Page:On the Determination of the Index of Refraction of Glass for the the Electric Ray.djvu/6

298 however, be placed on this expedient, when a very sensitive receiver is used.

After repeated trials with different forms of receiving tubes, I found a form, to be described below, to obviate many of the difficulties. Instead of a continuous receiving tube, I made two doubly inclined shields, and placed them one behind the other, on the radial arm which carries the receiver. The first shield has a tolerably large aperture, the aperture of the second being somewhat smaller. The size of the aperture is determined by the wave-length of radiation used for the experiment. It will be seen from this arrangement, that the rays which are in the direction of the radial arm, can effectively reach the receiver, the slanting rays being successively reflected by the two shields. With this expedient, a great improvement was effected in obtaining a definite reading.

When the deviated rays are convergent, the receiver is simply placed behind the shields, at the focus of the rays. But when the rays are parallel, the use of an objective (placed behind the first shield) gives very satisfactory results. As objectives I used ordinary glass lenses; knowing the index from my experiments, I was able to calculate the focal distance for the electric ray. This is of course very different from the focal distance for the luminous rays. I at first used a lens of 6 cm. electric focal distance, but this did not improve matters sufficiently. I then used one with a longer focus, i.e., 13 cm., and this gave satisfactory results.

The receiver used to be enclosed in a metallic case, 2 cm. in breadth, with an open front for the reception of radiation. The case was used to protect the receiver from stray radiations. But by the new arrangement and improved construction, these disturbances were effectively removed. I therefore discarded the use of the metallic enclosing cell, as it seemed to me that the rays which did not actually fall on the sensitive surface might be reflected from the back of the metallic cell and thrown on to the sensitive layer. The layer of spirals, only 1·5 mm. in breadth, is laid on a groove in ebonite (which is transparent). This linear receiver without any metallic case was placed at the focus of the lens.

I now proceeded to measure the angle of refraction corresponding to a given angle of incidence. In the first series observed, the refraction was from glass to air; the cylindrical surface of the semi-cylinder was turned to the radiator, which was placed at its principal focus. The receiver was mounted on the radial arm with the double shields, and the objective in the manner already described. The reading for refracted rays was taken in the following manner. Having adjusted the semi-cylinder for a given angle of incidence, the receiver was moved round till it responded to the refracted ray. Readings were taken first by placing the receiver at an angle less