The Interferometer :: essays research papers fc

Abstract The interferometer is the around accurate measuring device known to man. It was created by Albert A. Michelson. The operation of the interferometer described before long is a light beam that is separated by a beam splitter. The 2 beams then travel equal distances at 90 of each opposite where they are reflected off two mirrors back through the beam splitter. They are then superimposed on to a screen. The screen will display an hoo-ha pattern of fringes. The interferometer is extremely sensitive to vibrations and should be isolated from themThe interferometer is the most accurate device presently known to man, and most likely will remain the most accurate measuring device for the next hundred years Cal Christiansen. The interferometer can measure lengths of one half the wavelength of the light source being used. With a HeNe optical maser (Helium Neon) this length is 316.4nm, about 1/3 of a micron. The interferometer is able to measure very small distances by the interf erence produced between two lasers beams. With this degree of accuracy there are clearly many uses for this device including, measuring flatness, structural stress, and making linear measurements. Albert A. Michelson is the father of the interferometer and the Michelson Interferometer is still used today. Michelson was born in Prussia in 1872 and later moved to the United States where he joined the U.S. Navy. As an instructor in the Navy academy he was asked to demonstrate the Foucault method of measuring the travel rapidly of light and made several improvements on it. Michelson received a grant and built his first interferometer much like the one presently used. It consisted of an Argand lamp, two mirrors, two beam splitters and an eyepiece. The device was extremely sensitive to vibrations and wasnt accurate until it was brought to the Potsdam Astrophysical Observatory in Berlin where it was mounted on a platform designed for an equatorial telescope. With proper setup Michelson a ttempted to detect the presence ether, an invisible undetectable material that surrounded by all matter. This was unsuccessful and Einstein later state that the ether did not exit and light travels at the same speed in all directions. Michelson would later receive the Nobel Prize for science for precision optical instruments and the spectroscope and metrological investigations conducted herewith. Several versions of the interferometer were devised by Michelson including, the interferential comparator for standardizing the meter, a mechanical harmonic analyzer for testing the harmonic motion of fringes, and a stellar interferometer for measuring the size of stars.