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Diffraction Grating

The document describes a diffraction grating, which consists of a series of parallel, equidistant slits. It works by exploiting the principle of constructive interference of light waves passing through the slits. When the path difference between waves is equal to integer multiples of the wavelength, bright bands of light called maxima are produced. Diffraction gratings are used in spectrometers and lasers to separate or tune different wavelengths of light.

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709 views9 pages

Diffraction Grating

The document describes a diffraction grating, which consists of a series of parallel, equidistant slits. It works by exploiting the principle of constructive interference of light waves passing through the slits. When the path difference between waves is equal to integer multiples of the wavelength, bright bands of light called maxima are produced. Diffraction gratings are used in spectrometers and lasers to separate or tune different wavelengths of light.

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Mousumi
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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DIFFRACTION GRATING

PRESENTED BY :
1) ANURAAG SHARMA (125/19)
2) BHASKAR JYOTI HAZARIKA (129/19)
3) MRIDU PAWAN BORA (156/19)
CONTENTS
1) Introduction
2) Construction
3) Working Principle
4) Applications
5) References
INTRODUCTION
• Diffraction grating is an optical component which is
equivalent in action to a number of parallel equidistant
small rectangular slit of equal width placed side by side.
• When the conditions for constructive interference for a
given wave length are satisfied that colour is enhanced and
observed.
• The condition for constructive
interference is (a+b) sinθ=nλ, where (a+ b) is
the grating element, n is the number of grating, λ is the
wavelength of light and θ is the angle of maxima.
• It is a very good and accurate device for study of spectra.
• In diffraction grating slit are arranged in a plane so it is
also called plane diffraction grating.
CONSTRUCTION
• A diffraction grating consists of a closely spaced
aperture of width ‘a’ separated by opaque interval of
width ‘b’.
•  AB, CD, EF …. are apertures and BC, DE, FG are
opaque parts. 
• Consider point A and C on grating. These are called
corresponding points. The distance between any
such pair of points equals to (a+ b) and is called
grating element or grating constant. 
• Grating element is equal to the reciprocal
of Number of lines per cm on grating.
Let a train of plane waves be incident normally on grating. Let us consider light rays passing through
the grating straight will be conveyed at ‘P’. The wavelets through the various slits reach the point ‘P’
after covering equal distance. ‘P’ is called as zero order principle maxima.
Let us consider the light leaving the various slits at an angle θ with that of incident beam. From point A
draw the normal. There is the path difference between the rays starting from various slits.
Suppose θ is such that CL = λ , EM = 2λ, GN = 3λ and so on.
The waves from all these elements are in phase at grating and are also in phase along the line AR and
reach Q in phase.
Therefore, they reinforce each other and produce first order principle maxima at Q.
If θ such that CL = 2λ then again waves will be in phase and produce second order maxima.
In ∆ACL sin⁡θ= λ / (a+b)
(a+b) sin θ = λ
In general (a+b) sin θ =n λ. Each slit in the grating produces its own diffraction pattern. Since the slits
are very large in number only few maxima are seen.
WORKING
PRINCIPLE
 A parallel beam of light is incident
on the grating, by following
Huygen’s Principle each of the
transparent slits of the grating
become a light source and spread out
from each other.
  These sources interfere with each
other, when constructive interference
occurs light is made brighter at that
point.
APPLICATIONS
• The diffraction grating is an immensely useful tool
for the separation of the spectral lines associated with
atomic transitions. It acts as a "super prism",
separating the different colors of light much more
than the dispersion effect in a prism.
• The diffraction grating of a spectrometer partially
determines the optical resolution that can be
achieved by the spectrometer and also determines
the wavelength range.
• Diffraction gratings are often used in lasers for wavelength tuning. That
is, calibrating the laser to emit a specific wavelength of electromagnetic
radiation.
• Application of diffraction gratings for spectrometry tools is very useful
when tunable monochromatic light is needed.
REFERENCES
a) http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/phyopt/grating.html#c1
b) https://www.azooptics.com/Article.aspx?ArticleID=542#:~:text=of%2
0diffraction%20gratings.-,Working%20Principle,made%20brighter%
20at%20that%20point
.
c) https://www.newport.com/n/diffraction-grating-physics
d) https://andor.oxinst.com/learning/view/article/diffraction-gratings

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