Exploring Light through Diffraction

You may have reached this page because you recieved your own diffraction grating that looks like this:

 

Or, you may have a different diffraction grating. Either way, a diffraction grating is a thin film of clear material with many tiny parallel grooves that refract light into its component wavelengths. Different diffraction gratings may have different numbers of grooves, but they work the same way. Check out this link to learn more about how diffraction gratings work.

The MSU diffraction gratings are surface relief gratings and are 1,000 lines per inch.

What can you do with your diffraction grating?

Split white light into it's component colors!

  • Hold your diffraction grating up to your eye and view a light source (such as an overhead light). Do you see a rainbow? The diffraction grating separates the light into its different colored wavelenths. This is called a spectrum. More than one spectrum are called spectra.

Compare the spectra produced by different types of light sources

  • Does the spectra look same when you look at a flourescent light or an LED light?
  • Exploring Light through Diffraction Activity

Polarizers

You may have recieved a polarizer that looks like this:

 

Or, you may have a different polarizer (or even sunglasses with polarized lenses). Either way, a polarizer is a thin film of material that only allows some light to pass through.