Figure 41.29 represents the light bouncing between two mirrors in a laser cavity as two traveling waves. These traveling waves moving in opposite directions constitute a standing wave. If the reflecting surfaces are metallic films, the electric field has nodes at both ends. The electromagnetic standing wave is analogous to the standing string wave represented in Figure 17.14. (a) Assume that a helium–neon laser has precisely flat and parallel mirrors 35.124 103 cm apart. Assume that the active medium can efficiently amplify only light with wavelengths between 632.808 40 nm and 632.809 80 nm. Find the number of components that constitute the laser light, and the wavelength of each component, precise to eight digits. (b) Find the root-mean-square speed for a neon atom at 120°C. (c) Show that at this temperature the Doppler effect for light emission by moving neon atoms should realistically make the bandwidth of the light amplifier larger than the 0.001 40 nm assumed in part (a).
36. Figure 41.29 represents the light bouncing between two mirrors in a laser cavity as two traveling waves. These traveling waves moving in opposite directions constitute a standing wave. If the reflecting surfaces are metallic films, the electric field has nodes at both ends. The
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