All Problems

Diffraction of Light

Problem 5.140

Light falls normally on a transparent diffraction grating of width l=6.5 cml=6.5 \mathrm{~cm} with 200 lines per millimetre. The spectrum under investigation includes a spectral line with λ=670.8nm\lambda=670.8 \mathrm{nm} consisting of two components differing by δλ=0.015nm\delta \lambda=0.015 \mathrm{nm}. Find: (a) in what order of the spectrum these components will be resolved; (b) the least difference of wavelengths that can be resolved by this grating in a wavelength region λ670nm\lambda \approx 670 \mathrm{nm}.

Reveal Answer
(a) In the fourth order; (b) δλminλ2/l=7pm\delta \lambda_{m i n} \approx \lambda^{2} / l=7 \mathrm{pm}