Diffraction from

small and large

circular
Far-field
apertures intensity pattern
from a small
aperture

Recall the Scale Theorem!

This is the Uncertainty
Principle for diffraction.
Far-field
intensity pattern
from a large
aperture
Diffraction
Shadow of a
Light does not hand
always travel in a illuminated
straight line. by a
Helium-
Neon laser
It tends to bend
around objects.
This tendency is
called diffraction.

Any wave will do Shadow of

this, including a zinc oxide
matter waves and crystal
acoustic waves. illuminated
by a
electrons
 Real diffraction
gratings
m= m= m
-1 0 m=
=1
2 Diffracted
white light

White light diffracted by

a real grating. The dots on a CD are equally
Diffractio
spaced (although some are missing,
n of course), so it acts like a diffraction
grating.
gratings
Diffraction Limit
Why it’s hard to see diffraction
Diffraction tends to cause ripples at edges. But poor source
temporal or spatial coherence masks them.
Example: a large spatially incoherent source (like the sun) casts
blurry shadows, masking the diffraction ripples.

Screen
with hole Untilted rays
yield a perfect
shadow of the
hole, but off-axis
rays blur the
shadow.

A point source is required.

Diffraction of a
wave by a slit

λ = slit size
Whether waves in water or
electromagnetic radiation in air,
passage through a slit yields a
diffraction pattern that will appear
more dramatic as the size of the λ < slit size
slit approaches the wavelength of
the wave.

λ ≈ slit size
Diffraction of ocean water waves
Ocean waves passing through slits in Tel Aviv, Israel

Diffraction occurs for all waves, whatever the phenomenon.

Diffraction

Transmission
by an Edge
x

Even without
a small slit,
diffraction can
Light
be strong. passing
Simple by edge
propagation
past an edge
yields an
unintuitive
irradiance Electrons
pattern. passing by
an edge
(Mg0 crystal)
Radio waves diffract around mountains.

When the
wavelength is
km long, a
mountain peak is
a very sharp
edge!

Another effect
that occurs is
scattering, so
diffraction’s role
is not obvious.
Diffraction Geometry
We wish to find the light electric field after a screen with a hole in it.
This is a very general problem with far-reaching applications.

y0 A(x0,y0) y1
x0
x1

0
P1

Incident
wave This region is assumed to be
much smaller than this one.

What is E(x1,y1) at a distance z from the plane of the aperture?

The Uncertainty Principle in Diffraction!

E ( kx , k y ) ∝ F {A( x, y) E( x, y)} kx = k x1/z

Because the diffraction pattern is the Fourier transform of the slit,

there’s an uncertainty principle between the slit width and diffraction
pattern width!
If the input field is a plane wave and Dx = Dx0 is the slit width,

Δx Δk x > 1
Or:

Δx0 Δx1 > z / k

The smaller the slit, the larger the diffraction angle and the bigger
the diffraction pattern!
Fraunhofer Diffraction from a slit
Fraunhofer Diffraction from a slit is simply the Fourier Transform of a
rect function, which is a sinc function. The irradiance is then sinc2 .
Fraunhofer
Diffraction
from a Square
Aperture

The diffracted field Diffracted

is a sinc function in irradiance
both x1 and y1
because the Fourier
transform of a rect
function is sinc.
Diffracted
field
Diffraction from a A circular aperture
yields a diffracted
Circular Aperture "Airy Pattern,"
which involves a
Bessel function.

Diffracted Irradiance

Diffracted field
Diffraction from
small and large
circular
Far-field
apertures intensity pattern
from a small
aperture

Recall the Scale Theorem!

This is the Uncertainty
Principle for diffraction.
Far-field
intensity pattern
from a large
aperture
 Fraunhofer diffraction
from two slits
w w

-a 0 a x0
A(x0) = rect[(x0+a)/w] + rect[(x0-a)/w]

E ( x1 ) ∝ F { A( x0 )}

∝ sinc[w(kx1 / z ) / 2]exp[+ia( kx1 / z )] +

sinc[w(kx1 / z ) / 2]exp[ −ia(kx1 / z )]

kx1/z
E ( x1 ) ∝ sinc(wkx1 / 2 z ) cos(akx1 / z )
Diffraction from one- and two-slit screens

Fraunhofer diffraction patterns

One slit

Two slits
 Diffraction Gratings

•Scattering ideas explain what happens

when light impinges on a periodic array of a
Scatterer
grooves. Constructive interference occurs if
D
the delay between adjacent beamlets is an
C qm
integral number, m, of wavelengths.

qm
qi a
Incident B
wave-front
Path difference: AB – CD = ml

Potential
A diffracted
qi wave-front
a [sin(θ m ) − sin(θi )] = mλ AB = a sin(qm)
Scatterer
CD = a sin(qi)
where m is any integer.
A grating has solutions of zero, one, or many values of m, or orders.
Remember that m and qm can be negative, too.
Diffraction orders Because the diffraction angle depends on l,
different wavelengths are separated in the
nonzero orders.

Diffraction angle, qm(l) First order

No
Incidence Zeroth order wavelength
angle, qi dependence
occurs in zero
Minus first order.
order

The longer the wavelength, the larger its deflection in each nonzero
order.
 Real diffraction
gratings
m= m= m
-1 0 m=
=1
2 Diffracted
white light

White light diffracted by

a real grating. The dots on a
Diffractio CD are equally
n spaced
gratings (although some
World’s largest diffraction grating

Lawrence Livermore National Lab