Month: August 2015

Unit 1
Interference of light
Michelson’s Interferometer: Production of circular & straight line fringes, Determination ofwavelength of light,Determination of wavelength separation of two nearby wavelengths.Newton’s rings and measurement of wavelength of light.Optical technology: Elementary idea of anti-reflection coating and interference filters.
Unit 2
Polarization of light
Plane circular and elliptically polarized light on the basis of electric (light) vector, Malus law. Double Refraction: Qualitative description of double refraction phase retardation plates, quarter and half wave plates, construction, working and use of these in production and detection of circularly and elliptically polarized light.
Optical Activity: Optical activity and laws of optical rotation, Specific rotation and its measurement using half -shade and bi- quartz devices.
Unit 3
Diffraction of light
Single slit diffraction: Quantitative description of single slit, position of maxima / minima and width of central maximum, intensity variation. Diffraction Grating: Construction and theory, Formation of spectrum by plane transmission grating, Determination of wavelength of light using plane transmission grating.
Resolving power: Geometrical & Spectral, Raleigh criterion, Resolving power of
diffraction grating and telescope.
Unit 4
Elements of Material Science
Bonding in Solids: Covalent bonding and Metallic bonding. Classification of Solids as Insulators, Semiconductors and Conductors.
Semiconductors: Conductivity in Semiconductors, Determination of Energy gap of Semiconductor. X-Ray diffractionand Bragg’s Law. Hall Effect: Theory, Hall Coefficient and applications.
Unit 5
Special Theory of Relativity
Postulates of special theory of relativity, Lorentz transformations, relativity of length, mass and time.
Relativistic velocity addition and mass – energy relation , Relativistic Energy and momentum.