Scribd
Upload
98 views5 pages

Newton's Rings: Open Main Menu

Good

Uploaded by

aal.majeed14
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
98 views5 pages

Newton's Rings: Open Main Menu

Good

Uploaded by

aal.majeed14
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 5

Open main menu

Newton's rings

Newton's rings observed through a microscope. The smallest increments on the superimposed
scale are 100m. The illumination is from below, leading to a bright central region.

"Newtons rings" interference pattern created by a plano-convex lens illuminated by 650nm red
laser light, photographed using a low-power microscope. The illumination is from above, leading
to a dark central region.

Newton's rings is a phenomenon in which aninterference pattern is created


by thereflection of light between two surfacesaspherical surface and an
adjacent touching flat surface. It is named for Isaac Newton, who first studied
the effect in 1717. When viewed with monochromatic light, Newton's rings
appear as a series of concentric, alternating bright and dark rings centered
at the point of contact between the two surfaces. When viewed with white
light, it forms a concentric ring pattern of rainbow colors, because the
different wavelengths of light interfere at different thicknesses of the air
layer between the surfaces.
The phenomenon was first described byRobert Hooke in his 1664
book Micrographia, although its name derives from the physicist Isaac
Newton, who was the first to analyze it.

Wave interference leading to bright and dark fringes. Note that this figure has the sign of the
interference reversed. There is a sign change in the fields reflected at the second interface
but not at the first interface, reversing the interference pattern from what is shown. The
limiting case, at the center of the pattern, is equivalent to no gap, and hence a continuous
non-reflecting medium, consistent with the central dark reflection spot, as seen in the
picture on the right.

The bright rings are caused by constructive interference between the


light rays reflected from both surfaces, while the dark rings are caused
by destructive interference. Moving outwards from one bright ring to the
next, the path difference of interfering rays at the given radius is one
wavelength, , corresponding to an increase of thickness of the air layer
between the glass surfaces by /2. For glass surfaces that are not
spherical, the fringes will not be rings but will have other shapes.
For illumination from above, with a dark center, the radius of
the Nth bright ring is given by
where N is the bright-ring number, R is theradius of curvature of the
glass lens the light is passing through, and is the wavelength of the
light.
The above formula is also applicable for dark rings for the ring pattern
obtained by transmitted light.

TheoryEdit

The experimental setup: a convex lens is placed on top of a flat surface.

Newton's rings seen in two plano-convex lenses with their flat surfaces in contact. One
surface is slightly convex, creating the rings. In white light, the rings are rainbow-colored,
because the different wavelengths of each color interfere at different locations.

Consider light incident on the flat plane of the convex lens that is
situated on the optically flat glass surface below. The light passes
through the glass lens until it comes to the glass-air boundary, where the
transmitted light goes from a higher refractive index (n) value to a
lower n value. The transmitted light passes through this boundary with
no phase change. The reflected light (about 4% of the total) also has no
phase change. The light that is transmitted into the air travels a
distance, t, before it is reflected at the flat surface below; reflection at
the air-glass boundary causes a half-cycle phase shift because the air has
a lower refractive index than the glass. The reflected light at the lower
surface returns a distance of (again) t and passes back into the lens. The
two reflected rays will interfere according to the total phase change
caused by the extra path length 2t and by the half-cycle phase change
induced in reflection at the lower surface. When the distance 2t is less
than a wavelength, the waves interfere destructively, hence the central
region of the pattern is dark.
A similar analysis for illumination of the device from below instead of
from above shows that in that case the central portion of the pattern is
bright, not dark. (Compare the given example pictures to see this
difference.)
Given the radial distance of a bright ring, r, and a radius of curvature of
the lens, R, the air gap between the glass surfaces, t, is given to a good
approximation by
,

where the effect of viewing the pattern at an angle oblique to the


incident rays is ignored.

The phenomenon of Newton's rings is explained on the same basis


as thin-film interference, including effects such as "rainbows" seen in thin
films of oil on water or in soap bubbles. The difference is that here the
"thin film" is a thin layer of air.

Further readingEdit

Airy, G.B. (1833). "VI.On the phnomena of Newton's rings when formed
between two transparent substances of different refractive
powers". Philosophical Magazine Series 3. 2(7): 20
30.doi:10.1080/14786443308647959.ISSN 1941-5966.
Illueca, C.; Vazquez, C.; Hernandez, C.; Viqueira, V. (1998). "The use of
Newton's rings for characterizing ophthalmic lenses".Ophthalmic and
Physiological Optics. 18 (4): 360371. doi:10.1046/j.14751313.1998.00366.x. ISSN 0275-5408.
Dobroiu, Adrian; Alexandrescu, Adrian; Apostol, Dan; Nascov, Victor;
Damian, Victor S. (2000). "Improved method for processing Newton's rings
fringe patterns". 4068: 342347. doi:10.1117/12.378693. ISSN 0277-786X.
Tolansky, S. (2009). "XIV. New contributions to interferometry. Part IINew
interference phenomena with Newton's rings". The London, Edinburgh, and
Dublin Philosophical Magazine and Journal of Science. 35 (241): 120
136.doi:10.1080/14786444408521466.ISSN 1941-5982.

External linksEdit
Wikimedia Commons
has media related
toNewton's rings.

Newtons Ring from Eric Weisstein's World of Physics


Photos
Explanation of and expression for Newton's rings

Newton's rings Video of a simple experiment with two lenses, and Newton's
rings on mica observed. (On the websiteFizKapu.) (Hungarian)

Read in another language

Last edited 2 months ago by Opencooper

Mobile
Desktop
Content is available under CC BY-SA 3.0 unless otherwise noted.
o
o

Terms of Use
Privacy

You might also like