DIFFRACTION

Tran Thi Ngoc Dung – Huynh Quang Linh – Physics A2 HCMUT 2016
Contents
• Diffraction by a single slit
• Diffraction by N slits
• Diffraction Grating
• X-ray diffraction
DIFFRACTION
• Diffraction is the deviation of light from a straight-line path
when the light passes through an aperture or around an
obstacle.
• Diffraction is due to the wave nature of light.
2 Huygens’s Principle
This principle states that we can consider every
point of a wave front as a source of secondary
wavelets.
M
.
r
The position of the wave front at any later time is
O the envelope of the secondary wavelets at that time.

To find the resultant displacement at any point, we

combine all the individual displacements produced
by these secondary waves, using the superposition
principle and taking into account their amplitudes
and relative phases
M

d
O
Diffraction BY A SINGLE SLIT
Given a narrow slit of width a.
A parallel light beam of wavelength is
radiated perpendicularly to the slit. The beam M
is diffracted into many different directions. slit

+ Consider the diffracted rays of angle =0.

These rays are focused at F. All these rays are in
phase, constructive interference. F is a bight F
central fringe. /2
sin (theta) o
1

+ Consider the diffracted rays of angle .

We draw planes o, 1, 2, each of /2 apart , /2 MQ
Screen
perpendicular to the diffracted rays . These S
surfaces divide the slit into strips.

The width of each band is: See Figure 36.5 in the book "University Physics with
2 sin Modern Physics" for more information.

width of slit a 2a sin

The number of bands is: N
width of band
(or strips) 2 sin
The optical path difference between the rays of 2
adjacent strips is /2. There is destructive
interference. M
slit
=>The combined light from 2 adjacent strips is
completely cancels at M.

=> If the number of strips is EVEN, M is DARK

F
If the number of trips is ODD, M is BRIGHT /2
sin o
1

/2 MQ
Screen
S

2asin λ
Dark Fringe : N 2m sin m m 1; 2; 3
λ a
2asin λ
Bright Fringe : N 2m 1 sin (2m 1) (2m 1) 3; 5..
λ 2a
Central Bright Fringe : sin 0
λ
Dark Fringe : sin m m 1, 2, 3
a
λ Read page 1196 in the book "
Bright Fringe : sin (2m 1) 2m 1 3; 5...
2a University Physics with Modern
Physics".
Intensity in the Single-Slit
Diffraction Pattern
2
Io sin / 2
I Io
/2
2
a sin

2 2 2
2 2 2
Io : I1 : I 2 : I3 : .... 1 : : : : ..
3 5 7
1 : 0.0472 : 0.0165 : 0.0083
+ the central maximum is twice as wide as
I1 each side maximum
I2 + Having this conclusion when considering the
distance between two consecutive minima! See
equation (36.11) in the book "University Physics
with Modern Physics".
Central Bright Fringe : sin 0
λ
Dark Fringe : sin m m 1, 2, 3
a
λ
Bright Fringe : sin (2m 1) 2m 1 3; 5...
2a
If a λ : the central fringe is very narrow no diffraction.

Hint: To explain the results in the

above figures, we must utilize the
assumption of small theta and deduce
the expression for theta of the first
minima.
Example 36.1 Single-slit diffraction
You pass 633-nm laser light through a narrow slit and observe the diffraction pattern
on a screen 6.0 m away. The distance on the screen between the centers of the first
minima on either side of the central bright fringe is 32 mm (Fig. 36.7). How wide is the
slit?

d=6.0m

L 2d tan 2d sin 2d
a
9
2d 2 6 633 10
a 3
0.24mm
L 32 10
38.3 Resolution of Single-Slit and Circular
Apertures
38.3 Resolution of Single-Slit and Circular Apertures
Limiting angle of resolution for a circular
aperture (more reading at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airy_disk )

min 1.22 D: the diameter of the aperture

D
Limiting angle of resolution for a slit of
width a

min
a
MULTIPLE-SLIT DIFFRACTION
+ N slits
+ Width of a slit : a N slits
+ Distance between 2 adjacent slits: d
M
There is diffraction by every slit and d
a
interference by slits .
dsin F

Principal minima sin m m 1, 2, 3

a o

Principal maxima sin m m 0, 1, 2, 3

d screen
These expressions are the combination of (1) the condition for dark fringes in the
diffraction pattern by a single slit, and (2) the condition for constructive interference
by multiple slits (for simplest case, review the double slit interference)

There are N slits, between 2 adjacent principal maxima,

there are N-1 secondary minima, N-2 secondary maxima
 Intensity of diffraction pattern

Double slit Diffraction

Single slit diffraction
+ The width of maxima is equal.
+ If N is large, the width of maxima is
small, we have sharp spectral lines.
+ Intensity of principal maxima is
proportinal to N^2.

Three slit Diffraction

How many slits are there

ANS: 5 slits
DIFFRACTION GRATING
An array of a large number of parallel slits, all with the
same width and spaced equal distances is called a
diffraction grating. Glass Metal
2 types Studying Visible light
Ultraviolet light
(Glass absobs ultraviolet
- transmission grating light)
- reflection grating

Gratings can be made by

using a diamond point to
scratch many equally spaced
grooves on a glass or metal
surface

d= grating spacing
n=1/d : number of slits per unit length

transmission grating reflection grating

Example 36.4 Width of a grating spectrum
The wavelengths of the visible spectrum are approximately 380 nm (violet) to 750 nm
(red).
(a) Find the angular limits of the first order visible spectrum produced by a plane grating
with 600 slits per millimeter when white light falls normally on the grating.
(b) Do the first-order and second-order spectra overlap? What about the second-order
and third-order spectra? Do your answers depend on the grating spacing?
EVALUATE: The fundamental reason the first-order and second order visible spectra
don’t overlap is that the human eye is sensitive to only a narrow range of wavelengths.
Can you show that if the eye could detect wavelengths from 380 nm to 900 nm (in the
near-infrared range), the first and second orders would overlap?
X RAY DIFFRACTION
The arrangement of atoms in a crystal of sodium chloride (NaCl) is shown in the
Figure, A careful examination of the NaCl structure shows that the ions lie in discrete
planes.

2dsin =m m=1,2…
Bragg’s Law

suppose an incident x-ray beam makes an angle with one of the planes as in
the Figure. The beam can be reflected from both the upper plane and the lower
one, but the beam reflected from the lower plane travels farther than the beam
reflected from the upper plane. The optical path difference is 2dsin . The two
beams reinforce each other (constructive interference) when this path
difference equals some integer multiple of . The same is true for reflection
from the entire family of parallel planes. Hence, the condition for constructive
interference (maxima in the reflected beam) is 2dsin =m
Values of m =2 or greater give values of sin greater than unity,
which is impossible. Hence there are no other angles for interference maxima
Diffraction by diffraction grating.
Light source is He-Ne laser

Diffraction on CD
 X-ray diffraction pattern for
powdered
aluminumalum crystals
powder

Spectrum of white light by a

diffraction grating

X-ray diffraction pattern for a single

alum crystal.
aluminum crystal
 X-ray diffraction for a
quasicrystal.

diffraction by X-ray and by electron

X-ray diffraction for a hexahedral

crystal.
 Applications of interference and
diffraction

Rosalind Franklin made the first x-ray diffraction

imaging of DNA; her pictures were instrumental in
the discovery of the double-helix structure.
 X-ray Crystallography
The Braggs made so many discoveries that Lawrence
described the first few years as „like looking for gold and
finding nuggets lying around everywhere‟:
• showed that the sodium and chloride ions were not
bonded into molecules, but arranged in a lattice
• could distinguish different cubic lattices
• discovered the crystal structure of diamond
• Lawrence Bragg was the youngest Laureate
ever (25) to receive a Nobel Prize (shared
with his father in 1915)
• now standardly used for all kinds of
materials analysis, even biological samples!
• The same multi-layer interference
phenomenon is now used to make highly
wavelength-specific mirrors for lasers
(“distributed Bragg feedback” [DBF])