Introduction
• Before gettinginto what the Michelson
interferometer actually is, it’s important to atlas get
a brief insight into why it was actually created.
• At the time of it’s inception, light was thought to
travel through a “luminiferous ether” that was all
around us, the same way sound waves must travel
through air.
• The Michelson Interferometer was created to prove
that.
3.
What is aMichelson
Interferometer?
• A Michelson Interferometer is
meant to use mirrors an a
simple beam splitter to shoot
two separate beams of light at
the same screen.
• By modifying the set up you can
easily create beams of light that
were in or out of phase.
• If the light took the same path
and was in phase, no
interference path should be
seen.
4.
Michelson Interferometer
• Itwas the scientists’ intuition,
that due to the movement of
the earth through the
“luminiferous ether”, that the
pattern on the screen should
vary between being in and out
of phase, depending on the
physical position/orientation of
the overall set up.
• This hypothesis though could
not be proven, as interference
patterns did not appear with the
changing of orientation.
5.
• This surprisingresult later led onto the discovery
of the “cosmic speed limit” of light, and to many
great paradigm shifts in the world of modern
physics.
• For more information about this experimental set
up feel free to watch the inspiration and source
for this presentation.
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMaFB3jM2q
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