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PHY Project Investigatory

physics class 12 (Delhi Public School, Damanjodi)

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Investigatory Project
To Study the Phenomenon of Diffraction of Light

Arnav Sheelvant
12th C

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INDEX
1.INTRODUCTION
2.DIFFRACTION
3.DIFFRACTION PATTERNS
4.SINGLE SLIT DIFFRACTION
5.SINGLE SLIT INTERFERENCE
6.DIFFRACTION GRATING
7.BIBLIOGRAPHY

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Introduction

The phenomenon of diffraction was first documented in 1665 by the

Italian Francesco Maria Grimaldi. The use of lasers has only become

common in the last few decades. The laser's ability to produce a narrow

beam of coherent monochromatic radiation in

the visible light range

makes it ideal for use in diffraction experiments:

the diffracted light

forms a clear pattern that is easily measured. As

light, or any wave,

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passes a barrier, the waveform is distorted at the boundary edge. If the

a wave passes through a gap, more obvious distortion can be seen. As the

gap width approaches the wavelength of the wave, the distortion becomes

even more obvious. This process is known as diffraction. If the

diffracted light is projected onto a screen some distance away, then

interference between the light waves create a distinctive pattern (the

diffraction pattern ) on the screen. The nature of the diffraction pattern depends on the
nature of the gap (or mask) which diffracts the

original light viave. Diffraction patterns can be calculated by from a

function representing the mask. The symmetry of the pattern can reveal

useful information on the symmetry of the mask. For a periodic object,

the pattern is equivalent to the reciprocal lattice of the object. In

conventional image formation, a lens focuses the diffracted waves into an

image. Since the individual sections (spots) of the diffraction pattern

each contain information, by forming an image from only particular parts

of the diffraction pattern, the resulting image can be used to enhance

particular features. This is used in bright and dark field imaging.

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DIFFRACTION

WHAT IS DIFFRACTION?

When parallel waves of light are obstructed by a very

small object (i.e. sharp edge, slit, wire, etc.), the waves
spread around the edges of the obstruction and
interfere, resulting in a pattern of dark and light
fringes.

HOW DOES DIFFRACTION APPEAR ?

When light diffracts off of the edge of an object, it creates a pattern

of light referred to as a diffraction pattern. If a monochromatic light

source, such as a laser, is used to observe diffraction, below are some

examples of diffraction patterns that are created by certain objects.

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DIFFRACTION PATTERNS

SINGLE SLIT DIFFRACTION

In our consideration of the Young's double-slit experiments, we have assumed the width
of the slits to be so small that each slit is a point source. In this section we shall take the
width of the slit to be finite and see how Fraunhofer diffraction arises. Let a source of
monochromatic light be incident on a slit of finite width a, as shown in the figure.

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DIFFRACTION GRATING

A di raction grating consists of a large number ‘n’ of slits each of width ‘a’ and separated
from the next by a distance ‘d’

If we
assume
that the
incident
light is
planar and
diffraction
spreads the
light from

each slit
over a wide
angle so
that the
light from
all the slits
will
interfere with each other. The relative path difference between each pair of adjacent slits
is 8 = dsin@, similar to the calculation we made for the double-slit case. If this path
difference is equal to an integral multiple of wavelengths then all the slits will
constructively interfere with each other and a bright spot will appear on the screen at an
angle. Thus, the condition for the principal maxima is given by

dsin0=m2, m=0,tI,+2,+3,

If the wavelength of the light and the location of the m-order maximum are known,the
distance between slits may be readily deduced. The location of the maxima does not
depend on the number of slits, N. However, the maxima becomes sharper and more

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intense as N is increased. The width of the maxima can be shown to be

inversely proportional to N. In Figure 14.8.2, we show the intensity distribution as a

function of B / 2 for diffraction grating with N =10 and N=30 . Notice that the

principal maxima becomes sharper and narrower as N increases.

Figure:- intensity distribution for a di raction grating for (a) N=30 and (b) N=30

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Observation

The observation can be explained as follows: suppose an angle @ (recall that B

= 2 S TI a in / 1) which initially gives a principal maximum is increased slightly,

if there were only two slits, then the two waves will still be nearly in
phase and

produce maxima which are broad. However, in grating with a large

number of

slits, even though @ may only be slightly deviated from the value that
produces

a maximum, it could be exactly out of phase with light wave from

another slit

far away. Since grating produces peaks that are much sharper than the two-

slit system, it gives a more precise measurement of the wavelength.

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Bibliography

1. https://web.mit.edu/
2. https://www.slideshare.net/
3. http://clipart-library.com/
4. S.L Arora Physics Class 12
5.

10

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