Try it on paper first. A hint, the key idea and the worked solution are here when you need them.
A thin crown glass prism has an angle of . For this glass and . It is joined to a thin flint glass prism, with the two edges on opposite sides, so their deviations oppose each other. For the flint glass and . These are typical values given for this problem. Find the angle of the flint prism that makes blue and red leave in the same direction, and the deviation of the yellow ray that remains. Then find the angle of the flint prism that makes the yellow ray go straight, and the spread of blue and red that remains.
In a prism and . At minimum deviation , and . Light leaves only if , and then . A thin prism has .
Have you tried it?
Work it out on paper first. It is fine to get stuck or make a mistake: that is how we learn. When you are ready, go through the solution one step at a time, and check each step against your own.
Given. , crown: and , flint: and .
Plan. The prisms oppose each other, so we subtract their effects.
Step 1. No colour spread. The spreads must be equal: . We want , so .
Step 2. The deviation left. . The beam is turned by and shows no colours.
Step 3. No deviation. The yellow deviations must be equal: , so .
Step 4. The spread left. . The size is , and the flint prism now spreads the colours the other way.
Answer: , , and .
Check. No pair of thin prisms can cancel both the colours and the deviation, since the ratio of the spreads, , differs from the ratio of the mean bends, .
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