Question

Two sources of light of wavelength 720 nm are 10 m away from a pinhole of diameter 1.2 mm. How far apart must the sources be for their diffraction patterns to be resolved by Rayleigh's criterion?

Answer 1

The value is
`y = 0.00732 \ m`

Step-by-step explanation:

From the question we are told that

The wavelength of each source is
`\lambda = 720 \ nm = 720 *10^(-9) \ m`

The distance from the pinhole
`D = 10 \ m`

The diameter is
`d = 1.2 mm = (1.2)/(1000) = 0.0012 \ m`

Generally from Rayleigh's criterion we have that the distance between the sources of light for their diffraction patterns is mathematically represented as '

`y = ( 1.22 * \lambda * D)/(d)`

=>
`y = ( 1.22 * 720 *10^(-9)* 10 )/( 0.0012)`

=>
`y = 0.00732 \ m`