Difference between revisions of "MainPage:Nuclear:Summer2012:RefractiveIndex"
| Line 13: | Line 13: | ||
[[File:aerogel-setup.jpg]] | [[File:aerogel-setup.jpg]] | ||
| + | |||
A picture of the index of refraction measurements. You can see the displacement of the laser by the aerogel. | A picture of the index of refraction measurements. You can see the displacement of the laser by the aerogel. | ||
Revision as of 15:43, 10 July 2012
| ⇐ Back to Summer 2012 page |
| ⇐ Back to the Main_Page |
About Our Work
The index of refraction is a property of a material which dictates how quickly light travels through that material. As light passes through a material with one index of refraction to a material with a different index of refraction, the light changes speed and "bends" as it changes mediums. When light travels from a material with a low index of refraction to one with a high index of refraction, the light is bent toward the normal, and vice verse. We are working to measure the index of refraction of aerogel to a very high degree of precision. This value is significant because the aerogel will be used as a particle identification system in the Kaon Aerogel Detector at JLab to distinguish between Kaons and Protons according to their momentum.
Measurement Set-up
We use a set-up with graph paper, a laser, aerogel, and measuring tools. The index of refraction can be measured using only the incident angle, the distance between the aerogel and a screen, and the amount the light is shifted on the screen after the aerogel is placed in front of the laser.
A picture of the index of refraction measurements. You can see the displacement of the laser by the aerogel.
Finding Error
We are finding lots of it...