Questions Light

Foundations of the Physical World
Topic: Light
Practice Questions (Not for Submission)
Technological Cases
1. You have been recently employed as the Director of Advance Light Projection
program at Jack Kilby Centre of Texas Instruments.
A brief summary of the technology can be found here -
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Light_Processing
The device comprises of microelectromechanical system based mirrrors which reflect light.
But they need a colour wheel to project coloured images.
The CTO of the company wants you to initiate a new technological program on Digital Light
Mirror based Projectors which could project coloured images on a screeen using the concept
of reflection, refraction, diffraction and inteference which does not need a colour wheel.
Write a 100-150 word short summary on the conception, design and upto date development
on digital light projector (It should not be a summary of wikipedia page, but should go into
subtle aspects which are not easily found). Write another 100-150 word report on how you
will make the device project colouful images on a screen. You can also incorporate
technological ideas and concepts not discussed in the class like liquid crystals, plasmonics
and related aspects.
2. You are the scientific advisor to the Indian Prime Minister. He is about to visit to
Washington. A secret agent informs you that his hotel room is bugged with
surveillance devices. What changes will you do in the hotel room, without breaking
walls and ceilings so that the secret communication during the PM’s visit is not
compromised.
3. You are a technology consultant to a fashion designer, who has been approached by
an actress to design a dress which would change colours as she dances on a stage.
What advice will you give him, assuming that the dress should not have any active
source of light?
Numerical Problems
1. A ray of monochromatic light passes through two slits, each of dimension 30
micrometer which are separated by distance D. An interference pattern is formed on a
screen at length L=30 cm.
a. Comment on the nature of interference patttern at the center.
b. The interference patttern will have the same size or will they be different? Find a
relationship between the distance between the patterns, wavelength, D and L. Under
what conditions, the size of patterns will start varying?
c. What happens, when you take the screen away and increase the value of L? At what
distance, the interference pattern will start disappearing?
2. A light of wavelenght 580 nm is passed through a single slit with a width of 0.7 nm. The
first minimum of the pattern is 0.8 nm from the center of the screen. Find the distance of the
screen. What is the breadth of the central maximum.
3. Monochromatic light from a laser is incident on a slit 0.550 mm wide. On a screen 1.50 m
away from the slit, the distance between the first minima on either side of the central
maximum is 2.35 mm. Determine the wavelength of light emitted by the laser.
4. Calculate the separation between interference fringes obtained in Young's experiment
when 550-nm light is shone upon two slits separated by 0.22 mm and viewed on a screen that
is 3.0 m away from the slits.
5. In a double-slit experimental arrangement, calculate the path difference δ for the rays from
the two slits arriving at a point say ‘P’? Also, express this path difference in terms of λ . Does
point P correspond to a maximum, a minimum, or an intermediate condition? ( Use data:
d=0.145 mm , L=121 cm, λ=830 nm ,∧γ =1.05 cm ¿?
Conceptual Questions
1. What was the major contribution in the theory of light by Thomas Young.
2. Although Newton observed interference, he concluded that the phenomenon was
linked to the particle theory of light. How did he explain it?
3. Do you agree with Huygen’s theory that each point in space generates a secondary
wavelet? Does it happen or is it a conceptual framework?
4. What is the key difference between interference and diffraction? Is interference
possible without diffraction? Is diffraction possible without interference?

Questions Light

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Questions Light

Uploaded by

Document Information

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Questions Light

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Foundations of the Physical World

You might also like