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Introduction: The purpose of this lab is to observe the optical concepts known as diffraction and interference. Theory: Light is a wave and thus has a wavelength. White light consists of a continuous spectrum of all visible colors (ROYGBIV), each with a distinct wavelength. Lasers have one specific wavelength; the laser used in this lab has He-Ne gases, which produce a wavelength of approximately 634 nm. In this experiment, we will look at different slit combinations …

…will use several slits for which both d (distance between slits) and a (width of slit) are known. Then we will sketch out the diffraction pattern we observe on a piece of blank paper. Next, we will measure the distance out from the central max for a specific secondary max (n = 1, 2, 3, 4…). After obtaining all of our measurements we will use the equations for interference and diffraction to calculate the wavelength of the light. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ **Bibliography**