Michelson Interferometer with He-Ne Laser

1. Purpose:
Familiarization with the Michelson interferometer, study of its capabilities
and uses.
use the interferometer to measure the wavelength of the HeNe laser light
measure the refractive index of air and investigate its dependence on
pressure.

2. Equipment:

Pasco Optical Bench

Vacuum cell with hand vacuum pump
Pasco Interferometer
Beam Expander Lens with component holder
Movable mirror
Pasco Component Holders
Beam splitter
Adjustable Fixed Mirror
HeNe Laser

3. Procedure:
3.1

Setup of interferometer:
Follow the setup procedures as outlined in the Pasco interferometer
manual. Dont call the instructor to align the laser if you have not read the
alignment procedure in the manual (see Setup and Operation, p6).
Caution! Never look directly into an unattenuated laser beam!

3.2

Investigate the variations in the fringe pattern produced by mirror

adjustments and gross adjustments in the optical path difference. Include
the case of near equality of the optical paths. Note the effect of the fine path
adjustment on a given fringe pattern.
Put the interferometer out of adjustment and practice obtaining a circular
fringe pattern.

Measurement of the laser light wavelength

3.2.1 Align the interferometer to give circular fringes.

3.2.2 Move the micrometer to give a bright or dark fringe on-axis. Record the
micrometer reading.
3.2.3 Move the micrometer slowly, counting a fixed number of fringes (about 20)
and record the final setting of the micrometer.
3.2.4 Repeat the preceding step several times.
3.2.5 For each set of measurements, determine the wavelength, in nanometers,
of the source

3.3

Measurement of the refractive index of air:

3.3.1 Place the air cell in the uncompensated leg.. Adjust mirrors as needed to
obtain a clear fringe pattern.
3.3.2 Record the room temperature and atmospheric pressure (there is a
thermometer and a barometer in room UPL 210).
3.3.3 Squeeze the pump briefly and watch the fringes move past a fixed point on
the screen. Record gauge pressure and number of fringes.
3.3.4 Repeat the previous step several times.
3.3.5 Let air back into the pump and repeat the sequence of the two previous
steps several (at least three) times. Record temperature and atmospheric
pressure at the beginning and end of each series.
3.3.6 Plot the cumulative number of fringes vs the absolute pressure
(= Pa Pgauge). (Should be a straight line, if the temperature was reasonably
constant during the measurement). Determine the slope S of this straight line
(S = dN/dP)

3.4

Formulae for the measurement of the refractive index of air:

Let N be the fringe shift (i.e. number of transitions dark to dark or bright to
bright at a reference point) when the gas pressure in the cell changes from P1 to
P2;
Then the following relation holds (derive this as part of your write-up):
2(n1 - n2) L = N (1)
where nj is the refractive index at pressure Pj , is the wavelength (in
vacuum), and L is the geometrical length of the gas cell.

According to the Lorenz-Lorentz law, (n-1) for a gas is proportional to

the density; for an ideal gas it follows that
(n1 1)/(n2 1) = T2 P1/(T1 P2) ~ P1/P2

(2)

(if the temperature is constant).

Combining (1) and (2) one can show that
n (P,T) 1 = S(T0) (/2L) (T0 P /T) (3),
where
S (T) = dN/dP is the slope of the N vs P graph,
as determined at temperature T
n (P,T) is the value of the refractive index at temperature T and pressure P;
T0 is the temperature at the time of the measurement.
Note that T is absolute temperature (in Kelvin) and the pressure P must be
In the same units as the ones used for the calculation of the slope S.

4. Analysis, write-up:

4.1 Explain the formula that you use to calculate the wavelength from the
number of fringes and the mirror displacement
4.2 assess the accuracy of your wavelength measurement --- determine
(make an educated guess with explanation / justification) how
precisely you measure the quantities that go into the calculation of the
wavelength, and calculate how the uncertainties on those quantities
affect the value of the wavelength (error propagation).
4.3 Compare the estimated wavelength uncertainty with the standard
deviation of your several measurements
4.4 Give a derivation of the equation used to determine the refractive
index; state the assumptions that went into it.
4.5 Note that the measurement that you perform is sensitive to (n-1). The
quantity that you measure is n-1, not n. It is the value of (n-1) (with its
uncertainty) that should be quoted as the final result of your
measurement
4.6 determine the uncertainty on the refractive index (or rather n-1): state
and justify the assumptions on the uncertainties on L, the pressures, the
temperature, the fringe count, .., and from these assumptions calculate
the uncertainty on n - 1.
4.7 Reduce all your measurements of (n-1) to the same temperature and
pressure (e.g. STP) (use appropriate correction factors posted on expt.
doc. website)
4.8 Compare with accepted values for the same pressure and temperature,
as well as wavelength (there is some dispersion also in air!) (note that
you may have to interpolate between table values)

5 Questions:
(1) Assuming that the error on the fringe count is 1, how many fringes would
you need to count in order to know the value of wavelength to within 0.l
nm?
(2) The fact that you are counting only integer numbers of fringes leads to a
major contribution to the uncertainty of your measurement of n-1. If you
continued to use only integral values, would a laser with a shorter or
longer wavelength give more precise results? Why?
(3) The cell length was measured between the inside surfaces of the glass
ends. Is there an error introduced by the glass plates? If so, what is it?
(4) The list below lists some effects which could influence your measurement.
Discuss their importance (or non-importance?) for your result, and give
suggestions on how to avoid these effects or correct for them.
4.1. influence of temperature on barometer reading
4.2. variation of temperature during your measurement of S(T)
4.3. Deviation from the ideal gas laws assumed in equation (3)
4.4. Change in cell length due to atmospheric pressure when the
air cell is partially evacuated.
4.5 Influence of the relative humidity of the air on the refractive index
4.6. Drift in the interferometer during observations.

4 References:
[1] See any textbook an optics, e.g., Jenkins and White: Fundamentals of
Optics, 4th ed., (available in the lab). The Michelson interferometer and the
interference patterns that can be observed with it are discussed in chapter 13,
and the most famous experiment performed with this device, the Michelson Morley experiment, in chapter 19.
[2] for wavelengths and values of refractive index, see e.g. CRC tables
(available in the lab. and posted on expt. doc website)
[3] Pasco Interferometer Manual