Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2019 iii Paper 338 1 a iii Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
In the simple slit-image approximation, the projected slit width is . Equating this width to the separation of barely resolved features, using the grating dispersion, givesThis recovers the stated spectral resolving power under the assumption that the grating has unit anamorphic magnification.
For arbitrary distinct and , the anamorphic magnification of a grating must be included. At fixed wavelength, the grating equation gives , so the slit image instead has width . Thus the general slit-limited resolving power of a grating isThe two expressions agree in the Littrow configuration, . Without that condition or the unit-magnification approximation, the quoted expression is not the general slit-limited result. Finite grating size, detector sampling, and optical aberrations can lower the actual resolution further.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2019 iii Paper 338 1 b ii Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
Let be the central camera direction. The grating equation fixesThe usual adjacent-order free spectral range of an echelle grating is thereforeThe constant has dimensions of length and is the path difference between adjacent grooves for light directed along the camera axis; it is also the fixed product . Near the Littrow configuration, . The detector width corresponding to this interval is approximately , with grating dispersion .
There is a convention issue in reading the question literally. Adjacent order-center separation is exactly the expression above. A partition assigning each wavelength to whichever order lands closest to the vertical axis has boundaries halfway in detector displacement, not at adjacent order centers. In the small-angle detector approximation its boundaries for order are and , giving width . Both conventions give for high orders, but their exact finite- widths differ. The quoted expression is the conventional adjacent-order spacing.
Slit-limited resolving power of a grating 2026-10-05
A slit of width at the focus of a collimator subtends . Its projected width is . Dividing this width by the grating dispersion gives . Thus the spectral resolving power is . Omitting the anamorphic factor gives a denominator instead; these agree in the Littrow configuration.