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BS 192: Undergraduate Science Laboratory (Physics)

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FRESNEL’S BIPRISM
By

Aayushi (22110006)
Arjun Sekar (22110034)
Daksh Dave (22110065)

Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar

I. AIM:

To determine the wavelength of sodium light using Fresnel’s biprism method.

II. APPARATUS:

Optical bench, sodium lamp, uprights, slit, biprism, convex lens, micrometer eyepiece.

III. THEORY:

A Fresnel Biprism is a variation on the Young’s Slits experiment. This experiment helps us
study the phenomenon of interference of light. The biprism consists of two prisms, both
having a very small refracting angle around 0.5 to 1 degree, placed together base to base
which forms an isosceles triangle. This is shown in figure (1). Monochromatic light of
wavelength λ, passing through a narrow-slit 𝑆, parallel to the base 𝐵 is allowed to fall
symmetrically on the biprism. The incident wavefront gets divided into two parts by the
refracting edge. The left wavefront bends towards the right and the right wavefront bends
towards left and back tracing the wavefront, we see, that they seem to originate from two
virtual sources 𝑆1 and 𝑆2. Since they are being derived from the same source S they act as
coherent sources. As a result, interference fringes are observed in the overlapping region EF
of the screen.

Figure (1) : Division of wavefront by Fresnel’s Biprism

To find an expression for position of fringes, we consider interference of light at any point 𝑃.
The path difference between the rays coming from the virtual sources is,

Δ𝑥 = 𝑆1𝑃 − 𝑆2𝑃

Let 𝑆1𝑆2 = 𝑑 and 𝑆𝑂 = 𝐷

Thus we can see,

𝑆1𝑃 = 𝐷 {[1 + 1 2 ( 𝑑/2 +𝑋𝑛 )/D]^2 }
and,
𝑆2𝑃 = 𝐷 {[1 + 1 2 ( 𝑑/2 − 𝑋𝑛 )/D]^2 }
where 𝑂𝑃 = 𝑋𝑛 assuming 𝑑/2 ± 𝑋𝑛 ≪ 𝐷

Therefore,
Δ𝑥 = (𝑑/𝐷) 𝑋𝑛 (path difference)

If 𝑋𝑛 happens to be the position of 𝑛𝑡ℎ bright fringe, then,

(d/D)𝑋𝑛 = 𝑛λ

Fringe width, which is defined as the difference between two bright (or dark) fringes,

𝑥 = 𝑋𝑛 − 𝑋𝑛−1 = λ𝑑/𝐷
Therefore,
𝑥𝑑
λ= 𝐷

Now if we know 𝑥, 𝐷 and 𝑑, we can get the value of 𝜆.

IV. PROCEDURE:

1. Adjust the height of the uprights such that centers of the slit, the biprism, the lens
holders and the eyepiece are all at the same height. Adjust their planes
perpendicular to the axis of the bench.
2. Keep the plane face of the biprism towards the slit and the refracting edge of the
biprism at the center of the circular aperture. Keep the edge of the biprism vertical
and in line with the slit. Distance between the slit and the biprism should be around
10cm.
3. Adjust the slit width to ‘just open’ condition.
4. Keep the eyepiece upright about 1 meter far from the biprism. Remove the eyepiece
and through the aperture, directly look towards the biprism with the naked eye to
check whether the virtual images of slit are visible or not. If not, slightly move the
biprism laterally.
5. Replace the eyepiece in its position. You should be able to see alternate bright and
dark fringes on the screen through the eyepiece. Adjust the sharpness and contrast
of the fringes if it's blurry by fine tuning the position of the eyepiece.
 6. While moving the eyepiece, if the fringes are found to move laterally with respect to
the vertical cross wire, it implies that the horizontal line joining the slit and the edge of
the biprism does not coincide with the bench axis and fringes are formed on a plane
which is not normal to the bench axis. This is the case of lateral shift.
7. To remove lateral shift, while moving the eyepiece backwards, check the relative
movement of fringes with respect to the vertical crosswire. If it appears to shift left,
then move the biprism laterally to the right slightly and if it appears to shift right then
move the biprism laterally to the left slightly.
8. After removing the lateral shift and obtaining sharp fringes, do not disturb the
positions of the slit, biprism and the eyepiece.
9. Keep the vertical crosswire on one of the bright fringe, note its main scale reading
(MSR) and circular scale reading (CSR).
10. The position obtained would be MSR + CSR*(LC) [LC is the least count of
micrometer screw]
11. Keep moving the crosswire to obtain the positions of successive fringes.
12. Note the positions of the slit and the eyepiece on the bench. The distance between
them gives D.
13. To find the distance ‘d’ between the virtual sources, keep the convex lens mounted
on the lens holder at two different positions on the meter scale between the biprism
and the eyepiece. One position relatively near to the eyepiece (gives diminished
images of virtual sources and distance between them is d1) and the other relatively
near to the biprism (gives magnified images of virtual sources and distance between
them is d2).
14. To find the actual distance 𝑑 between the virtual sources, use the formula
𝑑= 𝑑1 × 𝑑2

V. RESULTS AND CALCULATIONS:

After performing the experiment, we noted down values of the main scale readings (MSR),
circular scale readings (CSR), fringe number (n), fringe position (𝑋𝑛) and calculated the fringe
width using every two consecutive fringes.
 S.NO M.S.R C.S.R Xn (mm) n Width (mm)

5 47 5.47 1
1.
0.24
5.5 21 5.71 2

6.5 42 6.92 5
2. 0.34
7 26 7.26 6

7 26 7.26 6
3. 0.34
7.5 10 7.6 7

8 45 8.45 9
4. 0.38
8.5 33 8.83 10

8.5 0 8.5 9
5. 0.25
8.5 24 8.75 10

7 2 7.02 k
6. 0.87
7.5 39 7.89 k+1

Table 1: Readings for calculating the average fringe width

In one instance, we forgot to count the exact fringe number and instead recorded the
readings for two consecutive fringes, which we denoted as the k and k+1 fringes.
 ∑ 𝑊𝑖𝑑𝑡ℎ 0.87+0.38+0.25+0.34+0.34+0.24
Average Fringe Width : 𝑥 = 𝑇𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑁𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝑆𝑎𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑒𝑠
= 6
= 0. 403 𝑚𝑚

From the above calculations we obtain the average fringe width value 𝑥 equals 0.403
millimeters. Now, for the second part of the experiment, we measure the distance between
the focused images of the two fringes at two different lens positions. In order to calculate the
value of fractional error in 𝑑 We take two separate readings for each of the two unique lens
positions.

Position 1: Screen: 27mm, Slit: 116mm, Biprism: 197mm, Lens position: 767mm, Eyepiece:
1061mm.

S.NO M.S.R C.S.R Fringe Position

(mm)

P1 8 18 8.18

P’1 8.5 22 8.72

From the values obtained from the above table, we can calculate the value of 𝑑1 as follow

S.NO M.S.R C.S.R Fringe Position

(mm)

P1 8 24 8.24

P’1 8.5 30 8.80

Position 2: Screen: 27mm, Slit: 116mm, Biprism: 197mm, Lens position: 397mm, Eyepiece:
1061mm

S.NO M.S.R C.S.R Fringe Position

(mm)

P2 7.5 12 7.62

P’2 10.5 1 10.51

 S.NO M.S.R C.S.R Fringe Position
(mm)

P2 7.5 10 7.6

P’2 10.5 6 10.56

Now we use the formula 𝑑 = 𝑑1 × 𝑑2 to calculate the distance between the virtual sources
as below

From the above 𝑑 and 𝑑' values we can calculate 𝑑𝑎𝑣𝑔 as follow

Now since we have the values of 𝐷, 𝑑 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑥, the value of the wavelength λ can be calculated
as shown below

VI. Calculating The Propagation of Error:

Method 1:

The fractional error in fringe width calculation can be obtained using the formula below, and
it turns out to be

The error in D (bench error ∆𝐷 is assumed to be 0, and the fractional error in d can be
calculated as follow
Now, total error can be calculated as follow

The error in the wavelength is coming large due to the large error in fringe width x.
The maximum value of x is 0.87mm which is much greater than the average value 0.4mm

Method 2:

The actual wavelength of sodium light is 589 𝑛𝑚.

The calculated wavelength of sodium light is 540 𝑛𝑚.
Hence, the deviation from the actual wavelength ∆λ = 589 − 540 = 49 𝑛𝑚.

VI. SOURCES OF ERRORS:

1. The first source of error which occurred while performing the experiment was not
getting perfectly sharp fringes. The fringe pattern was slightly blurred around the
edges. This might be due to slight misalignment of the centers or the planes of the
slit and biprism.
2. The source of error for calculating the fringe width might be due to error in placing the
vertical crosswire. It can also be due to the zero error of the micrometer screw.
3. The large error in the fringe width is due to one measurement error of the maximum
value of the x = 0.87 mm which is much greater than the average fringe width. This
error occurred when we forgot to track the fringe number we were calculating. We
might have done human error in measuring the arbitrary fringe denoted by k in the
table.
4. The error in measuring D can be due to zero error of the meter scale.
5. The error in measuring the distance between the virtual sources might be due to
imperfections in placing vertical crosswire. It is also due to the placement of the lens
such that the magnified and diminished images are not formed sharply but formed
slightly blurry.
6. The error in the calculated wavelength of the sodium light is due to the propagation of
errors of fringe width and the distance between the virtual sources.
#Observations signed by TA:

(Please note that D = a + b should be 1061 - 116 = 945mm and not 1601 - 116 = 1458
mm. This will change the value of wavelength accordingly which is mentioned in the
results & calculations part.)

VII. CONCLUSIONS:

On conducting the experiment using the Fresnel’s Biprism method to determine the
wavelength of sodium light which came out to be 𝜆 = 540.7 nm. This experiment enables us
to study the phenomenon of interference of light and also the wave nature of light. The two
beams of light from the biprism travel different paths and due to this they experience a phase
difference. Thus, when the two beams recombine, they interfere either constructively or
destructively, depending on the phase difference. In accordance with this, we observed that
the interference of light from two coherent virtual sources shows a straight alternating fringe
pattern between dark and bright.

VIII. CONTRIBUTIONS:

NAME ROLL NUMBER CONTRIBUTION SIGNATURE

Aayushi 22110006 Aim, Apparatus,

Theory, Conclusion,
Diagrams, Document
Structure, Readings in
lab.

Arjun Sekar 22110034 Results and

Calculation, Error
Analysis, Plotting the
Graph, Noting down
readings of fringe
width.

Daksh Dave 22110065 Procedure, Error

Analysis, Sources of
errors, Calculations
while doing the
experiment