Date:

Newton’s Rings

3. Newton’s Rings
Background

Coherent light
Phase relationship
Path difference
Interference in thin film
Newton’s ring apparatus

Aim of the experiment

To study the formation of Newton’s rings in the air-film in between a plano-convex lens and a
glass plate using nearly monochromatic light from a sodium-source and hence to determine the radius
of curvature of the plano-convex lens.

Apparatus required
A nearly monochromatic source of light (source of sodium light)
A plano-convex lens
An optically flat glass plates
A convex lens
A traveling microscope

Theory

m
m+1
m+2
m+3
m+4
m+5

Fig. 2. Newton’s rings of order (m + n), wherein

n = 0, 1, 2, …

When a parallel beam of monochromatic light is incident normally on a combination of a plano-

convex lens L and a glass plate G, as shown in Fig.1, a part of each incident ray is reflected from the
lower surface of the lens, and a part, after refraction through the air film between the lens and the plate,
is reflected back from the plate surface. These two reflected rays are coherent, hence they will interfere

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 Newton’s Rings

and produce a system of alternate dark and bright rings with the point of contact between the lens and
the plate as the center. These rings are known as Newton’s ring (Fig. 2).
For normal incidence of monochromatic light, the path difference between the reflected rays
(see Fig.1) is very nearly equal to 2t where  and t are the refractive index and thickness of the air-
film respectively. The fact that the wave is reflected from air to glass surface introduces a phase shift
of . Therefore, for bright fringe

1
2𝜇𝑡 = (𝑛 + 2) 𝜆; n = 0,1,2,3, … (1)
and for dark fringe
2𝜇𝑡 = 𝑛𝜆; n = 0,1,2,3, … (2)

For nth (bright or dark) ring (see Fig. 3), we also have

𝐷𝑛2
+ (𝑅 − 𝑡)2 = 𝑅 2 (3)
4

where, 𝐷𝑛 = the diameter of the nth ring and R = the radius

of curvature of the lower surface of the plano-convex lens.
On neglecting 𝑡 2 , equation (3) reduces to

𝐷𝑛2 = 8𝑡𝑅 (4)

From equations (1) and (4), we get, Fig. 3: Geometry used to determine
the thickness of the air-film.
1 𝜆𝑅
𝐷𝑛2 = 4 (𝑛 + 2) for nth bright ring. (5)
𝜇

Similarly, from equations (2) and (4), we obtain

4𝑛𝜆𝑅
𝐷𝑛2 = for nth dark ring (6)
𝜇

While performing the experiment, the number of rings very close to the center is unknown. To avoid
the difficulty arising from this, we start from a distinctly visible ring whose order m is unknown and
we start counting the rings n = 0, 1, 2, … , from here.
Now, the diameter of the nth dark ring is given by

(𝑛+𝑚)4𝜆𝑅 4𝜆𝑅 4𝜆𝑅𝑚

𝐷𝑛2 = =𝑛 + (7)
𝜇 𝜇 𝜇

Equation (7) is of the form: 𝐷𝑛2 = 𝑎 𝑛 + 𝑏 (8)

A plot of n vs 𝐷𝑛2 would result in a straight line of slope a.

4𝜆𝑅 𝜇𝑎
where, 𝑎=  𝑅= (9)
𝜇 4𝜆

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 Newton’s Rings

Procedure

1. Level the traveling microscope with its axis vertical. Arrange the set-up as shown in Fig.1 and
focus the microscope on the air-film. Newton’s Rings will be clearly seen.

2. Adjust the glass plate G1 for maximum visibility of the point of contact of lens L with the glass
plate G and hence for maximum visibility of Newton’s Rings. In this orientation, G1 is at 45 to
the incident beam of light.

3. Move the microscope to the right of the central dark spot (say order ‘m’, this is because the
central ring is often broad and may not necessarily be of zero order) and set it on the extreme
tenth (n = 10) distinct bright ring so that the cross-wire perpendicular to the direction of
movement of the microscope passes through the bright ring and is tangential to it. Record the
microscope position from the horizontal scale along with its number with bright ring around the
central dark spot as the first bright ring. Move the microscope to left and record the position of
the next bright ring. Repeat it till you reach to the tenth bright ring on the left. From these
measurements, evaluate the diameters of different rings. Repeat these measurements for
microscope movement from left to right and evaluate the diameters of different rings. Determine
the average diameters of different rings.

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 Newton’s Rings
Observations
Least constant of the micrometer screw (LC) = _____________
Table 1
Measurements of the diameter of the ring

Microscope readings (cm) on the

Ring No. Diameter 𝐷𝑛2 𝛿𝐷𝑛2
Left (R1) Right (R2) (calculate using
(n) Dn = R1 - R2 (cm2)
Circular Circular eqn. (12))
Main scale Total Main scale Total (cm)
scale scale
10

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 Newton’s Rings

Calculation and Results

Plot a graph of n vs 𝐷𝑛2 using the method of least squares. Then, from the slope of the plot and by using
equation (9), the radius of curvature (R) can be calculated, given  = 5893  10-8 cm and 𝜇 = 1.

𝜇𝑎
𝑅=
4𝜆

Estimate error in R
The error in the measurement of 𝐷𝑛2 can be estimated as follows:
Let, 𝐷𝑛2 = y (10)

𝛿𝑦 𝛿𝐷𝑛2 𝛿𝐷𝑛
= =2 (11)
𝑦 𝐷𝑛2 𝐷𝑛

Since 𝐷𝑛 is measured by taking the difference between the two readings of a micrometer scale, the
maximum error in measuring each of these quantities is twice the least count i.e., 2 LC.
Hence,
𝛿𝐷𝑛2 𝐿𝐶
= 4𝐷
𝐷𝑛2 𝑛

𝛿𝐷𝑛2 = 4 𝐷𝑛 𝐿𝐶 (12)

Evaluation of 𝛿𝐷𝑛2 for each of the experimental data points can be used to plot the error bars in the
graph of n vs 𝐷𝑛2 .

Next, the error in R can be obtained using equation (9):

𝛿𝑅 𝛿𝑎
= (13)
𝑅 𝑎

Here, 𝛿𝑎 is to be obtained from the expression (eqn. 12) provided in the chapter ‘General Instructions’
under the section ‘Chi-square fitting’. Note that 𝛿𝐷𝑛2 is the square of the standard deviation of the
errors associated with each measurement.

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 Newton’s Rings

Discussion
(i) The Newton’s ring experiment can be also used to find the wavelength of a monochromatic light.
In this case, the radius of curvature of the convex surface of the given lens is supplied or is
determined otherwise. By employing sodium light whose mean wavelength is 5893 Å, R can be
determined from Eqn. (9), as in the present experiment. Then the same equation can be used to
find the wavelength  of any other given monochromatic light.

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 Newton’s Rings

(ii) R is calculated from Eq. (9). An error in the actual ring number n+m does not affect the result.
(iii) Since the first few rings near the center are deformed, they must be avoided while taking readings
for the rings.
(iv) Care must be taken not to disturb the lens and glass plate combination in any way during the
experiment.

Questions
1. In the Newton’s ring experiment, how does interference occur?
2. Where have the fringes formed?
3. Why are the fringes circular?
4. Are all rings equispaced?
5. Why is an extended source used in this experiment?
6. What will happen if a point source or an illuminated slit is used instead of the extended source?
7. In place of lens, if a wedge shaped film formed by two glass plates is supplied to you, will you
be able to observe Newton’s ring? Why?
8. How is the central spot in your experiment, bright or dark? Why?
9. Instead of reflected rays, if you look at transmitted rays, what do you expect to observe?
10. What happens with the central spot when a liquid of refractive index  greater than that of the
lens and less that that of the glass plate is introduced between the lens and the glass plate?
11. Is it possible to determine the refractive index of the liquid by this experiment?
12. What would happen to the ring if the space between lens and the plate is filled with a liquid of
refractive index ?
13. What do you expect to see in the microscope if you use a white light source?
14. What is the difference between biprism fringes and Newton’s ring fringes?
15. On which factors does the diameter of a ring depend?
16. What would happen if a glass plate is replaced by a plane mirror?
17. Why should a lens of large radius of curvature be used in this experiment?
18. Is it desirable to measure the radius of curvature of the given lens by a spherometer in the usual
way?
19. What do you understand by (a) fringes of equal thickness (b) fringes of equal inclination and (c)
fringes of equal chromatic order.
20. How does the sodium source, which you are using in your experiment work?

References
1. Fundamental of Optics by F. Jenkins and H. White 535 JEN/F
2. Optics by A. Ghatak 535 GHA/O
3. Optics by E. Hecht 535 HEC/O

Graph: Newton’s Rings

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