Diffraction

Interference with more than 2 beams

3, 4, 5 beams
Large number of beams
Diffraction gratings
Equation
Uses
Diffraction by an aperture
Huygens principle again, Fresnel zones, Aragos spot
Qualitative effects, changes with propagation distance
Fresnel number again
Imaging with an optical system, near and far field
Fraunhofer diffraction of slits and circular apertures
Resolution of optical systems
Diffraction of a laser beam
LASERS 51 April 03
 Interference from multiple apertures
L
Bright fringes when OPD=n
40

x
nL
x=

Intensity
d
source OPD
d
two slits position on screen

screen Complete destructive interference halfway between

OPD 1 OPD 1=n, OPD 2=2n

OPD 2 all three waves
40 interfere constructively

Intensity
source
three position on screen
equally spaced
slits screen
OPD 2=n, n odd
outer slits constructively interfere
middle slit gives secondary maxima
LASERS 51 April 03
 Diffraction from multiple apertures
Fringes not sinusoidal for
more than two slits 2 slits
Main peak gets narrower
Center location obeys same 3 slits
equation
Secondary maxima appear 4 slits
between main peaks
The more slits, the more 5 slits
secondary maxima
The more slits, the weaker the
secondary maxima become
Diffraction grating many slits, very narrow spacing
Main peaks become narrow and widely spaced
Secondary peaks are too small to observe
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 Reflection and transmission gratings
Transmission grating many closely spaced slits
Reflection grating many closely spaced reflecting regions

Input screen
wave
path length to
observation point
Input
opaque Huygens wave
transmitting wavelets
opening wavelets

path length to
observation point
screen absorbing reflecting

Transmission grating Reflection grating

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 Grating equation transmission
grating with normal incidence
Diffracted
d
light
p
input sin d =
l

d is angle of diffracted ray Except for not making a

small angle approximation,
is wavelength this is identical to formula
for location of maxima in
l is spacing between slits multiple slit problem earlier
p is order of diffraction

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 Diffraction gratings general
incidence angle
Grating equation p
sin d sin i =
l
l=distance between grooves (grating spacing)
i
i=incidence angle (measured from normal) d
d=diffraction angle (measured from normal)
p=integer (order of diffraction)

Same formula whether its a transmission or reflection

grating
n=0 gives straight line propagation (for transmission grating) or
law of reflection (for reflection grating)
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 Intensities of orders allowed orders
Diffraction angle can be found only for
certain values of p strong diffracted weak diffracted
If sin(d) is not order order
input
between 1 and 1, beam
there is no allowed d
Intensity of other orders
are different depending
on wavelength, incidence angle,
and construction of grating
Grating may be blazed to make Blazed grating
a particular order more intense than
others
angles of orders unaffected by blazing

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 Grating constant (groove density) vs.
distance between grooves
Usually the spacing between grooves for a grating
is not given
Density of grooves (lines/mm) is given instead
1
g=
l
Grating equation can be written in terms of grating
constant

sin( d ) sin ( i ) = pg

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 2nd
Diffraction grating - applications order
1st
order
Spectroscopy grating
Separate colors, similar to negative
prism orders

Laser tuning Littrow mounting input

narrow band mirror and output angles identical
Select a single line of
2 sin ( ) =
multiline laser d
Select frequency in a grating
tunable laser
Pulse stretching and
compression
Different colors travel
different path lengths two identical
LASERS 51 gratings April 03
 Fabry-Perot Interferometer
Input transmitted through
first mirror Beam is partially reflected and
partially transmitted at each
mirror
Transmitted All transmitted beams interfere
with each other
Reflected field
All reflected beams interfere with
field Partially each other
reflecting OPD depends on mirror
mirrors separation

Multiple beam interference division of amplitude

As in the diffraction grating, the lines become narrow as
more beams interfere

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 Fabry-Perot Interferometer
1 free
spectral
transmission

range, Linewidth=
fsr fsr*finesse

0 frequency or wavelength
Transmission changes with frequency
Can be very narrow range where transmission is high
Width characterized by finesse
Finesse is larger for higher reflectivity mirrors
Transmission peaks are evenly spaced
Spacing called Free spectral range
Controlled by distance between mirrors, fsr=c/(2L)
Applications
Measurement of laser linewidth or other spectra
Narrowing laser line
LASERS 51 April 03
 Diffraction at an apertureobservations

Light
Aperture through
aperture on
screen
downstream

A careful observation of the light transmitted by an

aperture reveals a fringe structure not predicted by
geometrical optics
Light is observed in what should be the shadow region
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 Pattern on screen at various distances
Near Field Intermediate field
2.5mm

25 mm from screen, 250 mm 2500 mm

Immediately
bright fringes just light penetrates pattern doesnt
behind screen
inside edges into shadow closely resemble
region mase

Far field at a large enough distance

shape of pattern no longer changes but
it gets bigger with larger distance.
Symmetry of original mask still is
evident.
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 Huygens-Fresnel diffraction
screen observing
with screen
aperture

Point Wavelets
source generated in
hole
Each wavelet illuminates the observing screen
The amplitudes produced by the various waves at the
observing screen can add with different phases
Final result obtained by taking square of all amplitudes
added up
Zero in shadow area
Non-zero in illuminated area
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 Fresnel zones
Incident wave propagating to right
What is the field at an observation point a b + /2
observation
distance of b away? First Fresnel point
zone
Start by drawing a sphere with radius
b+/2
Region of wave cut out by this sphere is b
the first Fresnel zone
All the Huygens wavelets in this first incident
wavefront
Fresnel zone arrive at the observation
point approximately in phase
Call field amplitude at observation point
due to wavelets in first Fresnel zone, A1

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 Fresnels zones continued
Divide incident wave into
additional Fresnel zones by
drawing circles with radii, observation
b+2/2, b+3/2, etc. b +/2 b + point

Wavelets from any one zone

b
are approximately in phase
at observation point
out of phase with wavelets from a
neighboring zone
incident
Each zone has nearly same area wavefront

Field at observation point due to second Fresnel zone

is A2, etc.
All zones must add up to the uniform field that we must
have at the observation point
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 Adding up contributions from Fresnel
zones
A1, the amplitude due to the first zone and A2, the amplitude
from the second zone, are out of phase (destructive
interference)
A2 is slightly smaller than A1 due to area and distance
The total amplitude if found by adding contributions of all
Fresnel zones
A=A1-A2+A3-A4+
minus signs because the amplitudes are out of phase
amplitudes slowly decrease
So far this is a complex way
of showing an obvious fact.

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 Diffraction from circular apertures
What happens if an aperture the diameter of the
first Fresnel zone is inserted in the beam?
Amplitude is twice as high
as before inserting aperture!!
Intensity four times as large
observation
This only applies to b +/2 b + point

intensity on axis
b

incident
wavefront
Blocking two Fresnel zones gives almost zero
intensity on axis!!
LASERS 51 April 03
 Fresnel diffraction by a circular aperture
Suppose aperture size and observation distance chosen so
that aperture allows just light from first Fresnel zone to pass
Only the term A1 will contribute
Amplitude will be twice as large as case with no aperture!
If distance or aperture size changed so two Fresnel zones are
passed, then there is a dark central spot
alternate dark and
light spots along
axis
circular fringes
off the axis

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 Fresnel diffraction by circular obstacle
Aragos spot
Construct Fresnel zones just as
before except start with first zone
beginning at edge of aperture
Carrying out the same reasoning b observation
as before, we find that the point

intensity on axis (in the

geometrical shadow) is just what b+/2
it would be in the absence of the
obstacle
Predicted by Poisson from
incident
Fresnels work, observed by wavefront
Arago (1818)
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 Character of diffraction for different
locations of observation screen
Close to diffracting screen (near field)
Intensity pattern closely resembles shape of aperture, just like
you would expect from geometrical optics
Close examination of edges reveals some fringes
Farther from screen (intermediate)
Fringes more pronounced, extend into center of bright region
General shape of bright region still roughly resembles
geometrical shadow, but edges very fuzzy
Large distance from diffracting screen (far field)
Fringe pattern gets larger
bears little resemblance to shape of aperture (except symmetries)
Small features in hole lead to larger features in diffraction pattern
Shape of pattern doesnt change with further increase in distance,
LASERSbut
51 it continues to get larger April 03
 How far is the far field?
z = distance from aperture to observing screen
A = area of aperture Fresnel number
= wavelength characterizes importance
A of diffraction in any
Fresnel number, F =
z situation
A reasonable rule: F<0.01, the screen is in the far
field
Depends to some extent on the situation
F>>1 corresponds to geometrical optics
Small features in the aperture can be in the far
field even if the entire aperture is not
Illumination of aperture affects pattern also

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 screen Imaging and diffraction observing
with Lens Image of aperture
aperture screen at
image of
plane P

Diffraction pattern
at some plane, P
Image on screen is image of diffraction pattern at P
Same pattern as diffraction from a real aperture at image location
except:
Distance from image to screen modified due to imaging equation
Magnification of aperture is different from magnification of diffraction
pattern
Important: for screen exactly at the image plane there is no
diffraction (except for effects introduced by lens aperture)
LASERS 51 April 03
 Imaging and far-field diffraction
screen Lens observing
with screen
aperture

Looking from the aperture, the observing screen

appears to be located at infinity. Therefore, the
far-field pattern appears on the screen even though
the distance is quite finite.

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 Fresnel and Fraunhofer diffraction
Fraunhofer diffraction = infinite observation distance
In practice often at focal point of a lens
If a lens is not used the observation distance must be large
(Fresnel number small, <0.01)
Fresnel diffraction must be used in all other cases
The Fresnel and Fraunhofer regions are used as synonyms
for near field and far field, respectively
In Fresnel region, geometric optics can be used for the most part;
wave optics is manifest primarily near edges, see first viewgraph
In Fraunhofer region, light distribution bears no similarity to
geometric optics (except for symmetry!)
Math in Fresnel region slightly more complicated
mathematical treatment in either region is beyond the scope of this course

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 Fraunhofer diffraction at
small
a slit Observation
Traditional (pre laser) Light source slit screen
source Collimating Diffracting
setup lens slit
source is nearly
monochromatic
Condenser lens collects
light f1 f2
Condenser
Focusing
lens
lens
Source slit creates point source
produces spatial coherence at the second slit
Collimating lens images source back to infinity
laser, a monochromatic, spatially coherent source, replaces all this
second slit is diffracting aperture whose pattern we want
Focusing lens images Fraunhofer pattern (at infinity) onto
screen
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 Fraunhofer diffraction by slitzeros
Wavelets radiate in all
directions field radiated by
Point D in focal plane is at wavelets at angle
angle from slit, D=f
D=
Light from each wavelet f
radiated in direction arrives d
/2
at D
Distance travelled is different for
each wavelet Slit
Interference between the light width = d
from all the wavelets gives the f
diffraction patter
Zeros can be determined easily
If =/d, each wavelet pairs with one exactly out of phase
Complete destructive interference
additional zeros for other multiples of , evenly spaced zeros
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 Fraunhofer diffraction by slitcomplete
pattern
slit

Diffraction pattern,
short exposure time

Diffraction pattern,
longer exposure time

Evenly spaced zeros

Central maximum brightest, twice as wide as
others
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 Multiple slit diffraction
In multiple slit patterns discussed earlier, each slit
produces a diffraction pattern
Result: Multiple slit interference pattern is
superimposed over single slit diffraction pattern

Three-slit interference
pattern with single-slit
diffraction included
Intensity

position on screen
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 Fraunhofer diffraction by other apertures
Rectangular aperture
Diffraction in each direction is
just like that of a slit
corresponding to width in that
direction
Narrow direction gives widest
fringes
Circular aperture
circular rings
central maximum brightest
zeros are not equally spaced
diameter of first zero=2.44f2/d
where d= diameter of aperture
Note: this is 2.44f/#
angle=1.22/d
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 Resolution of optical systems Observation
small screen
Same optical system Light
source source slit
Collimating
as shown previously lens

without diffracting slit

produces image of
source slit on
observing screen f1 f2
Condenser
magnification f2/f1 lens Focusing
lens

Weve assumed before that the source slit is very small,

lets not assume that any more
each point on source slit gives a point of light on screen
if we put the diffracting aperture back in, each point gives rise to
its own diffraction pattern, of the diffracting slit
ideal point image is therefore smeared
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 Resolution of optical systems (cont.)
With two source screen with
Observation
Light screen
slits we can ask the source
two source slits
Collimating
question, will we see lens Diffracting
slit
two images on the
observation screen
or just a diffraction
pattern? Condenser
f1 f2

Focusing
Main lobe of lens
lens
pattern due to Rayleigh criterion-images are just
one slit resolved if minimum of one
coincides with peak of neighbor
Answer: If the spacing between the images is larger
than the diffraction pattern, then we see images of two
slits, i.e. they are resolved. Otherwise they are not
distinguishable
LASERS 51 and we only see a diffraction pattern April 03
 Resolution of optical systems (cont.)
Limiting aperture is usually a round aperture stop, so
Rayleigh criterion is found using diffraction pattern of a
round aperture
1.22f
minimum resolvable distance = R = = 1.22f /#
D
f= focal length
D=diameter of aperture stop
R= distance spots which are just resolved
Diffraction Limited System: Resolution of an optical system
may be worse than this due to aberrations, ie not all rays
from source point fall on image point. An optical system for
which aberrations are low enough to be negligible
compared to diffraction is a diffraction limited system.
If geometrical spot size is 2 times size of diffraction spot,
LASERS 51 then system is 2x diffraction limited, or 2 XDL April 03
 Resolution of spots and Rayleigh limit

A
Well resolved
A
Rayleigh limit
A
Slightly closer, are you
sure its really two spots?
At the Rayleigh limit, two spots can be
unambiguously identified, but spots only slightly
closer merge into a blur

LASERS 51 April 03
 Diffraction of laser beams
Till now, disscussion has been of uniformly illuminated
apertures
mathematical diffraction theory can treat non-uniform
illumination and even non-plane waves
A TEM00 laser beam has a Gaussian rather than uniform
intensity pattern
no edge to measure from so we use 1/e2 radius, w
wo is radius where beam is smallest (waist size)
relatively simple formulae for diffraction apply both in near field
(Fresnel) and far field (Fraunhofer) zones
only far field result will be presented here

far field divergence half angle, =
w0
z
far field beam radius, w =
w0
LASERS 51 April 03
 Diffraction losses in laser resonators
2a

Light bounces back and forth between mirrors

Spreads due to diffraction as it propagates
Some diffracted light misses mirror and is not fed back
Resonator Fresnel Number measures diffraction losses
If index of refraction in
a 2
F= laser resonator is not 1,
L multiply by n

LASERS 51 April 03