*INTRODUCTION

The phenomenon of diffraction was first documented in

1665 by the Italian Francesco Maria Grimaldi. The use of
lasers has only become common in the last few
decades. The laser's ability to produce a narrow beam of
coherent monochromatic radiation in the visible light range
makes it ideal for use in diffraction experiments: the
diffracted light forms a clear pattern that is easily
measured. As light, or any wave, passes a barrier, the
waveform is distorted at the boundary edge. If the wave
passes through a gap, more obvious distortion can be
seen. As the gap width approaches the wavelength of
the wave, the distortion becomes even more obvious.
This process is known as diffraction. If the diffracted
light is projected onto a screen some distance away,
then interference between the light waves create a
distinctive pattern (the diffraction pattern ) on the
screen.
NATURE OF DIFFRACTION
• The phenomenon of diffraction was first documented in 1665
by the Italian Francesco Maria Grimaldi. The use of lasers
has only become common in the last few decades. The
laser's ability to produce a narrow beam of coherent
monochromatic radiation in the visible light range makes it
ideal for use in diffraction experiments: the diffracted light
forms a clear pattern that is easily measured. As light, or any
wave, passes a barrier, the waveform is distorted at the
boundary edge. If the wave passes through a gap, more
obvious distortion can be seen. As the gap width
approaches the wavelength of the wave, the distortion
becomes even more obvious. This process is known as
diffraction. If the diffracted light is projected onto a screen
some distance away, then interference between the light
waves create a distinctive pattern (the diffraction pattern
) on the screen. The nature of the diffraction
 DIFFRACTION
• WHAT IS DIFFRACTION ?
• When parallel waves of light are obstructed by a very
small object (i.e. sharp edge, slit, wire, etc.), the waves
spread around the edges of the obstruction and interfere,
resulting in a pattern of dark and light fringe
• WHAT DOES DEFFRATION LOOK LIKE ?
• When light diffracts off of the edge of an object, it creates
a pattern of light referred to as a diffraction pattern. If a
monochromatic light source, such as a laser, is used to
observe diffraction, below are some examples of diffraction
patterns that are created by certain objects.
DIFFRACTION PATTERN
• When light diffracts off of the edge of an object, it creates
a pattern of light referred to as a diffraction pattern. If a
monochromatic light source, such as a laser, is used to
observe diffraction, below are some examples of diffraction
patterns that are created by certain objects.

• section we shall take the width of slit to be finite and see

how Fraunhofer diffraction arises. Let a source of
monochromatic light be incident on a slit of finite width
• FIGURE:- Diffraction of light by a slit of width a In diffraction of
Fraunhofer type, all rays passing through the slit are
approximately parallel. In addition, each portion of the slit
will act as a source of light waves according to Huygens’s
principle. For simplicity we divide the slit into two halves. At
the first minimum, each ray from the upper half will be
exactly 180 out of phase with a corresponding ray form the
lower half. For example, suppose there are 100 point sources
• , with the first 50 in the lower half, and 51 to 100 in the upper half.
Source 1 and source 51 are separated by a distance and are out
of phase with a path difference ° a / 2 δ = λ / 2 . Similar
observation applies to source 2 and source 52, as well as any
pair that are a distance a / 2 apart. Thus, the condition for the first
minimum is

• Applying the same reasoning to the wavefronts from four equally

spaced points a distance a / 4 apart, the path difference would be δ =
a sinθ / 4 , and the condition for destructive interference is

• .
• the argument can be generalized to show that
destructive interference will occur when

Figure 2 illustrates the intensity distribution for a single-slit

diffraction. Note that θ = 0 is a maximum
• By comparing we see that the condition for minima of a
single-slit diffraction becomes the condition for maxima of a
double-slit interference when the width of a single slit a
is
replaced by the separation between the two slits d. The
reason is that in the double-slit case, the slits are taken to
be so small that each one is considered as a single light
source, and the interference of waves originating within the
same slit can be neglected. On the other hand, the minimum
condition for the single-slit diffraction is obtained precisely
by taking into consideration the interference of waves that
originate within the same slit.

• SINGLE SLIT INTERFERENCE

• How do we determine the intensity distribution for the
pattern produced by a single-slit diffraction? To calculate
this, we must find the total electric field by adding the field
contributions from each point. Let’s divide the single slit.Into N
small zones each of width ∆y a = / N , as shown in Figure
14.6.1. The convex lens is used to bring parallel light rays to a
focal point P on the screen. We shall assume that ∆y
• Figure 3 ; single slit fraunhofer diffraction
• suppose the wavefront from the first point arrive at the the
point P on he screen with an electric field given by

• Electric field from point 2

• INTENSITY OF SINGLE SLIT