Madan Mohan Malaviya Univ.

of Technology, Gorakhpur

Lecture-3

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 Madan Mohan Malaviya Univ. of Technology, Gorakhpur

Content of Lecture

• DISPERSIVE POWER OF A GRATING

• DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SPECTRA OF GRATING AND

PRISM

• RESOLVING POWER OF AN OPTICAL INSTRUMENT:

RAYLEIGH’S CRITERION OF RESOLUTION

• NUMERICAL PROBLEMS

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DISPERSIVE POWER OF A GRATING

The dispersive power of a diffraction grating is defined as the rate of
change of the angle of diffraction with the wavelength of light.

It is expressed as dθ/dλ.

The angle of diffraction θ for the principal maximum is related to the

corresponding wavelength by

 (e+d) Sinθ = n λ

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From the expression of dispersive power it is clear that

 Dispersive power is directly proportional to the order n

 Dispersive power is inversely proportional to the grating

element or directly proportional to the number of rulings

 Dispersive power is inversely proportional to cos θ, i.e. larger

the value of θ higher is the dispersive power.

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DIFFERENCE BETWEEN PRISM AND

GRATING SPECTRA

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RESOLVING POWER OF AN OPTICAL

INSTRUMENT: RAYLEIGH’S CRITERION
• OFresolving
The RESOLUTION
power of an optical instrument represents its ability
to produce distinctly separate spectral lines of light having two or
more close wavelengths.
• “Two spectral lines of equal intensities are just resolved by an
optical instrument when the principal maximum of the diffraction
pattern due to one falls on the first minimum of the diffraction
pattern of the other.”

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RESOLVING POWER OF AN
OPTICAL……..
• If an optical instrument just resolves two spectral lines of wavelengths
λ and λ + d λ, then λ /dλ is taken as a measure of resolving power of
the instrument.

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RESOLVING POWER OF AN
OPTICAL……..
 Let a parallel beam of light of two wavelengths λ and λ+dλ be
incident normally on the grating.

 If the nth principal maximum of λ is formed in the direction , we will

have

where N is the total number of rulings on the grating and m can take all
integral values except 0, N, 2N,…, nN, because these values of m give
respective principal maxima.
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 Madan Mohan Malaviya Univ. of Technology, Gorakhpur

RESOLVING POWER OF AN
OPTICAL……..
 It is clear from the above Fig. that the first minimum of λ adjacent
to nth principal maximum of (λ+dλ ) in the direction of increasing θ
will be obtained for m = nN + 1.

 Therefore, for this minimum we have

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 Madan Mohan Malaviya Univ. of Technology, Gorakhpur

RESOLVING POWER OF AN
OPTICAL……..
Comparing Equations we get

As expected, the resolving power is zero for the central principal maximum
(n = 0), all wavelengths being is undiffracted in this order.

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Example-1 A plane transmission grating has N= 40000 lines and

(e+d) = 12.5 x cm. Calculate the maximum resolving power, if the
wavelength of light used is 5000 Å.

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Example-2 Calculate the minimum number of lines in a grating
which will just resolve the lines of wavelengths 5890 Å and 5896 Å
in the second order.

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Example: 3 A diffraction grating used at normal incidence gives a

line = 6000 Å in a certain order superimposed on another line =
4500 Å of the next higher order. If the angle of diffraction is ,
calculate the number of lines in 1 cm of the grating.

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Example-5: Light of wavelength 5000 Å falls normally on a plane
transmission grating having 15000 lines in 3 cm. Find the angle of
diffraction for maximum intensity in the first-order.

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Example:6: A plane transmission grating has 15000 lines/in.
Find
(i) the resolving power of the grating and
(ii) the smallest wavelength difference that can be resolved with a light
of wavelength 6000 Å in second order.

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Assignment Based on this Lecture

• Define dispersive power of prism. Obtain the expression for the

resolving power of prism.

• Differentiate between spectra of grating and prism.

• Discuss the resolving power of optical instruments.

• Obtain the expression of resolving power of grating.

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