Talk:Michelson interferometer
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[edit] Other Experiments?
For what other purposes of interferometry did Michelson use this particular interferometer? It says they exist but doesn't elaborate, and I can't find details elsewhere. --aciel 18:55, 3 February 2006 (UTC)
It can be used to measure the refractive index of air if one of the lite beams is made to pass through a vacuum whilst the other travels through normal air. It can be used to measure minute expansions or contractions in a material exposed to thermal/magnetic/pressure... changes if the material being tested is attached to one of the mirrors placed after the beam is split.
[edit] Michelson-Morley experiment to disprove aether?
It says
..."Michelson-Morley experiment in which this interferometer was used to prove the non-existence of the luminiferous aether."
but wasn't the M-M exp. meant to proove the opposite (it just didn't work out as planned)? Was it failure seen as sufficient to prove that the aether does not exist? I would doubt that (unfortunately without having further knowledge or reference handy).
-- I agree with this entry, unfortunately i don't have references handy either but i suggest to make some research and correct that part, i'll do it if i have time...
This entry is correct. Amusingly enough, I'm performing this experiment in my Modern Physics Lab even as I type this. The failure of the experiment to work was the death knell for the aether - they didn't expect it to fail, but its failure killed it all the same. Hewhorulestheworld 18:46, 29 August 2006 (UTC)
-- For all intents and purposes, a scientific model or theory requires some form of practical or experimental footing to be accepted as science. The M-M experiment was suppose to provide this experimental backbone to the theory and i believe even predicted to do so by the model (Can someone verify that i am correct in making this last statement). By all intents and purposes, the downfall of the eathirial model of light was dew to a combination of the lack of experimental evidence to support it and the success of the quantum model of light at better accounting for such observational phenomena as wave-particle duality (sorry about not providing any sources, but this is a five minute coffee brake contribution, ill come back and improve this contribution at some point).
[edit] Compensator plate
Doesn't one of the "arms" of the Michelson Interferometer contain a compensator plate to make sure both beams travel through the same amount of glass, removing the dependence of the path length on wavelength? Or is the diagram shown in the article a more general case? --Zapateria 15:21, 2 June 2006 (UTC)
It depends on whether the semi-silvered block is silvered on the front or back. Its easier to stick it on the back, but that means the beam reflected initially has to go through the block twice to be reflected, so the compensator is stuck in the path of the transmitted beam so it has to pass through the body of an equal block an extra two times as well. The current picture is the general case. MilleauRekiir 22:34, 18 October 2006 (UTC)
