Question

What is the distance moved by the traveling mirror of a Michelson interferometer that corresponds to 1500 fringes passing by a point of the observation screen? Assume that the interferometer is illuminated with a 606 nm spectral line of krypton-86.

Answer 1

The distance moved by the traveling mirror of a Michelson interferometer can be calculated using the formula: Distance = (Number of fringes * Wavelength) / 2. In this case, with 1500 fringes passing by a point on the observation screen and a wavelength of 606 nm, the distance is 0.4545 mm.

Step-by-step explanation:

A Michelson interferometer is an optical instrument that produces interference fringes by splitting a light beam into two parts and recombining them. The distance moved by the traveling mirror of a Michelson interferometer can be calculated using the formula:

Distance = (Number of fringes * Wavelength) / 2

In this case, the interferometer is illuminated with a 606 nm spectral line of krypton-86, so the wavelength is 606 nm. To find the distance moved by the mirror that corresponds to 1500 fringes passing by a point on the observation screen, we can substitute the values into the formula:

Distance = (1500 * 606 nm) / 2 = 454,500 nm = 0.4545 mm