Chapter U5, Problem 17RE

Interpretation Introduction

Interpretation:

The main components of a spectrometer need to be described.

Concept introduction:

A spectrometer is used to measure the light waves of the electromagnetic spectrum. The light is first split into its spectral components and signal is digitize as a function of wavelength. In the last step, analysis of light wave is done by running the data through software.

Explanation of Solution

The main components of the spectrometer are:

• Source
• Filters
• Slit
• Concave mirror
• Diffraction grating
• Detector

The components can be described by explaining the process as follows:

The light wave first enters the spectrometer from the source through a lens which is connected to an integrating sphere. After this light passes through an entrance slit which is narrow and reaches the internal chamber of the instrument.

The role of slit is to control the amount of light that enters the instrument. The light which is diverged is collimated by concave mirror and focused on a grating. This results in the dispersion of spectral components of light at different angles. The splitting of light takes place according to the wavelength. The light is then focused by another concave mirror and finally reaches to the detector. The detector used to pick the resultant wavelength of light that is obtained after splitting.