Spring 2014

This system is a way to analyze the particle-wave duality of light. The system has a laser light source and then a single and double slit system to recreate Young's double slit experiment, it also has a light bulb source and at the other end is a photo-diode and a photo-multiplier tube. The photo-diode takes light as an input and then converts that to a current, the photo-multiplier tube takes light as an input and then utilizes the photoelectric effect of light to have an electron produced which excites other electrons in various dynodes and then are used to create a pulse which are then counted as a photon. Using the Young's double slit set up will reassure the wave aspect of light by having a diffraction pattern that is present down the U-channel of the apparatus, another way to verify this is with the photo-diode that is present within the apparatus and then move the slit detector and record the values of the light intensity with that of a voltmeter, the values will propagate like a sinusoidal function. Once that has been completed, it is time to move on to the light bulb as the light source. From here the system will be the same as that of Young's double slit experiment, but instead of a laser it will be a fairly dim light bulb and instead of a photo-diode it will be a photo-multiplier tube. This will then allow for the system to count the incoming photons that the light will emit. This will help to explain the particle aspect of light, with this it is possible to use the slit detector to find the various count rates which then propagate like that of the values of the voltmeter. This then shows that light has two aspects that explain its characteristics. With this it can help with the understanding of quantum mechanics, which deals with incidents that occur at the nanoscopic scales. This may seem contradictory to have both but without one another the phenomena of light cannot be fully explained. This system makes one realize the important of light characteristics by forcing oneself to look deeply into some of the methods in which light acts and to analyze what is happening.