Newton's rings From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Newton's Rings observed through a microscope.

The smallest increments on the sup erimposed scale are 100 m. The experimental setup: a convex lens is placed on top of a flat surface. The phenomenon of Newton's rings, named after Isaac Newton who first studied the m in 1717, is an interference pattern caused by the reflection of light between two surfaces - a spherical surface and an adjacent flat surface. When viewed wit h monochromatic light it appears as a series of concentric, alternating bright a nd dark rings centered at the point of contact between the two surfaces. When vi ewed with white light, it forms a concentric ring pattern of rainbow colors beca use the different wavelengths of light interfere at different thicknesses of the air layer between the surfaces. The light rings are caused by constructive inte rference between the light rays reflected from both surfaces, while the dark rin gs are caused by destructive interference. Also, the outer rings are spaced more closely than the inner ones. Moving outwards from one dark ring to the next, fo r example, increases the path difference by the same amount ?, corresponding to the same increase of thickness of the air layer ?/2. Since the slope of the conv ex lens surface increases outwards, separation of the rings gets smaller for the outer rings. For surfaces which are not convex, the fringes will not be rings b ut will have other shapes. The radius of the Nth Newton's bright ring is given by where N is the bright ring number, R is the radius of curvature of the lens the light is passing through, and ? is the wavelength of the light passing through t he glass. The phenomenon was first described by Robert Hooke in his 1664 book Micrographia although its name derives from the physicist Isaac Newton, who was the first to analyze it. NOTE: The above formula is applicable only for Newton's rings obtained by reflec ted light. Newton's rings seen in two plano-convex lenses with their flat surfaces in conta ct. One surface is slightly convex, creating the rings. In white light the rings are rainbow-colored because the different wavelengths of each color interfere a t different locations. [edit]Theory There is light incident on the flat plane of the convex lens which is situated o n the optically flat glass surface below, the light passes through the glass len s until it comes to the glass-air boundary, here the light goes from a higher re fractive index (n) value to a lower n value. The light passes through this bound ary and suffers no phase change. Also at this boundary, some light is transmitte d into the air and some light is reflected. The light that is transmitted to the air travels a distance t before it is reflected at the flat surface below, the air-glass boundary causes a half-cycle phase shift because the air has a lower r efractive index than the glass. The two reflected rays now travel in the same di rection to be detected. The convex lens touches the flat surface below and from this point, as you get further away, the distance t increases because the lens i s curving away from the surface. For the triangle: R2 = (R - t)2 + x2 R2 = R2 - 2Rt + t2 + x2 2Rt = t2 + x2

t < < x so t2 < < < x2 therefore: and finally, we have: