Single Double NSlit Diffraction

Single, Double And N-Slit
Diffraction
B.Tech –I
Diffraction by a Single Slit or Disk
If light is a wave, it will diffract around
a single slit or obstacle.
The resulting pattern of light and dark

stripes is called a diffraction pattern.
This pattern arises because different points

along a slit create wavelets that interfere
with each other just as a double slit would.
The minima of the single-slit
diffraction pattern occur when
Single-slit diffraction
maximum.
Light of wavelength 750
nm passes through a slit
1.0 x 10-3 mm wide. How
wide is the central
maximum (a) in degrees,
and (b) in centimeters, on
a screen 20 cm away?
Diffraction spreads.
Light shines through a rectangular hole that is
narrower in the vertical direction than the horizontal.
(a) Would you expect the diffraction pattern to be
more spread out in the vertical direction or in the
horizontal direction? (b) Should a rectangular
loudspeaker horn at a stadium be high and narrow,
or wide and flat?
A
B
Intensity in Single-Slit Diffraction
Pattern
Light passing through a
single slit can be divided
into a series of narrower
strips; each contributes
the same amplitude to
the total intensity on the
screen, but the phases
differ due to the differing
path lengths:
.
Slit of width D divided into N strips of width Δy.
Each strip is a wave with intensity of I0/N. Path
difference between two adjacent strips is y sin 
and the corresponding phase angle difference
is    N . The intensity of the diffraction is,
by superposition, the vector sum of the N
strips of light with N approaching infinity.
N 1
E  lim  sin t  n 
E0
N 
n 0 N
Pattern
Phasor diagrams give us the intensity as a
function of angle.
E  E 0 sin t   
  
 2 E0 cos sin  t  
2  2
m  1, D sin   
2
 D sin   2

Pattern
Taking the limit as the width becomes
infinitesimally small gives the field as a
function of angle:
Pattern
Finally, we have the phase difference and
the intensity as a function of angle:
and
.
Pattern
Intensity at secondary maxima.

Estimate the intensities of the first two
secondary maxima to either side of the
central maximum.
Diffraction in the Double-Slit
Experiment
The double-slit experiment also exhibits
diffraction effects, as the slits have a finite
width. This means the amplitude at an
angle θ will be modified by the same
factor as in the single-slit experiment:
The intensity is, as usual, proportional to

the square of the field.
Experiment
The diffraction
factor (depends on
β) appears as an
“envelope”
modifying the more
rapidly varying
interference factor
(depends on δ).
Experiment
Diffraction plus interference.
Show why the central diffraction peak
shown, plotted for the case where d = 6D =
60λ, contains 11 interference fringes.
Limits of Resolution; Circular
Apertures
Resolution is the distance at which a lens can

barely distinguish two separate objects.
Resolution is limited by aberrations and by
diffraction. Aberrations can be minimized, but
diffraction is unavoidable; it is due to the size
of the lens compared to the wavelength of the
light.
Apertures
For a circular aperture of diameter D, the central
maximum has an angular width:
1.22
 ,  in radians.
D
Apertures
The Rayleigh criterion states that two images
are just resolvable when the center of one peak
is over the first minimum of the other.
Apertures
Hubble Space Telescope.
The Hubble Space Telescope (HST) is a reflecting
telescope that was placed in orbit above the Earth’s
atmosphere, so its resolution would not be limited by
turbulence in the atmosphere. Its objective diameter is
2.4 m. For visible light, say λ = 550 nm, estimate the
improvement in resolution the Hubble offers over
Earth-bound telescopes, which are limited in
resolution by movement of the Earth’s atmosphere to
about half an arc second. (Each degree is divided into
60 minutes each containing 60 seconds, so 1° = 3600
arc seconds.)
Apertures
Eye resolution.
You are in an airplane at an altitude of
10,000 m. If you look down at the ground,
estimate the minimum separation s
between objects that you could
distinguish. Could you count cars in a
parking lot? Consider only diffraction,
and assume your pupil is about 3.0 mm
in diameter and λ = 550 nm.

Single Double NSlit Diffraction

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Single, Double And N-Slit

The resulting pattern of light and dark

This pattern arises because different points

Intensity at secondary maxima.

The intensity is, as usual, proportional to

Resolution is the distance at which a lens can

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