EVERGREEN VIDHYAASHRAM

SCHOOLS
CBSE Affiliation No:1931163

(2024-2025)

PHYSICS PROJECT REPORT ON

PHENOMENON OF DIFFRACTION OF LIGHT

SUBMITTED BY

N KALAISELVAN

CLASS-XII

UNDER THE GUIDANCE OF

MS.VISHNUPRIYA
VIDHYAASHRAM

CONTENT

1. INTRODUCTION

2. DIFFRACTION

3. DIFFRACTION PATTERNS

4. SINGLE SLIT DIFFRACTION

5. SINGLE SLIT INTERFERANCE

6. DIFFRACTION GRATING

7. BIBIOLIOGRAPHY
 CERTIFICATE

This project entitled “Phenomenon of diffraction of light”, is the investigatory

project work in PHYSICS (042), successfully completed by Master.
N.KALAISELVAN class - XII, EVERGREEN VIDHYAASHRAM

SCHOOL, MADURAI with Register Number _____ under the guidance of

_VISHUPRIYA______ (PHYSICS TEACHER) for the partial fulfillment of

requirements for the course completion in pursuance of CBSE HIGHER

SECONDARY EXAM during the academic year 2024-25.

INTERNAL EXAMINER PRINCIPAL SIGN EXTERNAL EXAMINER

 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would like to praise the almighty for rendering a good help and strength in successfully

completing this investigatory project.

I also wish to thank my parents for supporting me in all means for the completion of this
project.

I wish to dedicate my sincere thanks to my school and my principal who has supported me

with all the facilities for the successful completion of this project.

I dedicate my heartfelt thanks and gratitude to my physics teacher for her complete

guidance and support in completing my project.

I would also like to extend my gratitude towards all teaching and non-teaching staff of

EVERGREEN VIDHYAASHRAM SCHOOLMADURAI and towards my friends who

have supported me a lot in the completion of this project

.
 INTRODUCTION

The phenomenon of diffraction was first documented in 1665 by the

Italian Francesco Maria Grimaldi. The use of lasers has only
becomecommon in the last few decades. The laser's ability to produce a
narrowbeam 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, passes a barrier,
the waveform is distorted at the boundary edge. If the 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 diffractionpattern depends on the nature of the gap (or mask)
which diffracts the original light wave. 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.
 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 theobstruction and
interfere, resulting in a pattern of dark and light fringes.

WHAT DOES DEFFRATION LOOK LIKE ?

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.
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 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 Figure 1

FIGURE-1:- Diffraction of light by a slit of width a

In diffraction ofFraunhofer type, all rays passing through the slit are
approximately parallel. In addition, each portion of the slit will act as a source of light
waves according to Huygens’s principle. For simplicity we divide the slit into two halves.
At the first minimum, each ray from the upper half will be exactly 180 out of phase with a
corresponding ray form the lower half. For example, suppose there are 100 point sources,
with the first 50 in the lower half, and 51 to 100 in the upper half. Source 1 and source 51
are separated by a distance and are out of phase with a path difference ° a / 2 δ = λ / 2 .
Similar observation applies to source 2 and source 52, as well as any pair that are a distance
a / 2 apart. Thus, the condition forthe first minimum is
𝐚 𝝀
sinθ =𝟐 ------> eq. 1
𝟐
 𝝀
sinθ =𝒂 ------> eq. 2
Applying the same reasoning to the wavefronts from four equally spaced
points a distance a / 4 apart, the path difference would be δ = a sinθ / 4 , and thecondition
for destructive interference is
𝟐𝝀
sinθ= 𝒂 ------> eq.3
The argument can be generalized to show that destructive interference will occur
whena sinθ = mλ, m= ±1,±2,±3,…( destructive interference) -----> eq.4

Figure 2 illustrates the intensity distribution for a single-slit diffraction.Note that θ = 0 is a

maximum.

FIGURE-2:-intensity distribution for a single-slit diffraction

By comparing Eq. (4 ) with Eq(2)., we see that the condition for minima of a single-
slit diffraction becomes the condition for maxima of a double-slit interference when the
width of a single slit a is replaced by the separation betweenthe two slits d. The reason is
that in the double-slit case, the slits are taken to be so small that each one is considered as a
single light source, and the interference of waves originating within the same slit can be
neglected. On the other hand, the minimum condition for the single-slit diffraction is
obtained precisely by taking into consideration the interference of waves that originate
within the same slit.
 SINGLE SLIT INTERFERENCE

How do we determine the intensity distribution for the pattern produced by a single-
slit diffraction? To calculate this, we must find the total electric field by adding the field
contributions from each point. Let’s divide the single slit into N small zones each of width
∆y a = / N , as shown in Figure 3. The convex lens is used to bring parallel light rays to
a focal point P on the screen. We shall assume that ∆y << λ so that all the light from a
given zone is in phase. Two adjacent zones have a relative path length δ = ∆ysinθ .
The relative phase shift ∆β is given by the ratio
∆𝛽 δ ∆y sinθ
= = 𝜆
2𝜋 𝜆

,=>∆β 2𝜋
∆
∆y sinθ ------> eq.5
 FIGURE 3 :-Single-slit Fraunhofer diffraction

Suppose the wavefront from the first point (counting from the top) arrives atthe
point P on the screen with an electric field given by
E1 = E 10 sin ωt------> eq.6
The electric field from point 2 adjacent to point 1 will have a phase shift ∆β , and the
field is
E2 = E 10 sin (ωt+ ∆β)------> eq.7
 FIGURE-4:- Intensity of the single-slit Fraunhofer diffraction pattern

FIGURE 5:- Intensity of single-slit diffraction as a function of θ for a = λ and a = 2λ

 DIFFRACTION GRATING

A diffraction grating consists of a large number N of slits each of width a and separated
from the next by a distance d , as shown in Figure

FIGURE 6:- Diffraction grating

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 δ = d sinθ , 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 θ . Thus, the condition for the principal
maxima is given by
d sinθ = mλ, m=0, ±1, ±2, ±3,… -----> eq.8
If the wavelength of the light and the location of the m-order maximum are known, the
distance d between slits may be readily deduced. The location of the maxima does not depend
on the number of slits, N. However, the maxima become sharper and more intense as N is
increased. The width of the maxima can be shown to be inversely proportional to N. In
Figure7, we show the intensity distribution as a function of β / 2 for diffraction grating with N
=10 and N=30 . Notice that the principal maxima become sharper and narrower as N
increases.
 FIGURE 7:- Intensity distribution for a diffraction grating for (a) N=10 and
(b) N=30

The observation can be explained as follows: suppose an angle θ ( recall that β

= 2 s π a inθ/λ ) 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 θ may only
be slightly deviated from the value that produces a maximum, it could be exactly out of
phase with light wave from another slitfar away. Since grating produces peaks that are
much sharper than the two-slit system, it gives a more precise measurement of the
wavelength.
 BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. www.google.com

2. NCERT TEXT BOOKS {CLASS XII}

3. STUDYMATERIAL

4. REFERENCE BOOKS {PHYSICS}

5. TEACHERS

6. CLASSMATES