Some monochromators also work with a diffraction grating which reflects light while spreading out colors rather than a prism which refracts light while spreading out colors.
mishywangiepie
I was curious if the method used to separate wavelengths of light in a monochromator was similar to the way that polarizing tint operates on glass, by only allowing a certain direction of light to pass. By using multiple reflective surfaces, the monochromator widens the gap between each wavelength and then physically moves the slit to select the output wavelength
chenwnicole
I'm curious to know what the second slit would produce if we were to put it through another prism. I know he mentioned it won't produce another rainbow, but what would it be?
arjunsrinivasan1997
I am confused as to how changing the angle of the prism would change the resulting wavelength, as won't the light always be split regardless of the angle of the prism?
gprechter
@chenwnicole from what I understand, the reason it won't produce another rainbow is because there is no way for the light of only that wavelength to be split up into the wavelengths that make up a rainbow once again. For instance, the white light gets dispersed into the rainbow wavelengths, but then if we were to just take one of those colors after it's been dispersed from the white light, it will just become a more dispersed version of its own color when passed through another prism.
Michael-hsiu
I wonder if there's a way to modify a monochromator to isolate a wavelength, increase its energy and hence its frequency, and then emit a single wavelength of that elevated frequency.
Some monochromators also work with a diffraction grating which reflects light while spreading out colors rather than a prism which refracts light while spreading out colors.
I was curious if the method used to separate wavelengths of light in a monochromator was similar to the way that polarizing tint operates on glass, by only allowing a certain direction of light to pass. By using multiple reflective surfaces, the monochromator widens the gap between each wavelength and then physically moves the slit to select the output wavelength
I'm curious to know what the second slit would produce if we were to put it through another prism. I know he mentioned it won't produce another rainbow, but what would it be?
I am confused as to how changing the angle of the prism would change the resulting wavelength, as won't the light always be split regardless of the angle of the prism?
@chenwnicole from what I understand, the reason it won't produce another rainbow is because there is no way for the light of only that wavelength to be split up into the wavelengths that make up a rainbow once again. For instance, the white light gets dispersed into the rainbow wavelengths, but then if we were to just take one of those colors after it's been dispersed from the white light, it will just become a more dispersed version of its own color when passed through another prism.
I wonder if there's a way to modify a monochromator to isolate a wavelength, increase its energy and hence its frequency, and then emit a single wavelength of that elevated frequency.