Physics

Investigatory
Project

Name: Aryaman Barua

Class: 12 B
Roll no:
Subject: Physics
Session:2024-2025
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

It is my foremost duty to express my deep regards

to my Physics teacher Mr. Rajesh Sebastian under
whose guidance and supervision I am able to
undertake this project. It is he who has been my
primary source of inspiration and who motivated,
guided and encouraged me at different stages to
make this project. I am also thankful for the help
rendered by our lab teacher who made available
the various apparatus needed for the
experiments, else it would have been a difficult
task to perform this project successfully. I also
want to thank the lab attendant for their
invaluable help.
 CERTIFICATE
This to certify that ARYAMAN BARUA of
class XII B has successfully completed the
project on ‘Diffraction of Light through a
thin slit’ under the guidance of the subject
teacher Mr. Rajesh Sebastian during the
session 2024-2025 in partial fulfillment of
physics practical examination conducted
by C.B.S.E, New Delhi.

Signature of subject teacher Signature of Examiner

 INDEX
 Introduction
 Types of Diffraction
 Experimental Analysis
 Single Slit Diffraction
 Diffraction by Circular Aperture
 Intensity Curve
 Bibliography
 Introduction
Diffraction refers to various phenomena that occur when a wave encounters
an obstacle or a slit. It is defined as the bending of waves around the corners of
an obstacle or through an aperture into the region of geometrical shadow of
the obstacle/aperture. The diffracting object or aperture effectively becomes a
secondary source of the propagating wave. Italian scientist Francesco Maria
Grimaldi coined the word "diffraction" and was the first to record accurate
observations of the phenomenon in 1660.
In classical physics, the diffraction phenomenon is described by the Huygens-
Fresnel principle that treats each point in a propagating wave-front as a
collection of individual spherical wavelets. The characteristic bending pattern is
most pronounced when a wave from a coherent source (such as a laser)
encounters a slit/aperture that is comparable in size to its wavelength, as
shown in the inserted image. This is due to the addition, or interference, of
different points on the wave-front (or, equivalently, each wavelet) that travel
by paths of different lengths to the registering surface. However, if there are
multiple, closely spaced openings, a complex pattern of varying intensity can
result.
Diffraction and interference are closely related and are nearly - if not exactly -
identical in meaning. Richard Feynman observes that "diffraction" tends to be
used when referring to many wave sources, and "interference" when only a
few are considered.
The effects of diffraction are often seen in everyday life. The most striking
examples of diffraction are those that involve light; for example, the closely
spaced tracks on a CD or DVD act as a diffraction grating to form the familiar
rainbow pattern seen when looking at a disc. This principle can be extended to
engineer a grating with a structure such that it will produce any diffraction
pattern desired; the hologram on a credit card is an example.
 Types of Diffraction
There are two ways in which analysis of diffraction of light is done which are given below:
1. Fresnel Diffraction:
When diffraction of light is analyzed for a light source at finite distance from the diffracting
device and point of observation or screen is also located at finite distance from the device as
show in figure 6.73, then in such conditions mostly the diffraction analysis is done with
some specific methods called as "Fresnel's Diffraction".

2. Fraunhoffer Diffraction:

When diffraction is analyzed for a source at very large distance from the diffracting device
and point of observation or screen is also at very large distance from the device as shown in
figure 6.74, then in such conditions mostly the diffraction analysis is done with some specific
methods called as "Fraunhoffer Diffraction".
EXPERIMENTAL ANALYSIS OF DIFFRACTION
Aim: Experiment to study the phenomena of single slit diffraction.
Requirements: Two razor blades or stapler pins, laser light, Black
Paper
Procedure:
a) Hold the two blades so that the edges are parallel and have a
narrow slit between. This can be done easily with thumb and
forefingers as shown in figure, and cover them with Black Paper.
b) Keep the slit parallel to the beam of laser light which plays the role
of first slit, right in front of the eye.
c) With slight adjustment of width of the slit, a diffraction pattern of
alternate bright and dark band is visible.
Observations: The black bands between the blobs of light show that
a wave is associated with the light. The light waves that go through
the slit spread out, overlap, and add together, producing the
diffraction pattern you see. Where the crest of one wave overlaps
with the crest of another wave, the two waves combine to make a
bigger wave, and you see a bright blob of light. Where the trough of
one wave overlaps with the crest of another wave, the waves cancel
each other out, and you see a dark band.

The angle at which the light bends is proportional to the wavelength

of the light. Red light, for instance, has a longer wavelength than
blue light, so it bends more than blue light does. This different
amount of bending gives the blobs their colored edges: blue on the
inside, red on the outside.

The narrower the slit, the more the light spreads out. In fact, the
angle between two adjacent dark bands in the diffraction pattern is
inversely proportional to the width of the slit.

Thin objects, such as a strand of hair, also diffract light. Light that
passes around the hair spreads out, overlaps, and produces a
diffraction pattern. Cloth and feathers, which are both made up of
many smaller, thinner parts, produce complicated diffraction
patterns.
Result: When light waves are incident on very fine openings (slits)
they bend round the corners and split in the region of expected
geometrical shadow, showing the phenomenon of diffraction.
Precautions
1. The slit should be made as thin as possible.
2. Avoid direct eye exposure to laser light or protect your eyes by
using spectacles while performing the experiment.
 Single Slit Diffraction
When light rays travelling encounter obstacle of comparable size relative
to their wavelength in their path, these light rays bend across the object
and bending causes change in optical path travelled by the light and thus
it generates path difference between coherent light rays and this creates
interference on the screen. In Young's double slit experiment path
difference was generated by different path length of coherent light rays
by two slits. But in single slit, bending of rays cause the interference
pattern.
With the help of Huygens principle, we can understand diffraction:
Light ray travelling towards the slit can be considered as plane wavefront
after passing through the slit new wavelets are generated these wavelets
either interfere constructively at some point on the screen or
destructively at other points, thus bright and dark fringes are generated.

To find dark fringes we shall use follow the following:

Pairing all the rays coming through the slit and then finding what conditions
cause the wavelets of the rays in each pair to cancel each other.
Dividing the slit in two regions each a/2. We can see the wavelets along these
two rays cancel each other when they arrive at P1.
To produce the first dark fringe, they must be out of phase by 1/2 when they
reach at P1.
This phase difference is due to path length difference travelled by wavelets.

Therefore, the above result can be generalized for every dark fringe as:
a sinθ = mλ , for m=1,2,3,. . .(minima—dark fringes)

Diffraction by Circular Aperture

Here we consider diffraction by a circular aperture that is a circular
opening, such as circular lens through which light can pass. Figure on
the next page shows the image formed by light from a laser that was
directed onto a circular aperture with a very small diameter. This
image is not a point as geometrical optics would suggest but a
circular disk surrounded by several progressively fainter secondary
rings.
The analysis of such patterns shows that the first minimum for the
diffraction pattern of a circular aperture of diameter d is located by
sin θ = 1.22 * λ/D (first minimum-circular aperture).
The angle theta is the angle from the central axis to any point on that
circular minimum.
 Intensity of Curve
The equation below tells us intensity at an angle theta(λ) from the
principal line.
𝑠𝑖𝑛𝛼 2
𝐼 (𝜃 ) = 𝐼 m ( )
𝛼
Where α=∅ = 𝜋𝛼𝑠𝑖𝑛 𝜃
( )
2 𝜆

Note that as the slit width increases (relative to the wavelength), the
width of the central diffraction maximum (the central hill like region
of the graphs) decreases; that is the light undergoes less flaring by
the slit. The secondary maxima also decrease in width.
 BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. Class 12 Physics NCERT Part 2
2. Laboratory Manual Physics by APC
Books (Authors: RS Mittal, S Singhal and
Poonam Singh)
3. Fundamental of Physics (Resnick &
Halliday)
4. https://www.exploratorium.edu/snac
ks/diffraction