PHYS 104 General Physics

BT/BI/BPharmacy
Diffraction

Roshan Pudasaini
Department of Physics
Kathmandu University

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Outline

1 Diffraction
Diffraction: Introduction and Rectilinear propagation of light
Types of Diffraction: Fresnal and Fraunhofer
Resultant amplitude of n waves
Diffraction grating
Diffraction of light at single slit

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Diffraction: Introduction and Rectilinear propagation of
light

According to wave theory of light, every point on primary wave

behaves as source for secondary wave and the forward envelope
of secondary wavelets for certain time gives the new position of
wave at that time.

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Diffraction: Introduction and Rectilinear propagation of
light (contd.)

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Diffraction: Introduction and Rectilinear propagation of
light (contd.)

In above figure, S is source of monochromatic light, MN is a

small sperture.XY is the screen placed in the path of light. AB is
the illuminated portion of the screen and above A and below B is
the region of the geometrical shadow.

Considering MN as the primary wavefront, according to

huygen’s construction, if secondary wavefronts are drawn, one
would expect encroachment of light in the geometrical shadow.
Thus, the shadow formed by small obstacles aren’t sharp. This
bending of light round the edges of an obstacles or the

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Diffraction: Introduction and Rectilinear propagation of
light (contd.)

encroachment of light within the geometrical shadow is known

as Diffraction.

After a long time or at a great distance from the source, light

may be considered as a plane wave. Different experiments on
light wave showed that it has straight line motion. And this can
be verified by placing an obstacle of large size in between the
path of light to the screen.

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Diffraction: Introduction and Rectilinear propagation of
light (contd.)

The shadow would not be produced if the light wave would have
curved type motion. The phenomenon by which light wave
travels in straight line is called the rectilinear propagation of
light.

Figure 1: Rectilinear Propagation of light

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Diffraction: Introduction and Rectilinear propagation of
light (contd.)

But an unexpected result would be obtained if we place an

obstacle of small size; comparable to the wavelength of light.
This peculiarity is explained by the term diffraction on the basis
of wave theory.

The bending of light at small apertures or at the sharp edges to form a

band of dark and bright fringes of varying intensities is called
diffraction. Thus, for diffraction, the size of obstacle must be
comparable to wavelength of light used.

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Diffraction: Introduction and Rectilinear propagation of
light (contd.)

Figure 2: (a) A plane wave doesn’t bend at the slit if the opening d >> λ ,
(b) Bending is perceptible when λ ≈ d, (c) When λ >> d, the bending takes
place to such an extent that light can be perceived in a direction normal to
the ray propagation suggesting that the opening acts as a point source.

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Types of Diffraction: Fresnal and Fraunhofer

Theory of diffraction is explained on the basis of wave theory of light.

There are two types of diffraction depending up on their nature.

1. Fresnel diffraction and

2. Fraunhofer diffraction

Fresnal Diffraction: The diffraction phenomenon in which source

and screen both are separated by a finite distance from slits is called
Fresnel diffraction. In such diffraction spherical wave from a point
source falls up on a slit and gets diffracted forming dark and bright
fringes of varying intensities. Observations of Fresnel diffraction
phenomena do not require any lenses.

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Types of Diffraction: Fresnal and Fraunhofer (contd.)

Figure 3: Fresnal Diffraction

Fraunhofer diffraction: The diffraction phenomenon in which

source and screen both are separated by an infinite distance from slit
is called Fraunhofer diffraction. In such diffraction, light from a
source at infinity falls up on slit and gets diffracted resulting dark and
bright fringes with different intensities. Fraunhofer diffraction pattern
can be easily observed in practice. The incoming light is rendered
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Types of Diffraction: Fresnal and Fraunhofer (contd.)

parallel with a lens and the diffracted beam is focused on the screen
with another lens.

Figure 4: Fraunhofer Diffraction

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Resultant amplitude of n waves

Consider there are n number of waves with same amplitude and

frequencies as well as sucessive phase difference δ given by
y1 = aeiωt , y2 = aei(ωt+δ ) ,y3 = aei(ωt+2δ ) , y4 = aei(ωt+3δ ) ,
y5 = aei(ωt+4δ ) , . . ., yn = aei(ωt+(n−1)δ ) .Now their resultant is given
by
y = y1 + y2 + y3 + y4 + y5 + ...... + yn

y = aeiωt + aei(ωt+δ ) + aei(ωt+2δ ) + aei(ωt+3δ ) + . . . + aei[ωt+(n−1)δ ]

y = aeiωt [1 + eiδ + e2iδ + e3iδ + . . . + ei(n−1)δ ]

" #
inδ − 1
iωt e
y = ae
eiδ − 1

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Resultant amplitude of n waves (contd.)

inδ
" inδ −inδ
#
e2 e 2 −e 2
y = aeiωt iδ iδ −iδ
e2 e 2 −e 2

2isin( nδ
2 )
h i
i ωt+ (n−1)δ
2
y= ae δ
2isin( 2 )
h i
i ωt+ (n−1)δ
2
y = Re

Where
sin( nδ
2 )
R=a
sin( δ2 )
is the resultant amplitude of n waves.

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Diffraction grating

An arrangement consisting of a large number of parallel slits of

equal width and separated from one another by equal opaque
spaces is called a diffraction grating.

Figure 5: Diffraction grating

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Diffraction grating (contd.)

If ’a’ is width of the slit (i.e. space between the lines) and ’b’ is
the width of the line (i.e. width of opaque space), then ’a + b’ is
called as grating element.

The sum ’a + b’ is called grating element which is obtained by

reciprocal of N, where N is number of lines per cm.

When a wavefront is incident on a grating surface, light is

transmitted through the slits and obstructed by the opaque
portions. Such a grating is called a transmission grating. The
secondary waves from the positions of the slits interfere with
each other forming bright and dark fringes of varying intensities
called diffraction grating.
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Diffraction grating (contd.)

The grating is prepared by ruling equidistant parallel lines on a

glass surface. These lines are drawn with a fine diamond point.
The space between any two lines is transparent to light and the
lined position is opaque to light such surfaces acts as
transmission grating.

If the spacing between the lines is of the order of the wavelength

of light used then the appreciable deviation of light is produced.
Diffraction grating are used to determine the wavelength of
unknown monochromatic light for the study of visible region of
the spectrum.

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Diffraction grating (contd.)

When a parallel beam of monochromatic light is incident

normally on the grating, it suffers diffraction. The transmitted
light gives rise to primary maxima in certain direction given by
the relation
(a + b)sinθn = nλ

where ′ a′ is the width of the slit and ′ b′ is the width of the line.
θn is the angle of diffraction for nth order maximum and λ is the
wavelength of the light used.

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Diffraction of light at single slit

Figure 6: Diffraction at Single Slit

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Diffraction of light at single slit (contd.)

Consider a parallel beam of light from source S, incident normally on

a slit AB of width ’a’. After passing through the slit, the beam is
focused on to the screen MN. O is a point on a screen at distance ’D’.
According to rectilinear propagation of light, a bright image of the slit
should be formed at the center ’O’ on the screen. There are alternate
bright and dark bands in either side of the central bright spot ’O’.
These bands are referred to as secondary minima and maxima
respectively.
Path difference between waves from A and B can be calculated as,
path difference = BP − AP = BP − NP = BN

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Diffraction of light at single slit (contd.)

In triangle △BAN,

BN
sinθ = =⇒ BN = asinθ
a

If the path difference is equal to nλ , the secondary minima will be

produced at a point P. i.e.,

nλ
asinθn = nλ =⇒ sinθn = (1)
a

Similarly, the secondary maximum will be produced if the path

difference is equal to (2n + 1) λ2 . i.e.,

λ (2n + 1)λ
asinθn = (2n + 1) =⇒ sinθn = (2)
2 2a
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Diffraction of light at single slit (contd.)

The width of the central maximum is defined as the distance between

the first minima on its two sides at a point P and Q such that
sinθ = ± λa .
For small angle, sinθ ≈ θ (in radians)

λ
∴θ =± (3)
a
Thus the angular width of central maxima is 2θ = 2 λa .
Let ’y’ be the half width of the central bright maximum. Then from
figure, we can write
y
tanθ =
D

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Diffraction of light at single slit (contd.)

Since tanθ ≈ θ for small angle, we can write

y
∴θ = (4)
D

From equations 3 and 4, we get

λ y λD
= =⇒ y =
a D a
2λ D
Width of central maximum β = 2y = a .

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Diffraction of light at single slit (contd.)

Figure 7: Intensity distribution

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Diffraction of light at single slit (contd.)

The intensity distribution on the screen due to the diffraction at a

single slit is shown in figure 7. It is seen that the width of central
bright maximum is directly proportional to the wavelength λ and is
inversely proportional to the width of the slit. Thus, increasing the
width of the slit, the secondary maxima become narrower for the
sufficiently wide slit. In other words, the distinct diffraction pattern
will be obtained only in the case of narrow slit.

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End of topic ”Diffraction”
Thank you

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