Lecture 1-2

Diffraction of waves
LECTURER
MR. M C Zulu
INTRODUCTION
 If you have ever looked at the reds, blues, and greens in a sunlit soap bubble and wondered how straw-
colored soapy water could produce them, you have hit upon one of the many phenomena that can only be
explained by the wave character of light
 In these cases, light interacts with objects and exhibits wave characteristics. The branch of optics that
considers the behavior of light when it exhibits wave characteristics is called wave optics (sometimes called
physical optics)
INTERFERENCE
 The Dutch physicist Christiaan Huygens (1629–1695) thought that light was a wave, but Isaac Newton did not.
 The acceptance of the wave character of light came many years later in 1801, when the English physicist and
physician Thomas Young (1773–1829) demonstrated optical interference with his now-classic double-slit
experiment.
 If there were not one but two sources of waves, the waves could be made to interfere, as in the case of waves on
water
INTERFERENCE CONT.
 To observe interference of waves from two sources, the following conditions must
be met:
1. The sources must be coherent; that is, they must maintain a constant phase with
respect to each other.
2. The sources should be monochromatic; that is, they should be of a single
wavelength.
YOUNG'S DOUBLE-SLIT INTERFERENCE
 Double slits produce two coherent sources of waves that

interfere.
 (a) Light spreads out (diffracts) from each slit, because the
slits are narrow. These waves overlap and interfere
constructively (bright lines) and destructively (dark regions).
We can only see this if the light falls onto a screen and is
scattered into our eyes.
 (b) When light that has passed through double slits falls on a
screen, we see a pattern such as this
YOUNG'S DOUBLE-SLIT INTERFERENCE CONT.
 Waves follow different paths from the slits to a
common point P on a screen. Destructive
interference occurs where one path is a half
wavelength longer than the other—the waves
start in phase but arrive out of phase.
 1
r   n    for n=0,  1,  2, 3..........
 2
 Constructive interference occurs where one path
is a whole wavelength longer than the other—the
waves start out and arrive in phase
r  n for n=0,  1,  2, 3..........
MATHEMATICS OF INTERFERENCE CONT.
 The Figure shows how to determine the

path length difference Δ𝑙 for waves
traveling from two slits to a common point
on a screen.
 (a) To reach P, the light waves from 𝑆1 and
𝑆2 must travel different distances. (b) The
path difference between the two rays is Δ𝑙.
 Simple trigonometry shows
l  d sin 
 Where d is the distance between the slits.
 Combining this with the interference equations discussed previously, we obtain interference
equations for a double slit when the path length difference is an integral multiple of the
wavelength,
 For constructive interference
Where
d sin   n  𝑛 = 0, ±1, ±2, ±3 … ,
 And we can obtain for destructive  𝜆 is the wavelength of the light,
 𝑑 is the distance between slits, and
 𝜃 is the angle from the original direction of the beam
as discussed above
 1 We call 𝑛 the order of the interference. For example,

d sin    n    𝑛 = 4 is fourth-order interference.
 2
 Double-slit interference imply that a series

of bright and dark lines are formed. For
vertical slits, the light spreads out
horizontally on either side of the incident
beam into a pattern called interference
fringes.
 The closer the slits are, the more the bright
fringes spread apart.
ym
Since 𝜃 is typically small enough that sin   tan   d sin   n
n D D
ym 
d
Where 𝑦𝑚 is the distance from the central maximum to the n-th bright fringe and D is the distance
between the slit and the screen
EXAMPLE
 In a double-slit experiment using light from a helium–neon laser, a student

obtained the following results: width of 10 fringes 𝑦𝑚 = 1.5 cm, separation of
slits d = 1.0 mm, slit-to-screen distance D = 2.40 m. Calculate the wavelength
of the light in nm.
n D
ym 
d
ym d (1.5 102 )(1103 )

   6.25  107 m  625nm
nD (10)(2.40)
TASK
 Suppose you pass light from a He-Ne laser through two slits separated by 0.0100 mm and find that
the third bright line on a screen is formed at an angle of 10.95° relative to the incident beam.
a) What is the wavelength of the light?
b) Interference patterns do not have an infinite number of lines, since there is a limit to how big n can
be. What is the highest-order constructive interference possible with the system described in the
question?
DIFFRACTION
 Imagine passing a monochromatic light beam through a narrow opening—a slit just a little wider
than the wavelength of the light. Instead of a simple shadow of the slit on the screen, you will see
that an interference pattern appears, even though there is only one slit.
The figure shows that a steel ball bearing illuminated by a laser does not cast a sharp, circular shadow. Instead, a
series of diffraction fringes and a central bright spot are observed. This is Known as Poisson’s spot.
DIFFRACTION THROUGH A SINGLE SLIT
 Light passing through a single slit forms a diffraction pattern
somewhat different from those formed by double slits
 The Figure shows a single-slit diffraction pattern. Note that the
central maximum is larger than maxima on either side and that the
intensity decreases rapidly on either side
 We can shown that the destructive interference equation for a
single slit is a sin   n
where
𝑚 = ±1, ±2, ±3, … ,
𝑎 is the slit width,
𝜆 is the light’s wavelength,
𝜃 is the angle relative to the original direction of the light, and
n is the order of the minimum.
EXAMPLE
 Visible light of wavelength 550 nm falls on a single

slit and produces its second diffraction minimum at
an angle of 45.0° relative to the incident direction of
the light, as in the Figure.
a) What is the width of the slit?
b) At what angle is the first minimum produced?
EXAMPLE CONT.
 Strategy
 From the given information, and assuming the screen is far away from the slit, we can use the
equation asin𝜃 = 𝑛𝜆 first to find a, and again to find the angle for the first minimum 𝜃1 .
a sin   n
n 2  550nm 
a   1.56  106 m
sin  2 sin 45.0
b) At what angle is the first minimum produced?
n 1(550 109 m)
sin 1   6
a 1.56 10 m
1  sin 1 (0.354)  20.7
DIFFRACTION GRATINGS
 Analyzing the interference of light

passing through two slits lays out the
theoretical framework of interference
and gives us a historical insight into
Thomas Young’s experiments.
 However, much of the modern-day
application of slit interference uses
not just two slits but many,
approaching infinity for practical
purposes.
butterfly wings have rows of reflectors that act like reflection gratings, reflecting different colors at different angles.
DIFFRACTION GRATINGS CONT.
 Diffraction gratings work both for transmission of light,

and for reflection of light.
 In reality, the number of slits is not infinite, but it can be
very large—large enough to produce the equivalent effect.
 (a) Light passing through a diffraction grating is diffracted
in a pattern similar to a double slit, with bright regions at
various angles.
 (b) The pattern obtained for white light incident on a
grating. The central maximum is white, and the higher-
order maxima disperse white light into a rainbow of colors.
 monochromatic light from a laser is incident normally on a transmission diffraction grating. In the space
beyond, interference fringes are formed.
 The bright fringes are also referred to as maxima. The central fringe is called the zeroth-order maximum, the
next fringe is the first-order maximum, and so on. The pattern is symmetrical, so there are two first order
maxima, two second-order maxima, and so on.
 By measuring the angles at which the maxima occur, we can determine
the wavelength λ of the incident monochromatic light. The wavelength λ is
related to the angle θ by the equation:
d sin   n
 where d is the separation between adjacent lines of the grating, θ is the
angle for the 𝑛𝑡ℎ -order maximum and λ is the wavelength of the
monochromatic light incident normally at the diffraction grating. n is known
as the order of the maximum; n can only have integer values 0, 1, 2, 3
and so on.
APPLICATIONS
 Diffraction gratings are key components of monochromators used,

for example, in optical imaging of particular wavelengths from
biological or medical samples.
 A diffraction grating can be chosen to specifically analyze a
wavelength emitted by molecules in diseased cells in a biopsy
sample or to help excite strategic molecules in the sample with a
selected wavelength of light.
 Diffraction grating is use in CDs and DVDs
EXAMPLE
 Monochromatic light is incident normally on a diffraction grating having 300 lines
𝑚𝑚−1 . The angle θ between the zeroth- and first-order maxima is measured to be
10.0°. Calculate the wavelength of the incident light.
d sin   n
d
1mm
 3.33  103 mm  3.33  106 m   10.0, n  1
300
d sin 
d sin   n  
n
3.33 106  sin10
  5.8  107 m  580nm
1
TASK
 Diffraction gratings with 10,000 lines per

centimeter are readily available. Suppose you have
one, and you send a beam of white light through it
to a screen 2.00 m away.
a) Find the angles for the first-order diffraction of the
shortest and longest wavelengths of visible light
(380 and 760 nm, respectively).
b) What is the distance between the ends of the
rainbow of visible light produced on the screen for
first-order interference?
End of Lecture 1-2

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Diffraction of waves

 Double slits produce two coherent sources of waves that

 The Figure shows how to determine the

 1 We call 𝑛 the order of the interference. For example,

 Double-slit interference imply that a series

 In a double-slit experiment using light from a helium–neon laser, a student

ym d (1.5 102 )(1103 )

 Visible light of wavelength 550 nm falls on a single

 Analyzing the interference of light

 Diffraction gratings work both for transmission of light,

 Diffraction gratings are key components of monochromators used,

 Diffraction gratings with 10,000 lines per

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