(a) How far away can a human eye distinguish two car headlights 2.0 m apart? Consider only diffraction effects and assume an eye pupil diameter of 6.0 mm and a wavelength of 560 nm. (b) What is the minimum angular separation an eye could resolve when viewing two stars, considering only diffraction effects? In reality, it is about of arc. Why is it not equal to your answer in (b)?

A beam of 125-eV electrons is scattered from a crystal, as in X-ray diffraction, and a first-order peak is observed at θ = 43°. What is the spacing between planes in the diffracting crystal? (See Section 35–11.)

What is the highest spectral order that can be seen if a grating with 6800 slits per cm is illuminated with 633-nm laser light? Assume normal incidence.

A laser beam of wavelength λ = 632.8 nm shines at normal incidence on the reflective side of a compact disc. (a) The tracks of tiny pits in which information is coded onto the CD are 1.60 μm apart. For what angles of reflection (measured from the normal) will the intensity of light be maximum? (b) On a DVD, the tracks are only 0.740 μm apart. Repeat the calculation of part (a) for the DVD.

Two rectangular pieces of plane glass are laid one upon the other on a table. A thin strip of paper is placed between them at one edge so that a very thin wedge of air is formed. The plates are illuminated at normal incidence by 546-nm light from a mercury-vapor lamp. Interference fringes are formed, with 15.0 fringes per centimeter. Find the angle of the wedge.

When viewing a piece of art that is behind glass, one often is affected by the light that is reflected off the front of the glass (called glare), which can make it difficult to see the art clearly. One solution is to coat the outer surface of the glass with a film to cancel part of the glare. If the glass has a refractive index of 1.62 and you use TiO₂, which has an index of refraction of 2.62, as the coating, what is the minimum film thickness that will cancel light of wavelength 505 nm?

What is the thinnest film of a coating with n = 1.42 on glass (n = 1.52) for which destructive interference of the red component (650 nm) of an incident white light beam in air can take place by reflection?

A uniform film of TiO₂, 1036 nm thick and having index of refraction 2.62, is spread uniformly over the surface of crown glass of refractive index 1.52. Light of wavelength 520.0 nm falls at normal incidence onto the film from air. You want to increase the thickness of this film so that the reflected light cancels. What is the minimum thickness of TiO₂ that you must add so the reflected light cancels as desired?