DIFFRACTION GRIDS

A. PURPOSE OF EXPERIMENT
There are some purposes which want to be achieved from this experiment.
1. Determining the wavelength of the red laser by grid diffraction.
2. Investigating the relationship between the distances of the source of red
laser to the diffraction grid (L) with the distance of diffraction grid (P).

B. TOOLS AND MATERIALS
Here are the tools and materials needed in order to do this experiment.
1. Diffraction Grid
2. Red Laser Source
3. Optical Rail
4. Grid Holder
5. Ruler (SSN = 0.1 cm)
6. HVS Paper (White Paper)

C. FUNDAMENTAL THEORY
If the wave fronts arriving at a narrow slit (the width of wave fronts are
smaller than the wavelength), then the wave will experience a bending. Thus,
it will form a wide semi-circle on the area behind the gap. The face of half
circles will experience interference each other and if it caught by a screen, it
will produce the dark light patterns, such as the figure shown below.








Screen
The 2
nd
Bright Order
The 1
st
Bright Order

The Center Bright
The 2
nd
Bright Order

The 1
st
Bright Order


Diffraction Grid
Red Laser
A grid can consist of thousands gap of lines per centimeter. If the number of
gap per unit of length (cm) is N, then the constant of grid is as follows.
d = 1/N
From the picture above, we can see that the light I pulled perpendicular to the
wave front of the line tangent to the small waves Huygens coming from third
space on it. The projection of rays, going through the center of the gap,
because the line is called perpendicular to the tangent line, at the point of
tangency is the radius of the circle. In a right-angled triangle of light I, the
corresponding wave front and the line representing grid is u, which is the
angle between the light I and u. From the triangle, it appears that sin u = 2/2d
= /d, as well as for beam 2, which for convenience has been pulled (drawn)
to the second gap down to the center, we see that sin u = 2/d, with u now is
the angle between the beams 2 and u. So in general, can we find that;
n = d sin u
Where n is the order of the spectrum with the I and so with n = 1, 2, 3 and so
on. Since the light of laser contains only one wavelength, then only one pair of
spots that appear on the screen on each order. However, if the experiment is
performed with colorful light, there will be a couple spots in the respective
order number contained in the wavelength of the light source. The diffraction
angle for each wavelength is given by the first equation. We will be able to
observe this result when using white light from incandescent light instead of a
laser. If the distance between the screen grid and the distance is l and the
distance of the n
th
bright spot to the center of the light is p, then the equation
for the n
th
bright is as follows.
l
pd
n =
nl
pd
=

Where;
= the wave length (cm)
d = the constant of grid (cm
-1
)
p = the distance between the n
th
bright and the center bright (cm)
l = the distance between the grids and the screen (cm)
n = 1 (only for the 1
st
order)

D. EXPERIMENT METHOD
The following are the experiment method that should be done in order to do
this experiment.
1. Arranging the tools and materials as the following picture.








2. Setting up and measuring the distance between the scene and the grids as
the result data want to be achieved.
3. Lighting up the diffraction grids by the red laser.
4. Signing the scene (white paper) by the points which represent the center of
bright point and the bright point of n
th
-orde.
5. Measuring the distance (p) between the center of bright point and the
bright point of n
th
-orde.
6. Repeating the steps as much as five times by varying the distance between
the scene and the grids (l).
7. Using the variation of number of grids N = 100 lines/mm and N = 300
lines/mm.
8. Recording the result data in this given table.
N = .
cm
lines
; d =
N
1
= .. cm
No p (m) L (m)
1
2
Grid
P
2
P
2
P
1
P
1
u
2
u
1

L

3
4
5


E. DATA ANALYSIS TECHNIQUE
The following are the analysis technique used in order to analysis the data
recorded from the experiment.
1. Determining the value of the average length l

and the value of l

n
l
l
n
n
=

=
5
1
And
1
5
1
2

|
.
|

\
|

= A

=

n
l l
l
n
n

2. Determining the average value of p and the value of p
n
p
p
n
n
=

=
5
1
And
1
5
1
2

|
.
|

\
|

= A

=

n
p p
p
n
n


3. Determining the value of

and the value of

=
l
d p
And
(
(

A
c
c
+ A
c
c
= A
2
2
2
2
l
l
p
p
p
l


(
(

A + A = A
2
2
2
2
2
) 1 ( l
l
pd
p
l
d

F. DATA OF EXPERIMENT
1. The First Experiment
N = 100 lines/mm
=

= .
NO L (cm) P (cm)
1 13.0 0.9
2 18.0 1.4
3 23.0 1.7
4 28.0 2.0
5 33.0 2.4
6 38.0 2.7
7 43.0 3.0
8 48.0 3.4
9 53.0 3.7
10 58.0 5.1

2. The Second Experiment
N = 300 lines/mm
=

= .
NO L (cm) P (cm)
1 13.0 2.9
2 18.0 4.0
3 23.0 5.1
4 28.0 6.2
5 33.0 7.4
6 38.0 8.4
7 43.0 9.5
8 48.0 10.5
9 53.0 11.6
10 58.0 12.8







G. DATA ANALYSIS
a) First Experiment
N = 100 lines/mm
=
1

= 0.010
No l(mm) p(mm)
(l-lr)
(l-lr)
2
(p-pr) (p-pr)
2

1
130 9
-225 50625 -17.17
294.8089
2
180 14
-175 30625 -12.17
148.1089
3
230 17
-125 15625 -9.17
84.0889
4
280 20
-75 5625 -6.17
38.0689
5
330 24
-25 625 -2.17
4.7089
6
380 27
25 625 0.83
0.6889
7
430 30
75 5625 3.83
14.6689
8
480 34
125 15625 7.83
61.3089
9
530 37
175 30625 10.83
117.2889
10
580 51
225 50625 24.83
616.5289
3550 263 - 206250 - 1380.269
Avrg 355 26.3 - - - -

1. Determining the value of the average length l

and the value of l

10
3550
10
1
=
=

l
n
l
l
n
n

mm l 355 =

1
10
1
2

|
.
|

\
|

= A

=

n
l l
l
n
n

mm 47.8714
2291.67
1 10
206250
= A
= A

= A
l
l
l

2. Determining the average value of p and the value of p
n
p
p
n
n
=

=
10
1

mm p
p
3 . 216
10
263
=
=

1
10
1
2

|
.
|

\
|

= A

=

n
p p
p
n
n

mm p
p
p
9 . 3
3363 . 15
1 10
269 . 1380
= A
= A

= A

3. Determining the value of

and the value of

=
l
d p

mm
4 -
10 7.4
355
) 0.01 )( 30 . 26 (
=
=

(
(

A + A = A
2
2
2
2
2
) 1 ( l
l
pd
p
l
d

(
(

+ = A 67 . 2291
355
01 . 0 30 . 26
) 1 ( 33 . 15
355
01 . 0
2
2
2

8
10 21 . 2

= A

mm
4
10 48 . 1

= A
4. Determining the value of Relative Error (RE)
0
0
100
A
=

KR
% 20
% 100 2 . 0
% 100
10 4 . 7
10 48 . 1
4
4
=
=

KR
KR
KR


b) Second Experiment
N = 300 lines/mm
=
1

= 0.003
No l(mm) p(mm)
(l-lr)
(l-lr)
2
(p-pr) (p-pr)
2

1
130 29
-225 50625 -49.4
2440.36
2
180 40
-175 30625 -38.4
1474.56
3
230 51
-125 15625 -27.4
750.76
4
280 62
-75 5625 -16.4
268.96
5
330 74
-25 625 -4.4
19.36
6
380 84
25 625 5.6
31.36
7
430 95
75 5625 16.6
275.56
8
480 105
125 15625 26.6
707.56
9
530 116
175 30625 37.6
1413.76
10
580 128
225 50625 49.6
2460.16
3550 784 206250 9842.4
Avrg 355 78.4




1. Determining the value of the average length l

and the value of l

n
l
l
n
n
=

=
5
1

10
3550
=

l
355 =

l

1
10
1
2

|
.
|

\
|

= A

=

n
l l
l
n
n

1 10
206250

= Al

mm l 87 . 47 = A

2. Determining the average value of p and the value of p
n
p
p
n
n
=

=
5
1

10
784
=

p
mm p 4 . 78 =

1
5
1
2

|
.
|

\
|

= A

=

n
p p
p
n
n

1 10
9842

= Ap
mm p 46 . 10 = A
3. Determining the value of

and the value of

=
l
d p

355
003 . 0 4 . 78
=

mm
4
10 36 . 7

=
(
(

A + A = A
2
2
2
2
2
) 1 ( l
l
pd
p
l
d

(
(

+ = A
2
2
2
2
2
87 . 47
355
003 . 0 4 . 78
) 1 ( 46 . 10
355
003 . 0

mm
4
10 39 . 1

= A

4. Determining the value of Relative Error (RE)
0
0
100 x RE

A
=

0
0
4
4
100
10 36 . 7
10 39 . 1
x RE

=

% 86 . 18 = RE

H. DISCUSSION
According to the data analysis of the experiment, It is retrieved the following
results.
a. The wavelength of red laser () at the first experiment, where the value
of N = 100 lines/mm is 7.40 10
4
1.48 10
4
which
shows us that the real value is between the intervals of 5.9 10
4

till 8.9 10
4
, with the relative error (
1
) = 20.00% which
shows us that the result of experiment is unacceptable since the value
of (
1
) is more than 10%.
b. The wavelength of red laser () at the second experiment, where the
value of N = 300 lines/mm is 7.36 10
4
1.39 10
4

which shows us that the real value is between the intervals of 5.97
10
4
till 8.75 10
4
, with the relative error (
1
) = 18.86%
which shows us that the result of experiment is unacceptable since the
value of (
2
) is more than 10%.



It is believed that there are some errors that estimated inflence to the final of
this experiment.
1. Common Error
Common error is error that occurs because of the human error. The
common error of this experiment is the parallax error in the reading
scale of ruler when recording the distance of each bright point. In other
way, there is also an error when setting the screen up. It is often shifted
from its initial position, finally the distance of each bright point is
different between the first and second experiment.
2. Systematic Error
Systematic error is an error that occurs because of the instruments used
as the influence of the environment at the time of trials. The systematic
error of this experiment is caused by diffraction grid and grid holder
which didnt work well.
3. Random Error
Random error is an error which the causing factors are uninvestigated.
The random error of this experiment is the fluctuation of temperature,
magnetic field, vibration of air, etc.

I. CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION
1. Conclusion
Based on the results of the experiment and the discussion above, it can be
summed up as follows.
a. The wavelength of red laser () at the first experiment, where the
value of N = 100 lines/mm is 7.40 10
4
1.48 10
4

which shows us that the real value is between the intervals of
5.9 10
4
till 8.9 10
4
, with the relative error (
1
) =
20.00% which shows us that the result of experiment is
unacceptable since the value of (
1
) is more than 10%.
b. The wavelength of red laser () at the second experiment, where
the value of N = 300 lines/mm is 7.36 10
4
1.39
10
4

which shows us that the real value is between the

intervals of 5.97 10
4
till 8.75 10
4
, with the relative
error (
1
) = 18.86% which shows us that the result of experiment
is unacceptable since the value of (
2
) is more than 10%.
c. The factors cause the relative errors in the trials is due to from both
the human and the instruments used and the environment in which
human do experiments that may affect the results data.
2. Suggestion
The suggestion that can be provided to the readers and other human in
order to do the same experiment is checking the necessary equipment. Do
the tool and the material taken or provided is still eligible to use or could
still be used or not. If actually it still can be used, then use them with well,
but if the tool used is not good, its recommend to replace it with the good
others because it will affect the final results of the experiment. It is also
important to pay attention in setting up the instrument to get the best
result.

REFERENCE
Suardana, I Kade. 2007. Petunjuk Praktikum Laboratorium 3. Singaraja:
Undiksha.
www.physicsclassroom.com/grid_diffraction (accessed on November 20th, 2012)