What is the greatest number of lines per centimeter a diffraction grating can have and produce a complete second-order spectrum for visible light?

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What is the greatest number of lines per centimeter a diffraction grating can have and produce a complete second-order spectrum for visible light?

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Step 1 Formula used

The wavelength of visible light ranges from 400 nm to 700 nm. 

For diffraction:

dsinθ = nλ

where,

n is the order of diffraction,

λ is the wavelength of the incident light,

d is the distance between the two slits,  and

θ is the angle of diffraction.

 

Step 2 Calculatio

The maximum wavelength for visible light is 700 nm. The least separation should diffract at least the maximum wavelength of visible light. So the minimum slit separation that produces a complete second-order spectrum can be calculated as:

d = nλsinθ

Since we want the minimum d, sinθ should be maximum i.e. 1:

d = 2×700 nm1d = 1400 nm

The minimum number of lines per centimeter is inverse of the minimum slip separation:

N = 1d = 11400 nm= 11400×10-9 m= 714285.7 lines per m= 7142.857 lines per cm

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