Suppose you are experimenting with a Michelson interferometer and you have adjus

Question

Suppose you are experimenting with a Michelson interferometer and you have adjusted it so that you see a pattern of circular rings of interference. You illuminate the interferometer with light from sodium atoms which emit two wavelengths, 589 and 596 nm. What do you see? Pick those that apply.

1. There are no rings visible because there are two wavelengths present.

2. For the same order of interference, the rings from the longer wavelength light fall inside the rings of the shorter wavelength light.

3. The difference is so small that the rings from both wavelengths always lie on top of one another.

4. For some spacings of mirrors, the rings from the two lines may fall exactly between one another.

5. You could adjust a mirror to make the rings of the two wavelengths lie on top of one another, and then change it to make them lie between one another.

Explanation / Answer

3. The difference is so small that the rings lie on top of one another. The interference pattern observed contains two sets of fringes, which disappears when bright band of one set is superimposed on the dark band of the other.

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