Shown below is a diagram of a Michelson Interferometer. If mirror 2 is moved away from the beam splitter by an amount x, what will be the change in the distance travelled by light travelling to mirror 2 and back?
Question
Shown below is a diagram of a Michelson Interferometer. If mirror 2 is moved away from the beam splitter by an amount x, what will be the change in the distance travelled by light travelling to mirror 2 and back?
Solution
The Michelson Interferometer works by splitting a beam of light so it travels two paths, then recombines them to create interference. The interference pattern can be used to measure very small distances.
If mirror 2 is moved away from the beam splitter by an amount x, the light traveling to mirror 2 and back will have to cover an additional distance of 2x. This is because the light has to travel the extra distance x to the mirror and then the same distance x back to the beam splitter. So, the change in the distance travelled by the light is 2x.
Similar Questions
Shown below is a diagram of a Michelson Interferometer. In the experiment an air chamber is placed in between the beam splitter and mirror 2. If the chamber is evacuated (the air removed) this has the same effect asSelect one:a.moving mirror 2 towards the beam splitter.b.moving mirror 2 away from the beam splitter.c.you need to move mirror 1 as well as mirror 2.d.moving the mirrors can't reproduce the effect of evacuating the chamber.
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If the object is moved towards the plane mirror the final distance between the image and the object is 40 cm and if the final image is displaced by 10 cm from initial image what is the initial distance of the object from the mirror?10 cm30 cm20 cm40 cm
In part B of the experiment a Michelson Interferometer is used to determine the wavelength λ of the laser. An interference pattern is observed due to the light being split into two paths with slightly different lengths.A vacuum chamber (of length d) is placed in one of the paths and the air pumped out. Then as air leaks back into the chamber the number of fringes, N, that pass a certain point are counted as the interference pattern changes.The following measurements were taken:N= 64 ± 2d= (0.077 ± 0.008) mThe wavelength λ of the laser is calculated to be 650 nm (using the value of the refractive index of air n given in the lab manual). Calculate the uncertainty of the wavelength λ of the laser in nm to the nearest whole number.
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