12/01/2017 MeasuringspeedoflightscienceexperimentPCbasedoscilloscope

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Measuringthespeedoflight
Introduction
Withmoderninexpensiveapparatusthispreviouslyalmostimpossibleexperimentcannowbecarriedouttoagooddegreeofaccuracyintheschoollaboratory.

TheexperimentdescribedheremeasuresthespeedoflightthroughapolymerfibreopticcableusingthetimingcapabilitiesofafastPCbasedoscilloscope

Equipmentrequired
APCwithPicoScopeinstalled
APicoScopePCbasedoscilloscope(https://www.picotech.com/products/oscilloscope)with50MHzormorebandwidth
Afibreoptictransmitterandreceiverunitwithamethodofhighfrequencysquaremodulationintheregionof250kHzto1MHz.
Suitableleadsandconnectors.
ReadymadefibreopticsapparatusismanufacturedbyLascellsLtdandisavailableasproduct280216from:TechnologySuppliesLtd.PhoenixHouse,TernHill,
MarketDrayton,ShropshireUK.Tel.+441630637300
Thisapparatuscontainsthetransmitterandreceiverwithinternalmodulatortogetherwithmonitoringsocketsfortheoscilloscope.Alsoincludedarea5mand20mfibre
opticcable.

(/images/uploads/experiments/_med/light_wave1.gif)

Backgroundtheory
Asolidstate,squarewaveoscillatorrunningat1MHzwillproduceasignalwitha1speriodandasquarepulselasting0.5s.Ifthissignalisusedtomodulatealight
beamwhichpassesalongafiberopticcablewegetapulseoflightlasting0.5s.Aphototransistorcandetectthepulseattheotherendofthecableandconvertitback
intoapulseofelectricity.Thetwoelectricalpulses(theoriginalandthereceivedone)canthenbedisplayedonanoscilloscopescreen.Sincethelighttakesafinite
amountoftimetoreachthereceiverthesecondsignalwillbedelayedintime(dt)andthereceivedpulsewillbeshiftedalongthetimebaseaxis.Ifwemeasurethisshiftit
willtellushowlongthelightpulsetooktotravelthelengthofthefiberopticcableandhencethespeedofthelightcanbecalculatedifthecablelengthisknown.

Practicalconsiderations
1.Sincelighttravelsatabout300millionmetrespersecondinair,soifourfiberopticcableis30mlongwewouldbelookingforatimedelayof0.1s.A50MHz(or
better)oscilloscopeisrequired.
2.Whenwemonitortheelectricalpulseswearemeasuringthedelaybetweentransmittedandreceivedelectricalsignalsnotthelightpulses.Ifthereisanytime
requiredfortheconversionoflighttoelectricityorviceversathenthiswouldintroduceerrorsintothecalculation.
3.Athighfrequenciessquarewavesbecomeroundedduetostraycapacitancesandnonlinearresponsesoftheconverters.Thepreciseedgeofthepulsesisoften
lost.

(/images/uploads/experiments/_med/light_equip1.jpg)

Experimentsetup
Arrangethefiberopticsystemtotransmitahighfrequencymodulatedlightbeamalongthecablewhichshouldbeabout5morsoinlength.Couplethereceiverunitto
thecable.MonitorthetransmittedpulseatChannelAonthePicoADCandthereceivedpulseatChannelB.

ThephotographshowstheLascellsequipmentconnectedasdescribedandtheresultsgivenlaterweretakenfromthisapparatus.
ThePCoscilloscopesettingsaretypically:

Timebase200ns/div
ChannelAandBinput+5VDC
Triggersingleshot,risingtocaptureapulsewhenGOisselected.Useasensitivityof400mVorsoatvariouspretriggervalues.

Carryingouttheexperiment
https://www.picotech.com/library/experiment/speedoflight 1/2
12/01/2017 MeasuringspeedoflightscienceexperimentPCbasedoscilloscope
SwitchonboththetransmitterandreceiverandselectGOontheoscilloscopescreen.AdjusttheamountofpretriggerandreselectGOuntilatraceisobtainedwhich
showsthesquaretransmittedpulseandthereceived,muchmorerounded,pulseshiftedtotheright.Whenyouarefamiliarwiththepulseshapes,resetthetimebaseto
asshortatimepossibletodisplaythetwoleadingedgesofthepulsesorthetwotrailingedges.Saveandprintoutthescreenimage.

Switchoffbothunitsandreplacethe5mcablewitha20mcable.Switchonagainandrepeattheexperimentmakingtimebaseadjustmentsasrequired.Saveandprint
again.Youshouldfindthatthesecondprintout,withthelongercable,hasalargerdelaybetweenthetwopulses.(PicoScoperulersorautomatedmeasurementscanbe
usedheretohelpwiththetimemeasurement).

Calculationsandtheory
Iftherearetimedelaysinanypartoftheelectronicsthenthesedelaysshouldbethesameforbothexperimentswiththe5mand20mcables.Theonlydifference
betweenthetwoexperimentsisthatthelighthadtotravelafurther15minthesecondcase.Ifwemeasuredtfromeachprintoutthensubtractingonefromtheother
shouldgivetheamountoftimetakentotraveltheextra15m.

Fromtheprintoutsgivenusingleadingedgesweget:
0.55s(0.02)forthe5mdt
0.64s(0.01)forthe20mdt
i.e.0.57and0.65
Thedifferencebetweenthesetwovaluesis0.08swhichisthetimetakenforthelighttotravel15m.

Thespeedofthelightisdistance/timewhichis15/0.08x106whichgives1.9x108ms1

Questionsanddiscussionofresults
Howdoesthisresultcomparewiththespeedoflightinair?
Investigatethedefinitionofthetermrefractiveindexandseewhetheryoucancalculateanapproximatevaluefortheexpectedspeedoflightalongthefiberopticcable.
(Therefractiveindexofthepolymerusedisabout1.6)

Furtherstudy
Howdotheresultscomparewhentrailingedgesareusedinthecalculation?

Nomentionhasbeenmadeoferrorsinthemeasurements.Estimatetheerrorsinallmeasurementsandestablishtheestimatedaccuracyofthefinalresult.
Viewtheresultsandseeteachers'notes(/library/results/speedoflight)

https://www.picotech.com/library/experiment/speedoflight 2/2