MIND MAP - DIFFRACTION

PART 2
1. Fraunhofer Diffraction
-rectangular & circular apertures
-resolution, resolving power
2. Diffraction Grating
-Grating Equation
-Free Spectral Range of a Grating
-Dispersion of Grating
-Resolution of Grating
-Types of Gratings

Rectangular & circular apertures

Rectangular apertures
-Diffraction from a slit having a width b much smaller than its length a.
-When both dimensions of the slits are comparable and small, each produces
appreciable spreading.
-For the aperture dimension a,
sin∝
I= I o ( )
∝
k
α=( ¿ asin θ
2
m λƒ n λƒ
y m= or x n= *both m and n represents nonzero integral values
b a
I= I o(sinc 2β)(sinc 2α)
Circular apertures
-The diffraction pattern of a circular aperture consists of a central bright disk (central
maximum) surrounded by progressively fainter bright and dark rings (concentric
maxima and minima).
-The limiting angle of resolution of the circular aperture (the first minimum
angies, θ ).
 λ
Sin θmin =1.22 condition for the first-order dark fringe is obtained
d
-When light from a point source passes through a small circular aperture, it does not
produce a bright dot as an image, but rather a diffuse circular disc known as Airy's
disc surrounded by much fainter concentric circular rings.
-According to Huygen’s principle we must add up the radiation or wavelets
originating from all points inside the open circle in order to get the resultant
amplitude. -The diffraction pattern consists of a number of concentric fringes with a
maximum intensity in the center.
-Fraunhofer diffraction from a circular aperture
+1
π J1( γ )
The integral ∫ e
iγ v
√ 1− v 2 dv= γ
−1

where J 1 (γ ) is the first order Bessell function of the first kind.

-These Bessell functions can be represented as polynomials:
∞ k 2 k+ p
(−1) (γ /2)
J 1 (γ )=∑
k=0 k !(k + p)!
-and in particular (for p = 1),
2 J 1 (γ ) ( γ /2)² ( γ / 2)4 ( γ / 2)6
=1- + - +…
γ 2! 2 ! 3 ! 3! 4 !
( γ /2)3 (γ /2)5
J 1 (γ ) = γ /2 - 2 + 2 2 -…
1 .2 1 .2 .3
-Irradiance for a circular aperture of diameter D:
2
2J (γ)
I= I o ( 1 )
γ
-where γ=½ kDsinθ∧I o is the intensity when γ =0 or at θ =0
- J 1(x)/x tends to ½ as x tends to zero, so the irradiance tends to I o as γ tends to zero.
-The irradiance first fall to zero when
Dsinθ =1.22 γ
-Now the zeros of J 1 ( γ ) occur at,
γ = 0, 3.832, 7.016, 10.173, …
γ = 0, 1.22 π , 2.23 π , 3.24 π , …
γ =½ kDsinθ =(2 π /λ)½ Dsinθ
-Thus zero at
Sinθ = 1.22 λ /D, 2.23 λ /D, 3.24 λ /D, …
Resolution, resolving power
Resolution
-The ability of optical systems to distinguish between closely spaced objects is limited
because of the wave nature of light.
-If two sources are far enough apart to keep their central maxima from overlapping,
their images can be distinguished. -the image are said to be resolved
-If the two sources are close together, the two central maxima overlap and the images
are not resolved
-When the central maximum of one image falls on the first minimum of another
image, the images are said to be just resolved
-This limiting condition of resolution is called Rayleigh’s criterion
-Occurs when sin θmin ~ θmin = λ/a
Resolving power
-Consider a situation in which two distant point sources of light, such as two stars,
illuminate a small hole. Each beam of light produces its own diffraction pattern on the
screen. When the two stars have a relatively large angular separation and the hole is
reasonably wide, the two diffraction patterns are well separated. We can easily
identify two patterns as being distinct.
-However, if the angular separation of the two stars is sufficiently small, their
diffraction pattern overlap, and identifying the two patterns as being distinct becomes
a matter of judgment.
-Resolving power is the angular separation of the two objects. A condition for
identifying diffraction patterns as being distinct was given by the Rayleigh criterion.
-Rayleigh criterion is that the center of one diffraction pattern must come no closer
than the first dark fringe of the other pattern
-Two point objects are resolved if their angular separation is at least the radius of the
first dark ring in their diffraction patterns.
-Resolvability
-When the angular separation for two objects is such that the central maximum
of one diffraction pattern coincides with the first minimum of the other we
have a condition called the Rayleigh’s criterion for resolvability.
-Rayleigh’s criterion – the angular separation of the centers of the image
patterns be no less than the angular radius of the Airy dics.
 -In this condition, the maximum of one pattern falls directly over the first
minimum of the other.
1.22 λ
-Limit of resolution: θmin =
D
-points may be reduced (the resolution improved) by increasing the lens
diameter and decreasing the wavelength.

Diffraction grating
-The diffracting grating consists of many equally spaced parallel slits
-A diffraction grating is a precise array of tiny engraved lines, each of which allows
light through.
-A typical grating contains several thousand lines per centimeter
-The spectrum produced is a mixture of many different wavelengths of light.
-A diffraction grating is a regular array of optical scattering points – spherical wave
emerges from each scattering point.
-When you look at a diffracted light you see:
-the light straight ahead as if the grating were transparent.
-a "central bright spot".
-the interference of all other light waves from many different grooves
produces a scattered pattern called a spectrum
-constructively or destructivel interfere at different angles depending on
wavelength
-A diffraction grating is a series of slits used to separate an incident wave into its
component wavelengths by separating and displaying their diffraction maxima
Grating Equation
-Diffraction grating is a periodic, multiple slit device designed to take advantage of
the sensitivity of its diffraction pattern to the wavelength of the incident light
-net path difference for waves from successive slits Δ = Δ 1 + Δ 2 = a sin θi + a sin θm or
Δ = Δ 1 - Δ 2 = a sin θi - a sin θm
-The two sine term in the path difference may add or subtract depending on the
direction qm of the diffracted light
-When the incident and diffracted rays are on the same side of the grating
normal, qm is considered positive.
-When the diffracted rays are on the side of the grating normal opposite to that of the
incident rays, θm is considered negative.
Free Spectral Range of a Grating
-For diffraction grating, the nonoverlapping wavelength range in a particular order is
called the free spectral range, λ fsr .
-If λ 1 is the shortest detectable wavelength in the incident light, the longest
noneverlapping wavelength, λ 2 in order m is coincident with the beginning of the
spectrum again in the next higher order m+1, m λ 2 = (m + 1) λ 1
-The free spectral range for order m is given by: λ fsr = λ 2 - λ 1 = λ 1/m
-The free spectral range is the maximum wavelength separation, Δ λ max, that can be
unambiguously resolved in a given order.
-Non-overlapping spectral region is smaller for higher order.
Dispersion of Grating
-Higher diffraction orders grow less intense as they fall more and more under the
constraining diffraction envelope
-In order to distinguish different wavelengths that are close to each other, a diffraction
grating must spread out the lines associated with each wavelength.
-Angular dispersion, ℘ is the term used to quantify this and is defined as the angular
separation per unit range of wavelength
d θm
℘=
dλ
-The larger ℘ the larger the angular separation between lines of different λ
Resolution of Grating
-Increased dispersion or spread of wavelengths does not by itself make neighboring
wavelengths appear more distinctly, unless the peaks are themselves sharp enough.
-To make lines that whose wavelengths are close together (to resolve them) the line
should be as narrow as possible.
-The resolving power is defined in general by
λ
ℜ=
( Δλ )min
-(Δλ )min is the minimum wavelength interval of two spectral components thatare just
resolvable by Rayleigh’s criterion (the difference between two spectral)
-Λ is the average of the two wavelengths studied
-Large ℜ allows two close emission lines to be resolved
-The resolving power, ℜ =mN
-To get a high resolving power we should use as many rulings
-The best values for the grating resolving power, ℜ are in the range of 105 to 106 .
-The resolving power like the dispersion is independent of groove spacing for a given
diffraction angle.
-N = W/a
Wsinθ m
ℜ=
λ
Types of Gratings
-A grating may be designed to operate as a transmission grating or reflection grating.
-A transmission grating can be made by cutting parallel grooves on a glass plate.
-The spaces between the grooves are transparent to the light and so act as
separate slits
-Transmission amplitude grating: Light is periodically transmitted by the clear
sections of a glass blank, into which grooves serving as scattering centers have
been ruled.
-Transmission phase grating: Light is transmitted by the entire ruled area but
periodically retarded in phase due to the varying optical thickness of the
grooves.
-A reflection grating can be made by cutting parallel grooves on the surface of a
reflective material
-The spaces between the grooves act as parallel sources of reflected light, like
the slits in a transmission grating
-The grooves faces are made highly reflecting, and the periodic reflection of
the incident light behaves like the periodic transmission of waves from a
transmission grating
-Blazed grating
-Controlling the irradiance distribution of diffracted orders using a Blazed
grating.
-Most commercial gratings for spectroscopy are constructed with a Blaze
angle g to control the efficiency of diffraction for a particular λ and order m.
-Most of the incident light undergoes specular reflection, similar to a plane
mirror, and this occurs when θi = θm and m = 0 for the zeroth order beam. The
problem is that most of the irradiance is wasted for the purpose of
spectroscopy. It is possible to shift the reflected energy distribution into a
higher order (m = 1) in which θm depends on λ. It is possible to change the
distribution of the specular reflection by changing the blaze angle γ so that the
first order diffraction is optimized for a particular range of wavelengths.