You stretch a strand of your hair across a laser beam and observe the diffraction pattern this produces on a sheet of paper 1.15 m from your hair strand. You mark the center of the dark regions on either side of the central bright spot and measure the distance between these marks to be 21.4 mm. You are given that the wavelength of the laser light is 633 nm. What is the diameter of your hair strand (in mm)?  Make use of the small angle approximation.  (Hint: recall Babinet's principle which equates the spot pattern created by light going around the hair to the pattern when light goes through a slit.)

Modern Physics
3rd Edition
ISBN:9781111794378
Author:Raymond A. Serway, Clement J. Moses, Curt A. Moyer
Publisher:Raymond A. Serway, Clement J. Moses, Curt A. Moyer
Chapter5: Matter Waves
Section: Chapter Questions
Problem 14P
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You stretch a strand of your hair across a laser beam and observe the diffraction pattern this produces on a sheet of paper 1.15 m from your hair strand. You mark the center of the dark regions on either side of the central bright spot and measure the distance between these marks to be 21.4 mm. You are given that the wavelength of the laser light is 633 nm. What is the diameter of your hair strand (in mm)?  Make use of the small angle approximation.  (Hint: recall Babinet's principle which equates the spot pattern created by light going around the hair to the pattern when light goes through a slit.)

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