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Diffraction

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4 CHAPTER Sq DIFFRACTION 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 2.9 2.10 Introduction Classification of Diffraction Phenomenon a) Fresnel Diffraction b) — Fraunhoffer Difraction Huygens-Fresnel Theory Fresnel’s Assumptions Fresnel Half-period Zones Rectilinear Propagation of Light Zone Plate Action of a Zone-plate as Convex Lens Multiple Foci of a Zone Plate Comparison Between a Zone Plate and a Convex Lens * Worked Examples ++ Assignments s Problems 23 UNIT CHAPTER 2 a DIFFRACTION It is a matter of common observation that sound waves bend round the edge of the obstacle. It was found by Grimaldi that light waves also bend round the corner or edges of obstacles and enter into the region of geometrical shadow. As aresult the edge of a shadow of an obstacle is not sharp and well defined, on close observation, the shadow is found to’be surrounded by a system of bands compared to sound waves, the bending of light waves is very small on account of its short wavelength. “The phenomenon of bending of light waves around the edge of obstacles and their spreading into the geometrical shadow of the obstacle ts called diffraction of light.” Diffraction effects are clearly observed when the size of the obstacle is comparable to the wavelength. Sound waves have the wavelength of the order of a meter. Hence sound waves bend round the corner of buildings and other objects which have dimensions of the same order of magnitude as the Wavelength of sound. So a person hidden from direct view can be heard. To observe similar effects with light, the size of the object must be very smalll since the wavelength of light is of the Order of 10m. Figure shows that the propogation of light through ‘erent openings. When the opening is large compared to the Wavelength, the waves do not bend round the edges. Shown in Agure (1) when the opening is small, the bending round the des is observed, shown in figure (2). When the opening Is Yery small, the waves spread over the entire surface behind the °Pening shown in figure (3) opening acts as independent Phtieg 2.4 ce of waves, which propagate in all directions. Hence the ifraction effect is observed, when the size of the obstacle or opening is very small compared to the wavelength of light, —— ee — — — — af — ——- —> aed hod ———> J r«a Fig.(2) Fig.(3) Fig.(l) It is common experience that the (Sun light is Passing through a hole in the window, it travels along a straight line. If an opaque obstacle is placed in the path of light, a sharp shadow is cast on the wall or screen, indicates that the light travels along a straight line and holds good rectilinear Propogation of light. If the hole is very small, the light is spread to some extent into the region of the geometrical shadow, It shows that light bends around the edges of an obstacle called diffraction. Diffraction phenomenon are conveniently divided into two groups. 9) Fresnel diffraction) Frounhoffer diffraction a) Fresnel diffraction In Fr 1 eae esnel diffraction the source of light and the screen 0° le diffr: from the difano” Patter is observed are at finite distan™ meme ee ee Diffraction 25 portions of wave front. It is experimentally simple but the analysis proves to be very complex, b) Fraunhoffer difraction “In Fraunhofer diffraction the source of light and the sereen on which the diffraction pattern is observed are effectively at infinite distance from the diffracting obstacle or aperture.” The wavelength falling on the obstacle or aperture is plane. In other words, parallel beam of light is incident on the obstacle or aperture. The incoming light is rendered parallel by using a convex lens and the diffracted light is focussed on a_screen by using another convex lens. The incident wavefront as such is plane and the secondary wavelets, which originate from the unblocked portions of the wavefront, are in the same phase at every point in the plane of the obstacle. According to Huygen’s wave theory of light each Progressive wave produces, Secondary waves, the envelope of which forms the secondary wave front. In figure S is a source of monochromatic light and MN is a small aperture. 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. mista) ¥ Fig) y Considering MN as the primary wave front, according to Huygen's construction, if secondary wave fronts are drawn, one Would expect encroachment of light in the geometrical shadow. Physice a small obstacles are not sharp, Thus the shade’ the edge of an obstacle or th light round the ie a ee °f ght within the geometrical shadow is known eneroachmen que obstacle MIN Is placed in 26 ws formed by _ similarly, if an oP aE tight shown in figure (b), there should be the pal al shadow region AB also. If the ination in the geometric of the obstacle is very small compared to wavelength of light, alternate bright and dark bands are observed instead of geometrical shadow. eT stnIONS int source of monochromatic light and In figure S is a po! 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 the following assumptions. x ° 1) Awave front can be divided into a large lumber of strips a Zanes called Fresnel’s zones of small area and the effect at any point will depend on the combined effect of all the —e secondary waves generating from the 2) Th ba a its point due to any particular zone will depend aan ice of the point from the zone. le effect Le Set at is also depend on the obliquity of the tee aia ce to the zone under consideration. S considered at C, the effect is maximu® at O and de ‘creases with increasing obliquity. The effect a Diffraction 2.7 a point due to the obliquity factor is proportional to (1+cos@) where 7Pco = 9, considering an elementary wave front at C, the effect is maximum at O, because 0=0 cosO=1, The effect at the point decreases as ‘6’ (obliquity) increases. Along CQ, 0=90°, so that the effect is one half the maximum. In direction of CS, the resultant effect is zero since 0=180°. and cos 180°=-1, and 1+cos180° =1-1=0. This property of the secondary waves eliminate one of the difficulties experienced with the simpler form of Huygen’s principle viz., that if the secondary waves spread out in all directions from each point on the primary wavefront, they should given a wave travelling forward as well backward. Now as the amplitude at the rear of the wave is zero there will evidently be no back front of monochromatic light of wavelength travelling from left to right. According to Huygen’s principle every point on the wavefront is regarded as the origin of secondary wavelets and at a given instant every one of these secondary wavelets passes through the point O. The resultant effect at O due to the whole wavefront will be equal to the total effect of all the disturbances Teacting from different portions of the wavefront. This is known as Huygen's Fresnel Theory. To find the resultant effect we divide the entire wavefront into concentric zones as follows. From O, OP is drawn perpendicular on ABCD at the point P This point is the foot of the perpendicular from O on ABCD and is called the pole of the wave with respect to O. Let OP be ‘qual to ‘a’ and A be the wavelength of light waves. With O as centre and radius (2 + *) draw a sphere, cutting the wavefront ina circle at M , then, Physles 28 a om, =4+5 ES OM, - OP = > ‘This means that the secondary wavelets originating from P and from the points on the circumference of the circle M,, on reaching O, will differ in phase by, on = (om, - OP) = % a h ) T Now 7 radian is equivalent to phase difference z Hence the area enclosed by the circle M, is called Fresnel’s first half period zone. Si - imilarly we can draw other spheres of radil (+3) (0-9) (+ : 2} (2+> }+ which will interset the wavefront in ci oe 7 ee My M,, ....This construction divides be noted that cee moet of Fresne's half period zones. It 8 “Period zone is a circle, while the se half-period zone i on. San annular ring between M, and M, ald s° These are known reachii as halfperiod zones, because the Wa mg O from and M, autre. , ; ’ 1 differ in phase by x or r org Similarly the wai Wes reaching © from M, and M, also difer " 2 Wee = 2eax pifrection 29 1 a phase by ™ or 7 rs Thus the phase difference between wavelets from successive half-period zones is m radian or half- period. Hence they are half-period zones. To explain rectilinear propogation of light we have to find the resultant effect of the whole wavefront at the point O. The whole wavefront is divided into half-period zones. The problem is then reduced to find the resultant effect of a large number of disturbances originating from the various annular rings into which whole wavefront is divided. The amplitude due to wavelets produced by each zone reaching O. depends upon the following factors. 1) It is directly proportional to the area of the zone. 2) If varies inversely as the distance of zone from the point O, Grater the distance smaller is the amplitude reaching O. 3) It varies with obliquity factor (1+cos@). The amplitude decreases with increasing obliquity. ‘The areas of each of half-period zones are approximately equal. The square of the radius of the first half-period zone. ay PM? = (2+3) -a? nw -(e+Eem-e}em 2 As ~ involves the square of a very small quantity and can be neglected as compared to ad. al Area of first half-period zone=Tan. To find the area of the n" half period zone. ro Square of radius of RY _ 4? = anh PMn =(a+ 3) -a : quare of the radius of (n-1)" circle. fn circle is given by, Similarly s ; yt) - a2 = a(n In pMn1 ={a+(n-1)> 2 :. Area of n™ zone = a({PM?n -PM 2-1) = nana -a(n- 1A] = mand — and + ah) = Tar This is same as that for the first half-period zone. .. The areas of the various half-period zones art Independent of the order of the zone and are nearly equal. Tht Tadil of these zones are proportional to vn where n=1, 2, 3. Suppose every point on the plane is in a state of vibration and sends out secondary wavetrains, then the light vibrations at O are due to superposition of these waves. Since the incides! wave is plane one, all the points on the plane ABCD are in tt same Phase. Their distances from © are different and consequently the Secondary waves which th ints send out. reach O in different Phases, et aa Phase of the wavelets coming from P is zero. TH ce of O from points in the first zone lies between ‘2° al at+—!|. He ; ( ) lence the phase of Wavelets from intermediate poin's between P and M, will y, ] all the wavelets from tte O to m. Thus average phase = Orn 2° Tadian piffraction 2.11 Similarly the phase difference of wavelets from M, and M, will lie between 1 and 2m, Hence average phase difference of meee 3 radian. This is 2 2 opposite to that due to the wavelets from the first half-period zone. Similarly the average phase difference of wavelets from wavelets from second zone = Sr the third zone will be 2 and fourth zone will be 4 and so on. It is clear that the resultant phase-difference between two consecutive zones is m radian, while that between alternate zones is 2 radian. Thus if the resultant amplitude of wavelets from first half-period zone is positive that from the second half- period zone will be negative, that from third zone positive and fourth zone negative and so on. ds ay [in 4 | a ‘| a, %& Let d,, d,, d,, ....etc. be the resultant amplitudes at O due to first, second, third etc, half-period zones respectively then resultant amplitude. D=d,-d+d,-d,....44, The amplitude of the successive zones depends upon the obliquity factor (1+cos®,) where @, is the angle which the direction of O from the n“ zone makes with PO. It is assumed that the obliquity factor varies slowly so that it ™=y be regarded constant over a single half-period zone. As @ increases from Zero cos@ decreases very slowly first. But more rapidly for larger values of @. Thus successive amplitude decrease at first. slowly but more rapidly for higher values of n. Hence the amplitude goes on decreasing with the order of zones. Thus Physics 2.12 each term in th preceding it and is greater approximation we can write. _~d+ds gy _ 83+45 ond so on a a 1 Oe 2 e above series in slightly less than the one that the one succeeding it. To a first dy The above series can now be rewritten in the following form, qa If n is sufficiently large, the effect due to the n™ zone becomes negligible and resultant amplitude due to the whole wave D = S. ‘This the amplitude due to complete wavefront is half of what it would be caused by the first half period zone. As intensity I is proportional to the square of the amplitude. r=ah 4 Hence the intensity at O due to the wavelets from all the zones is equal to one fourth of the intens; ity due to the waves from the first half-period zone. eT = rm obstacle is placed at P the resultant disturbance at 0 a as al the disturbance due to the first exposed zone: ‘splacement decreases rapidly with the order of the varia nee at P blocks a considerable number of half Wl be received at Ogee nesiaible and practically n0 Heh straight line. . that is the light travels approximately 0 4 Diffraction E sats 2.7 ZONE PLATE J A zone plate is a specially constructed screen such that light is obstructed from every alternate zone. It can designed so as to cut off light due to the even numbered zones or that due to the odd numbered zones. The correctness of Fresnel’s method in dividing a wavefront into half period zones can be verified with its help Fig.) Fig.(2) To construct a zone plate, concentric circles are drawn on. white paper such that the radii are proportional to the square roots of the natural numbers. The odd numbered zones that is 1*, 34, 5%,....are covered with black ink and a reduced Photograph is taken. The drawing appears as shown in figure (1), The negative of the photograph will be as shown in figure (2), In the developed negative the odd zones are transparent to incident light and the even zones will cut off light. x Pry 214 erpendicular to an incident tl yo eee on the other side to Bet the of light = he observed that maximum brightness {is Possibje ae witon of the screen say ‘a’ cm from the zone Plate, vou the Uj r half of the incident plane wavefront, P jg the vit id ae the light intensity is to be considered, The cae of the point P from the wavefront is a OM,=r,, OM,=r,, OM,=r,.......ete. are the radi of the zones. Where A Is the _ = ¥3ah,.... 1, = Val, 1) = V2ad, Ty wavelength of light 2 |, 1, = vmad or aos If the source is at a large distance from the zone plate, a bright spot will be obtained at P As the distance of the source is large, the incident wavefront can be taken as a plane one with respect to the small area of the zone plate. The even numbered zones cut off the lght and hence resultant amplitude at P=A=m,+m,+m,+....etc. In this case the focal length of the Zone plate f, is given by. 2 y, f,=as a Plate has different foci for different Tadius of the n zone increases with Increasing value of 1, The even . m e, the intensity at P j, lumbered zones are opaqut ‘S much greater d hole Wavefront is exposed to the ine _ ‘hat when the wl In the first case the resultant amplitude is given by, Sm, +n tm.+..m, When ‘n’ ts Thus a zone wavelengths. The ifrection 2.15 the line OP Thus the function of zone plate is similar to that of convex lens. 2.8_ACTION OF A ZONE-PLATE AS CONVEX LENS| Let XY represents the section of the zone plate perpendicular to the plane of the paper. S is a point source of light, P is the position of the screen for a bright, image ‘a’ is the distance of the source from the zone plate and ‘b’ is the distance of the screen from the plate, OM,, OM,, OM,.... are the radii r,, r,, f, respectively for the 1", 24, 3°4, half period zones, The position of the screen is such that from one zone to next there is an increasing path difference of A/2. From the figure, SO+OP=a+b SM, +MP=a+b+% -() 2h SM, + MgP = a+b+> SM, +M,P = a+b + soon From the A SM,O 1 SM, = (SO? + OM,”)? = (+52)? Physics, 2.16 p AOM, ly from the Similarly ‘| Mp = (oP? + om,?)? 1 a tion (1) we bstituting the values of SM, and M,P in equation Subst get, 1 4. au (2 it ) +(e? “ v? agit 2 1 1 a 2 2\2 a 2\o q 4 i+) rf +35) zatb+e a 2 2 a q ce atbts atstbtoe 2 2 (l,l) L(t +t) 2 11 2 stsl]=a is) Similarly for r, i.e., the radius of the n zone, the relation can be written as, of, 2)_ 2 (Est) =m 2) Applying the sign convention, a 1 fa b oh +B) [vfs = ay Equation (3) is similar to the lens formula that 1s Lia nul” F According to equation and image distan Plate acts as a col (3) ‘a’ and ‘b’ are the object ces, f be the focal zone vex lens, length therefore a pifrection 2.17 [28 MULTIPLE FOCI OF A ZONE PLATE Azone plate has a number of foci of diminishing intensity as we go from the brightest focus towards the plate. They are determined by the condition that for each of these foci, an actual zone contains an odd number of half-period elements of the incident plane wavefront. This is due to the reason that the area of each half-period element diminishes as b decreases. The positions of the foci are evaluated as follows. The primary first order focal length as it is called is equal to the value of For this focal length each actual zone of the plate contains one half-period element and the focal point P, is called the first order focal point, the intensity of the image is maximum being Proportional to A,?. iM, ASS — RoR R ' 1<—_ b ——__> If each zone contains three half-period elements with Tespect to some other nearer point P,. the alternate three half- Period elements being obstructed then again the intensity will be maximum giving rise to a second focus of intensity less than that in the first case, since the resultant amplitude at P, will be equal to, Physics 2.18 (m, - my + mg) + (m7 - mg + Mg) + Aa (myg — Myq + My5)+--- S my ms), (2 +22) + (e+ Be "lo" 2 2. 2 2° 2 =1(m, +m +m + Mgt...) approxmately

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