Michelson interferometer with optical base plate

Principle

In a Michelson interferometer, a lightbeam is split into two partial beams by a semi transparent glass plate (amplitude splitting). These beams are reflected by two mirrors and brought to interference after they passed through the glass plate a second time.

Tasks

The wavelength of the used laserlight is determined through the observation of the change in the interference pattern upon changing the length of one of the interferometer arms.

What you can learn about

• Interference
• Wavelength
• Refraction index
• Light velocity
• Phase
• Virtual light source
• Coherence