Chapter 36

Diffraction

PowerPoint® Lectures for

University Physics, Thirteenth Edition
– Hugh D. Young and Roger A. Freedman

Lectures by Wayne Anderson

Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education Inc.
 Goals for Chapter 36
• To see how a sharp edge or an aperture affect light

• To analyze single-slit diffraction and calculate the

intensity of the light
• To investigate the effect on light of many closely
spaced slits
• To learn how scientists use diffraction gratings

• To see what x-ray diffraction tells us about crystals

• To learn how diffraction places limits on the

resolution of a telescope
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 Introduction
• How can we use coherent light to
visually see the difference in pit
density on CDs, DVDs and Blu-
Ray disks?
• Why does light from a point source
form light and dark fringes when it
shines on a razor blade?
• We will continue our exploration
of the wave nature of light with
diffraction.
• And we will see how to form
three-dimensional images using a
hologram.

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 Diffraction
• According to geometric optics, a light source shining on an
object in front of a screen should cast a sharp shadow.
Surprisingly, this does not occur because of diffraction.

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 Diffraction and Huygen’s Principle
• Huygens’s principle can be used to analyze diffraction.

• Fresnel diffraction: Source, screen, and obstacle are close

together.
• Fraunhofer diffraction: Source, screen, and obstacle are far
apart.
• Figure 36.2 below shows the diffraction pattern of a razor blade.

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 Diffraction from a single slit
• In Figure 36.3 below, the prediction of geometric optics in
(a) does not occur. Instead, a diffraction pattern is produced,
as in (b).

• The narrower the slit, the broader the diffraction pattern.

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 Fresnel and Fraunhofer diffraction by a single slit

• Figure 36.4 below shows Fresnel (near-field) and

Frauenhofer (far-field) diffraction for a single slit.

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 Locating the dark fringes
• Follow the single-slit diffraction discussion in the text.
• Figure 36.5 below shows the geometry for Fraunhofer
diffraction.

 a / 2  sin    / 2

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 An example of single-slit diffraction
• Figure 36.6 (bottom left) is a photograph of a Fraunhofer pattern of a single
horizontal slit.
• Example 36.1: You pass 633-nm light through a narrow slit and observe the
diffraction pattern on a screen 6.0 m away. The distance at the screen
between the center and the first minima on either side is 32 mm long. How
wide is the slit?
xm (6000 mm)(0.000633 mm)
ym   a  0.24 mm
a 32 mm

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 Intensity in the single-slit pattern
• Follow the text discussion of the intensity in the single-slit
pattern using the phasor diagrams in Figure 36.8 below.

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 Movie Showing Development of the Pattern
• In the movie, the blue “circle”
represents the E vectors from
each section of the slit, as we
move along different positions
on the screen.
• The green line represents the
resultant vector Ep from
adding all of the individual
vectors.
• The red line is the x-
component of Ep, or Epcos.
• The cyan line merely traces
out Epcos along the screen.
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 Quantitative Intensity in the single-slit pattern
• Follow the text discussion of the intensity in the single-slit pattern using the
phasor diagrams in Figure 36.8 below.
• The angle  is the phase angle of the ray
from the top of the slit, while the phase
angle from the bottom of the slit is 0. The
vectors lie along a circle whose center is at
C, so Ep is a chord of the circle. The arc
length E0 is subtended by this same angle
, so the radius of the circle is E0/.
• From the diagram,
E0  sin  / 2
Ep  2 sin  E0
 2  /2
• Since
2
 a sin 


• We have 2
 sin  a  sin   /   
I  I0   (sinc function)
  a  sin   /  
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 Intensity maxima in a single-slit pattern
• Figure 36.9 at the right shows the intensity versus
angle in a single-slit diffraction pattern.
• The minima occur when  is a multiple of 2, i.e.
at
a sin 
 m (m  1,  2,  3, ...)

• The location of the maxima are found by taking the
derivative of 2
 sin  a  sin   /   
I  I0  
  a  sin   /  
and setting it to zero. Surprisingly, these are not
precisely where   (2m  1) (m  0, 1, 2, ...)
• In fact, there are no maximum for m = 0 in this
expression. The central maximum is wider than
the others, and occurs at  = 0.
• Using these approximate values of  in the
intensity, we find I m  I0
 m  12 
2
2
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 Width of the single-slit pattern
• The single-slit diffraction pattern depends on the ratio of the slit width a to the
wavelength .

• Example 36.2: (a) The intensity at the center of a single-slit diffraction pattern is
I0. What is the intensity at a point in the pattern where there is a 66-radian phase
difference between wavelets from the two edges of the slit? (b) If this point is 7
degrees from the central maximum, how many wavelengths across is the slit?
2
 sin  a  sin   /     sin  33 rad  
2
• (a) 4
I  I0    I0    9.2  10 I 0
  a  sin   /    33 rad 

• (b)  a  sin   33 rad

 33 rad  a    86
   sin 7 

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 Two slits of finite width
• When we discussed two-slit interference in Chapter 35, we
ignored the width of each slit. When we demonstrated it,
however, we saw clearly the effect of the slit widths.
• The overall pattern of two finite-width slits is the product
of the two patterns, i.e.
  sin x
I  I 0sinc 2 cos 2 sinc  x  
2 2 x
where
2 d 2 a
 sin   sin 
 

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 Several slits
• In Figure 36.13 below, a lens is used to
give a Fraunhofer pattern on a nearby
screen. It’s function is to allow the pattern
to be seen nearby, without having the
screen really distant.
• The phasor diagrams show the electric
vectors from each slit at different screen
locations.

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 Interference pattern of several slits
• The figure below shows the interference pattern for 2, 8, and 16 equally
spaced narrow slits.

• By making the slits really close together, the maxima become more separated.
If the light falling on the slits contains more than one wavelength (color),
there will be more than one pattern, separated more or less according to
wavelength, although all colors have a maximum at m = 0.
• This means that the different orders make rainbows—separating wavelengths
into a spectrum, with the separation being greater for greater order m.

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 The diffraction grating
• A diffraction grating is an array of a large number of
slits having the same width and equal spacing. The
intensity maxima occur at
d sin   m

• Example 36.4: 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 2nd
and 3rd orders?
1 mm
• (a) distance between slits is d   1.67  106 m
600 slits
Violet light for 1st order occurs at
  arcsin   / d   arcsin  3.8 107 /1.67 106   13.2
Red light for 1st order occurs at
  arcsin   / d   arcsin  7.5 107 /1.67 106   26.7
• (b) recalculate for m = 2 and m = 3.
The 2nd-order spectrum extends from 27.1-63.9° while the 3rd order is from 43-90.
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 Grating spectrographs
• A diffraction grating can be used to disperse light into a spectrum.
• The greater the number of slits, the better the resolution.
• Figure 36.18(a) below shows our sun in visible light, and in (b) dispersed into a
spectrum by a diffraction grating. See description of Eschelle spectrograph:
http://www.vikdhillon.staff.shef.ac.uk/teaching/phy217/instruments/phy217_inst_echelle.html

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 Diagram of a grating spectrograph
• Figure 36.19 below shows a diagram of a diffraction-
grating spectrograph for use in astronomy.

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 X-ray diffraction
• When x rays pass through a crystal, the crystal behaves like
a diffraction grating, causing x-ray diffraction. Figure 36.20
below illustrates this phenomenon.

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 A simple model of x-ray diffraction
• Follow the text analysis using Figure 36.22 below.
• The Bragg condition for constructive interference is
2d sin = m.
• Follow Example 36.5.

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 Circular apertures
• An aperture of any shape forms a diffraction pattern.
• Figures 36.25 and 36.26 below illustrate diffraction by a circular
aperture. The airy disk is the central bright spot.
• The first dark ring occurs at an angle given by sin1 = 1.22 /D.

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 Diffraction and image formation
• Diffraction limits the
resolution of optical
equipment, such as
telescopes.
• The larger the aperture, the
better the resolution. Figure
36.27 (right) illustrates this
effect.

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 Bigger telescope, better resolution
• Because of diffraction, large-diameter telescopes, such as
the VLA radiotelescope below, give sharper images than
small ones.
• Follow Example 36.6.

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 What is holography?
• By using a beam splitter and mirrors, coherent laser light
illuminates an object from different perspectives.
Interference effects provide the depth that makes a three-
dimensional image from two-dimensional views. Figure
36.28 below illustrates this process.

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 How does holography work?
• Follow the text analysis using Figure 36.29 below.

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 An example of holography
• Figure 36.32 below shows photographs of a holographic
image from two different angles, showing the changing
perspective.

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