experiment involving the spectrometer.

• Focussing the telescope:

Do not mount the prism or grating on to the rotating table yet. Unlock T1 so
that the telescope is free to rotate. Direct the telescope to a distant object (the
end of the room or the end of the corridor). You can open the windows and
direct it to a distant object like a tree or a building. Then using F2 , adjust the
focus of the telescope until a clear sharp image of the object is obtained through
the telescope. This ensures that the telescope is primed to receive the parallel
beam of light from the collimator. Once the telescope is focussed, it is
not to be disturbed under any circumstances for the remainder of
your experiment.

• Focussing the collimator:

After the telescope is focussed, rotate the telescope so that it is aligned with
the collimator. Place the collimator in front of the light source and rotate the
telescope so that the light coming through the collimator is visible through the
telescope. Ensure that the slit attached to the collimator is open to allow light to
enter the collimator. The light coming from the collimator through the slit will
most likely be blurred. Use the focus adjustment of the collimator F1 to adjust
the collimator until a clear sharp image of the slit aperture is visible through
the telescope. Adjust the width of the slit so that it is sufficiently narrow using
S shown in Fig.1. Just as in the case of the telescope, the focus of the
collimator is not to be disturbed under any circumstances for the
remainder of your experiment.

Once the focussing of the telescope and the collimator is done, the prism or grating
can now be mounted depending on the experiment.

3
Diffraction and grating.

Classically, diffraction is the phenomena of apparent bending or deflection of light

waves around the edge of an obstacle or through small gaps. These waves then
interfere resulting in constructive or destructive interference which is then manifested
as diffraction fringes. The conditions for the formation and nature of the fringes
depends on the physical dimensions and shape of the obstacles or openings (slit).
The basic principle of grating can be illustrated by considering the simple case of two
slit diffraction as shown in Fig. 2.

y y
tanθ=
θ' D
θ
d Screen
For large D, θ ~ θ'
Maxima: d sinθ=mλ
D

Figure 2: Double slit diffraction.

As the number of slit increases, the condition for the maxima does not change.
However the angular reparation of the peaks becomes larger and the peaks become
narrower. This is the basic design of a grating. A diffraction grating is a piece of
optical device that diffracts light and is used to separate the wavelength components
of the light. A transmission grating is usually a piece of glass consisting of thousands
of closely spaced parallel grooves that acts as slits. The condition for maxima for a
grating is the same as the conditions for two slit diffraction and is given by

dsinθ = mλ m = 0, ±1, ±2 · · · (1)

4
 Due to a large number of slits(grooves) in a grating, the maximas become very
sharp and narrow. This provides a very useful tool to resolve the different wavelengths
of light for spectrometric analysis. As the gratings are designed and fabricated to
requirements, the physical parameters (groove spacing d) are precisely known. This
therefore makes it a very accurate device to measure the wavelengths of a given light
very precisely.
In doing actual experiments involving a grating it is often more convenient to use
the quantity N = 1/d which is the groove line density of the grating and is commonly
referred to as the grating constant. Most of the commercial grating comes with the
specification of N , typically in units of lines per inch or simply LPI.

sinθ = N mλ m = 0, ±1, ±2 · · · (2)

Prism.

The dependence of the velocity of propagation of the wave on the properties of the
medium gives rise to the phenomena of refraction and reflection, which occur when a
wave crosses a surface separating two media, where the wave propagates with different
velocities. The reflection and refraction of waves that occur at surfaces of discontinuity
can be analyzed geometrically using the ray concept when no other changes happen
at the surface. This method is called wave geometry or ray tracing. In particular, for
electromagnetic waves in the visible and near visible regions, it constitutes geometrical
optics, which is a very important branch of applied physics. In this way we are able
to examine optical behavior that does not depend on the nature of light, but only
on the straight-line path it travels. Under the approximation of geometrical optics
we can say that although the light wave spreads as it moves away from the source, it
travels in the straight line.
The refractive index of a medium depends on the wavelength of the light and the
functional form that describes this dependence is called the Cauchy’s equation which
is an empirical formula and has the form

B C
µ(λ) = A + + + ··· (3)
λ2 λ4
In the above equation, A, B, C etc. are parameters characteristic of the medium
and is determined from the fitting of the plot of the measured refractive index for

5
different wavelengths of light for that medium with the Cauchy curve. The best
demonstration of the dependence of refractive index of a medium on the wavelength
can be seen in a prism. A prism is characterised by the angle of minimum deviation
δmin for that wavelength of light which is the angle of deviation of the light when the
light way passes through the prism parallel to the base of the prism. Knowing the
angle of minimum deviation for a given wavelength of light, the refractive index of
the prism material with respect to that wavelength can be determined.

C
i2
i1 r2 B
A r1

D
n2 n1

Figure 3: Ray diagram of light through prism

In Fig.3, a schematic ray diagram of the path of light through a prism is shown.
The angle of deviation of a light ray is the angle made by the exiting light ray with the
incident ray, denoted by δ in the figure and α is the apex angle of the prism. The lines
n1 and n2 are the normals to the incident surface and exiting surface respectively.
From the figure, it should be obvious from the geometry that the following equations
holds:

α = r1 + r2 (4)
δ = (i1 − r1 ) + (i2 − r2 ) (5)
⇒ δ = i1 + i2 − α (6)

At the angle of minimum deviation (δmin ), we require that the derivative of δ with
respect to i1 should be equal to 0. Taking derivative of δ in Eq.(6) with respect to i1
gives,

6
 dδ di2
= 1+ =0
di1 di1
di2
⇒ = −1 (7)
di1
Now from Snell’s Law of refraction, if the refractive index of the medium (corre-
sponding to that wavelength of light used) is µ, we can write,

sin i1 = µsin r1 ⇒ (di1 )cos i1 = µ(dr1 )cos r1

sin i2 = µsin r2 ⇒ (di2 )cos i2 = µ(dr2 )cos r2 (8)
From the fact that dr1 = −dr2 (since r1 + r2 = α), dividing the two equations in
E.(8) we get,

di2 cos r2 cos i1

= − (9)
di1 cos i2 cos r1
Finally from Eq.(7) and Eq.(9), we can write,

cos r2 cos i1
=1 (10)
cos i2 cos r1
Equation (10) will have solution only when i1 = i2 and r1 = r2 . This is the
scenario when the light ray travelling through the prism medium in parallel to the
base of the prism. In such case, the angle of deviation will be at its minimum δmin (we
can say it is a minima because it is obvious from Eq.(7) that the second derivative of
δ w.r.t. i2 is positive ) and therefore, from Eq.(6) we have,

δmin + α
i1 =
2
α
r1 =
2
Hence,

sin i1
µ =
sin r1
 
δmin +α
sin 2
⇒µ =  
α
(11)
sin 2

7
Procedures.

1. Calibration of grating: To determine the grating constant (N ) of the

diffraction grating and using that to determine the wavelength
separation of the Sodium doublet.

After the initial adjustment of the spectrometer is done, mount the grating on the
holder provided on the turntable. The grating should be placed perpendicular to the
collimator. To ensure this, the following steps need to be carried out.

• Before the grating is mounted, align the telescope with the collimator so that
the cross-hair of the telescope is centered to the slit. Note down the readings
from the two vernier scales and lock the verniers using V1 .

• Mount the grating on the table so that the grating surface is roughly perpen-
dicular to the collimator. The image of the slit through the telescope should
not alter much. This is the m = 0 peak of the grating.
o
45

45

o
90

Figure 4: Positioning of grating

• Rotate the telescope by exactly 900 to the left or right as shown in Fig. 4 and
lock the telescope using T1 .

8
 • Loosen the turntable using P and rotate the table along with the grating and
adjust the angle of the grating so that the reflected image of the slit from the
surface of the grating is centered at the cross-hair of the telescope. Lock the
table. The grating is now at exactly 450 with respect to the collimator.

• Loosen V1 and rotate the verniers along with the turntable by exactly 450 to-
wards the collimator so that the grating is now perpendicular to the collimator.

• Unlock the telescope and rotate it back to the initial position so that the cross-
hair is exactly aligned with the center of the slit (which is the m = 0 peak of
the diffraction grating).

• Lock the verniers and note down the readings from both the verniers. This is
the initial reference angle of the spectrometer from which all other angles are
to be measured. Ensure that the vernier is fully lock and is not disturbed for
the remainder of the experiment.

Once the grating is positioned perpendicular to the collimator beam it should not
be disturbed. To determine the grating constant N of the grating, from Eq.(2) we
have,

sin θ
N= (12)
mλ
Therefore for any given grating, its parameter N can be determined using a light
of known wavelength as reference and measuring the angle of diffraction of that light
for different diffraction orders. For this experiment, the reference wavelength used is
the D2 line of the Sodium doublet whose wavelength is known to less that 0.001 Å at
5889.950Å2 .

• Place the collimator in front of the Sodium vapour lamp and looking through
the telescope, rotate it to the left or right depending on your choice, slowly till
the first order diffraction peak (m = 1) is observed.

• Adjust the width of the slit so that the two yellow lines of Sodium are well and
clearly resolved. As the two lines are closely spaced, typically, the width of the
slit would be very small of the order of the width of the telescope cross-hair.
2
CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics, Internet Version 2005

9
 This first line (smaller angle) is the shorter wavelength D2 line and the second
line is the longer D1 line.

• Align the cross-hair to the D2 line. Lock the telescope using T1 and note down
the readings from the two vernier scales.

• Then using T2 rotate the telescope slightly so that D1 is aligned with the cross-
hair and note down the readings similarly.

• The final reading of a line of a particular order is the average of the reading
from the two vernier scales for that line.

• Unlock the telescope and rotate it back to the center position (m = 0). Note
down the vernier readings to confirm that the initial reference angles have not
changed. If it has changed, then take the average between the two set of readings
and used that as the reference angle.

• Rotate the telescope to the opposite side to locate the m = −1 peaks. Note
down the readings for D2 and D1 lines in the similar way as was done for m = 1.

Caution:
The left and right angular measurements (eg. m = ±1) for a line should not
differ by more than few arc minutes. If the measurements differ by more than few
minutes (> 100 ) then the grating has not been placed perpendicular to the collimator.
In such case, the turntable should be rotated to the left or right (±m) depending on
which side the measurement was more by an angle which is half of the difference
between the left and right measurement. In doing so, the readings of the verniers
would have changed and therefore, the reference angles needs to be measured again
before proceeding further with the measurements of the lines.
Once all the readings have been taken, the grating constant N is determined from
Eq.(12) using D2 as the reference wavelength.
Having determined N , the wavelength of the D1 line (and hence the wavelength
separation) is determined using Eq.(2).

2. To measure the wavelengths of the strong emission lines of a

commercially available household CFL lamp and to identify the
spectral lines of Mercury (Hg) in the spectra.

10
 Once the grating constant N of the grating to be used is determined, the wave-
length of any visible lines of a spectral emission can then be determined as was done
for the case of D1 line in Procedure 1. The only difference with this experiment
is that there more number of lines and therefore more wavelengths of light to be de-
termined. Once the wavelengths of every visible spectral lines have been determined,
they are then compared with the emission lines of Mercury from a table of spectral
lines and the lines of Hg is the CFL spectrum identified.

3. To determine the refractive index µ(λ) of a prism for different

wavelengths (λ) of light using the spectral lines of a CFL lamp and to
plot the graph of λ vs µ(λ) and determine the Cauchy parameters for
the prism material.

The refractive index of a prism can be determined from Eq. (11) if the angle of
minimum deviation δmin and the apex angle of the prism α is known. The prism
used in the lab is an equilateral prism and hence α = 60◦ . Therefore the experiment
primarily concerns with the determination of the angle of minimum deviation for each
spectral lines.

• After the initial adjustments of the spectrometer is done and the straight line
angle of the collimator slit (reference angle) is noted, mount the prism on the
turntable so that one side of the prism is facing the collimator at an oblique
angle.

• Keep the width of the slit wide initially to allow more light to enter the colli-
mator so that it is easier to locate the dispersed light from the prism with the
telescope . Rotate the telescope to roughly the position where the dispersed
light exit out of the prism and locate the spectral lines.

• The slit width may now need to be narrowed down so that the lines are clearly
resolved. Center the cross-hair of the telescope with the first colour (blue or
violet).

• Looking through the telescope, rotate the turn table along with the prism.
Ideally, the sense of the rotation of the prism should be such that starting from
a small angle of incidence, the angle is slowly increased. The chosen line will
move left or right depending of the sense of rotation of the turntable.

11
 • If the chosen line is moving away from the collimator axis (i.e., the reference
angle) indicating that the angle of deviation δ is increasing then the sense of
rotation of the prism should be reversed so that δ is decreasing.

• Follow the line with the telescope as it moves away from the field of view of the
telescope.

• As the line continue to move towards the collimator axis with the turn of the
prism, at one point, it will stop moving in that direction and start moving in
the opposite direction towards increasing δ even when the sense of rotation of
the prism remains the same. It is this point when the line turns back that the
angle of deviation is at its minimum δmin .

• Adjust the prism such that the chosen line is as close as possible to this turning
point.

• Align the cross-hair with the line in this minimum position. The angle of this
position with respect to the collimator axis (reference angle) is the angle of
minimum deviation of the prism for that line.

• Calculate the refractive index µ(λ) of the prism for that wavelength using
Eq.(11).

• Repeat this for every spectral lines of known wavelengths that you have identi-
fied as Hg lines from Procedure 2..

• Plot the refractive index for the different wavelengths as a function of wavelength
and determine the Cauchy parameters A and B by fitting a curve to the plot.

Observations and Calculations.

Table of observations.

Results:

12