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Chapter 2

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35 views13 pages

Chapter 2

Uploaded by

mshakibhossen082
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Diffraction of light: When a wave encounters an obstacle or opening, it changes direction.

Diffraction
of light is described as the apparent bending of light waves around small obstacles and the spreading
out of waves past small openings.

Difference between interference and diffraction:

Interference diffraction

Result of interaction of light waves coming from Result of interaction of light waves coming from
different wavefronts originating from the source. different parts of the same wavefronts.

Interference fringes may or may not be of the same Interference fringes are not of the same width.
width.

Regions of minimum intensity are perfectly dark. Regions of minimum intensity are not perfectly
dark.

All bright bands are of same intensity The different maxima are of varying intensities.

Fresnel and Fraunhoffer types of diffraction:

Fresnel Class Fraunhoffer Class

In this type of diffraction, the source of light or the In this type of diffraction, the source of light and the
screen or both are at finite distances from the obstacle. screen are effectively at infinite distances from the
obstacle.

Observation of Fresnel diffraction does not require Modification is done by using lenses.
any lenses.

It is experimentally simple but the analysis is very It is experimentally complex but the analysis is
complex. simpler.

It cannot be easily observed on the screen. It is easily observed in practice.

FRESNEL'S ASSUMPTIONS
According to Fresnel, the resultant effect at an external point due to a wavefront will depend on the
factors discussed below :
In Fig. 9.2, S is a point source of monochromatic light and MN is a small aperture. XY is the screen
and SO is perpendicular to XY. MCN is the incident spherical wavefront due to the point source S.
To obtain the resultant effect at a point P on the screen, Fresnel assumed that (1) a wavefront can be
divided into a large number of strips or zones called Fresnel's zones of small area and the resultant
effect at any point will depend on the combined effect of all secondary waves emanating from the
various zones; (2) the effect at a point due to any particular zone will depend on the distance of the
point from the zone ; (3) the effect at P will also depend on the obliquity of the point with reference to
the zone under consideration, e.g., due to the part of the wavefront at C, the effect will be maximum at
O and decreases with increasing obliquity. It is maximum in a direction radially outwards from C an it
decreases in the opposite direction. The effect at a point due to the obliquity factor is proportional to
(1+cosθ) where ˂PCO = θ. Considering an elementary wavefront at C, the effect is maximum at O
because θ = O and cos θ = l.
FRESNEL HALF-PERIOD ZONES
Zone plate: A zone plate is a specially constructed plate in which light is obstructed from every alternate
zone.
Dispersive power of grating:
Dispersive power of a grating is define as the ratio of the difference in the angle of diffraction of any two
neighbouring spectral lines to the difference in wavelength between the two spectral lines.
The diffraction of the nth order principal maximum for a wavelength λ, is given by the equation
(a+b)sinθ = nλ
Differentiating this equation with respect to θ and λ, we get
(a+b)cosθ dθ = ndλ
Or, dθ/dλ = n/{(a+b)cosθ} = nN/cosθ
Resolving power:
The resolving power of a grating is given by nN. Where n is the order of the grating and N = 1/(a+b).

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