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Diffraction

Diffraction is the bending of light around obstacles or through openings around the same size as the wavelength of light. When light passes near an opening or slit around the same size as its wavelength, it will diffract and spread out. A simple demonstration is holding two fingers close together in front of a light - as the gap narrows, diffraction patterns of dark and light bands appear. Diffraction also occurs when light bends around particles similar in size to the wavelength. Examples are the silver lining seen around clouds from diffracted sunlight, and intensity patterns that appear from single or double slit diffraction experiments.

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Mayank Kumar
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80 views

Diffraction

Diffraction is the bending of light around obstacles or through openings around the same size as the wavelength of light. When light passes near an opening or slit around the same size as its wavelength, it will diffract and spread out. A simple demonstration is holding two fingers close together in front of a light - as the gap narrows, diffraction patterns of dark and light bands appear. Diffraction also occurs when light bends around particles similar in size to the wavelength. Examples are the silver lining seen around clouds from diffracted sunlight, and intensity patterns that appear from single or double slit diffraction experiments.

Uploaded by

Mayank Kumar
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Optics

Diffraction
• Diffraction of Light:
We classically think of light as always traveling in straight lines, but
when light waves pass near a barrier they tend to bend around that
barrier and become spread out. Diffraction of light occurs when a
light wave passes by a corner or through an opening or slit that is
physically the approximate size of, or even smaller than that light's
wavelength.
A very simple demonstration of diffraction can be
conducted by holding your hand in front of a light
source and slowly closing two fingers while
observing the light transmitted between them. As
the fingers approach each other and come very
close together, you begin to see a series of dark
lines parallel to the fingers. The parallel lines are
actually diffraction patterns. This phenomenon
can also occur when light is "bent" around
particles that are on the same order of
magnitude as the wavelength of the light.
A good example of this is the diffraction of sunlight by
clouds that we often refer to as a silver lining
Single slit Fraunhofer diffraction
Diffraction pattern
Intensity pattern- single slit
Intensity calculation
The intensity can be calculated using vector polygon method

OL
sin α =
r
OL = r sin α

Chord OM = 2 OL = 2r sin α
Length of the arc OM = K a , where a is width of the slit
Arc OM
2α =
r
Ka
2r =
α
Ka
Chord OM = sin α
α
OM = A, where A is the amplitude of the resultant vibration

sin α
A = Ka
α
sin 2
α sin 2 α
I = A2 = A0
2
= I0
α 2
α2
Double Slit Diffraction
Diffraction patterns: (a) Single slit (b) Two narrow slit
(c) Two wide slits (d) one wide alit
Double slit diffraction pattern

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