FRESNEL AND FRAUNHOFFER DIFFRACTION

Presenter: Doshi Siddharth Kalpesh

Department of Physics
School of Applied Sciences
DIFFRACTION

Bending of light across the edges of an obstacle is called as diffraction.

Or

It is the encroachment of light in the region of geometrical shadow of an obstacle.

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TYPESOF
TYPES OFDIFFRACTION

• FRESNEL DIFFRACTION • FRAUNHOFER DIFFRACTION

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DIFFRACTION PROBLEM

We wish to find the light electric field after a screen with a hole in it, i.e., E(x0,y0) at a distance z from the
plane of the aperture

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 Each point (x1, y1) in the aperture emits a
spherical wave, with amplitude determined by
the wave incident on the aperture.

The net field at the point (x0, y0) is therefore given by a superposition:

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Free Space
Green’s Function

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we can factor z out of the square root in the expression for r01 :

we assume that the aperture is small compared to the distance z, so that z>> x0 − x1 and y0 − y1 .
using the Taylor expansion:

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Thus, we have:

Multiplying out the squares, and factoring out the constants:

If the incident wave is a plane wave, then:

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Instead of writing an integral over an aperture, we will explicitly write the aperture function in the integral:

Neglecting the factors in front of the integral, to obtain:

This is the Fresnel Diffraction integral.

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FRESNEL DIFFRACTION FOR A SLIT

Here the diffracting aperture is assumed to lie in the (ξ,η) plane,

and is illuminated in the positive z direction.
Also, the wavefield across the (x,y) plane, is parallel to the (ξ,η)
plane and at normal distance z from it. The z axis pierces both
planes at their origins.

The Fresnel integral for this one-dimensional problem:

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The aperture function is given by:

So, Our integral becomes

Upon defining new variables

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we define a dimensionless quantity known as the “Fresnel number”:

Where irradiance,

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FRESNEL DIFFRACTION PATTERN FOR DIFFERENT APERTURES

Circular Aperture 2 Slit Aperture Square Aperture

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DIFFRACTION REGIMES

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SIMPLIFICATION OF FRESNEL DIFFRACTION

From Fresnel diffraction result:

Let D be the largest dimension of the aperture: D2 = max(x12 + y12)

Our first step, which allowed us to obtain the Fresnel result, was the paraxial approximation:
This integral simplifies a lot if only we could neglect the quadratic terms x12 and y12

So D/z is not merely required to be less than 1, but is required to be less than λ/πD, which is generally
smaller than one for visible light.
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Now, if the aperture is a slit of width D = 2b, this condition becomes:

As,

Then, the new approximation is equal to 4πN << 1.

Apply this approximation: to the Fresnel diffraction result:

In this case, the quadratic terms are tiny, so we can ignore them.

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FRAUNHOFER DIFFRACTION FROM A SINGLE SLIT

• Consider the geometry shown below. Assume that the slit is very long in the direction perpendicular to
the page so that we can neglect diffraction effects in the perpendicular direction.

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The contribution to the electric field amplitude at point P due to the wavelet emanating from the element
ds in the slit is given by:

Let r=r0 for the source element ds at s=0. Then,

We let where dE0= ELds is the electric field amplitude, assumed uniform over the width of the slit.
The path difference ∆=s sinθ.

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FRAUNHOFER DIFFRACTION PATTERN FROM A SINGLE
SLIT

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DIFFERENT APERTURES

Rectangular Aperture

Circular Aperture

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FRAUNHOFER DIFFRACTION FROM DOUBLE SLIT

• In case of double slit all we need to do is change the limits,

upon integrating we obtain

Where

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FRAUNHOFER DIFFRACTION PATTERN FROM DOUBLE
SLIT

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FRAUNHOFER DIFFRACTION PATTERN FROM MULTIPLE SLIT

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REFRENCES:

1. Fresnel Diffraction Diagram - Bing images

2. Fraunhofer diffraction equation – Wikipedia
3. Frounhoffer-Diffraction-By-Dr-Nutan-Mishra-1.pdf (arsdcollege.ac.in)
4. Microsoft PowerPoint - 11-Fraunhofer diffraction.ppt (hanyang.ac.kr)
5. (sheffield.ac.uk)
6. a-textbook-of-optics-by-n-subrahmanyam-andbrij-lal-www-euelibrary-com
7. Optics by Ajoy Ghatak
8. 4.1.1 Scalar Diffraction Theory (tuwien.ac.at)
9. lecture31 (brown.edu)
10. lecture30 (brown.edu)
11. cpb_26_5_054202_f1.jpg (1004×549) (iphy.ac.cn)

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REFRENCES:

12. Fresnel Diffraction Applet (falstad.com)

13. lecture32 (brown.edu)
14.
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Michat_Oszmaniec/publication/1913360/figure/download/fig1/AS:279462936
629287@1443640564779/Successive-photographs-of-transition-between-Fresnel-and-Fraunhofer-diffraction-
patterns.png
15. M. Born and E. Wolf.
Principles of Optics.
Pergamon Press, Oxford, United Kingdom, 6 th ed., 1993.

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Thank you