University Physics with Modern Physics

Fifteenth Edition

Chapter 36
Diffraction

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Learning Outcomes
In this chapter, you’ll learn…
• how to calculate the intensity at various points in a single-
slit diffraction pattern.
• what happens when coherent light shines on an array of
narrow, closely spaced slits.
• how x-ray diffraction reveals the arrangement of atoms in a
crystal.
• how diffraction sets limits on the smallest details that can
be seen with an optical system.
• how holograms work.
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Introduction
• Flies have compound eyes with
thousands of miniature lenses, each only
about 20 μm in diameter.
• Due to the wave-nature of light, the
ability of a lens to resolve fine details
improves as the lens diameter D
increases.
• Each miniature lens in a fly’s eye has
very poor resolution, compared to those
produced by a human eye, because the
lens is so small.
• We’ll continue our exploration of the
wave nature of light with diffraction.

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Diffraction
• According to geometric optics,
when an opaque object is placed
between a point light source and
a screen, the shadow of the
object forms a perfectly sharp
line.
• However, the wave nature of light
causes interference patterns,
which blur the edge of the
shadow.
• This is one effect of diffraction.

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Diffraction and Huygen's Principle
• This photograph was made by
placing a razor blade halfway
between a pinhole, illuminated by
monochromatic light, and a
photographic film.
• The film recorded the shadow cast
by the blade.
• Note the fringe pattern around the
blade outline, which is caused by
diffraction.

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Diffraction from a Single Slit (1 of 2)

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Diffraction from a Single Slit (2 of 2)

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Fresnel Diffraction by a Single Slit

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Fraunhofer Diffraction by a Single Slit

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Locating the Dark Fringes
• Shown is the Fraunhofer diffraction
pattern from a single horizontal slit.
• It is characterized by a central bright
fringe centered at θ = 0, surrounded by
a series of dark fringes.
• The central bright fringe is twice as
wide as the other bright fringes.

• Video Tutor Solution: Example 36.1

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Intensity in the Single-Slit Pattern (1 of 2)
• We can derive an expression for
the intensity distribution for the
single-slit diffraction pattern by
using phasor-addition.
• We imagine a plane wave front
at the slit subdivided into a large
number of strips.
• At the point O, the phasors are
all in phase.

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Intensity in the Single-Slit Pattern (2 of 2)
• Now consider wavelets arriving
from different strips at point P.
• Because of the differences in
path length, there are now
phase differences between
wavelets coming from adjacent
strips.
• The vector sum of the phasors
is now part of the perimeter of a
many-sided polygon.

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Intensity Maxima in a Single-Slit
Pattern
• Shown is the intensity versus angle
in a single-slit diffraction pattern.
• Most of the wave power goes into
the central intensity peak (between
the m = 1 and m = −1 intensity
minima).

• Video Tutor Solution: Example 36.2

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Width of the Single-Slit Pattern (1 of 2)
• The single-slit diffraction pattern depends on the ratio
of the slit width a to the wavelength .
• Below is the pattern when a = .

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Width of the Single-Slit Pattern (2 of 2)
• The single-slit diffraction pattern depends on the ratio of
the slit width a to the wavelength .
• Below are the patterns when a = 5 (left) and a = 8
(right).

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Two Slits of Finite Width (1 of 2)
• Figure (a) shows the intensity in a
single-slit diffraction pattern with slit
width a.
• The diffraction minima are labeled by
the integer md = ±1, ±2, … (“d” for
“diffraction”).
• Figure (b) shows the pattern formed
by two very narrow slits with distance
d between slits, where d is four times
as great as the single-slit width a.
• “i” is for “interference.”

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Two Slits of Finite Width (2 of 2)
• Figure (c) shows the pattern from two
slits with width a, separated by a
distance (between centers) d = 4a.
• The two-slit peaks are in the same
positions as before, but their intensities
are modulated by the single-slit
pattern, which acts as an “envelope”
for the intensity function.
• Figure (d) shows the pattern, which is
both from diffraction and interference.

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Several Slits
• Shown is an array of eight
narrow slits, with distance
d between adjacent slits.
• Constructive interference
occurs for rays at angle θ
to the normal that arrive at
point P with a path
difference between
adjacent slits equal to an
integer number of
wavelengths.

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Interference Pattern of Several
Slits (1 of 2)
• Shown is the result of a
detailed calculation of
the eight-slit pattern.
• The large maxima, called
principal maxima, are in
the same positions as for
a two-slit pattern, but are
much narrower.

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Interference Pattern of Several
Slits (2 of 2)
• Shown is the result for 16
slits.
• The height of each principal
maximum is proportional to
N 2, so from energy
conservation, the width of
each principal maximum
1
must be proportional to N .

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The Diffraction Grating
• An array of a large number of parallel
slits is called a diffraction grating.
• In the figure, GG ' is a cross section of a
transmission grating.
• The slits are perpendicular to the plane
of the page.
• The diagram shows only six slits; an
actual grating may contain several
thousand.

• Video Tutor Solution: Example 36.4

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The Reflection Grating
• The rainbow-colored reflections from the
surface of a DVD are a reflection-grating
effect.
• The “grooves” are tiny pits 0.12 mm
deep in the surface of the disc, with a
uniform radial spacing of 0.74 mm = 740
nm.
• Information is coded on the DVD by
varying the length of the pits.
• The reflection-grating aspect of the disc
is merely an aesthetic side benefit.

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Diagram of a Grating Spectrograph

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Resolution of a Grating Spectrograph
• In spectroscopy it is often important to distinguish slightly
differing wavelengths.
• The minimum wavelength difference  that can be
distinguished by a spectrograph is described by the
chromatic resolving power R.
• For a grating spectrograph with a total of N slits, used in the
m th order, the chromatic resolving power is:

R= = Nm


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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.

• Video Tutor Solution: Example 36.5

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A Simple Model of X-Ray Diffraction
• To better understand x-ray
diffraction, we consider a
two-dimensional scattering
situation.
• The path length from source
to observer is the same for
all the scatterers in a single
row if θa = θr = θ.

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Circular Apertures
• The diffraction pattern formed by a circular aperture
consists of a central bright spot surrounded by a series of
bright and dark rings.

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Diffraction by a Circular Aperture
• The central bright spot in the
diffraction pattern of a circular
aperture is called the Airy disk.
• We can describe the radius of the
Airy disk by the angular radius θ1 of
the first dark ring:

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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.
• A widely used criterion for resolution of
two point objects, is called Rayleigh’s
criterion:
– Two objects are just barely resolved (that
is, distinguishable) if the center of one
diffraction pattern coincides with the first
minimum of the other.

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Bigger Telescope, Better Resolution
• Because of diffraction, large-diameter telescopes,
such as the VLA radio telescope below, give sharper
images than small ones.

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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.

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Viewing the Hologram
• A hologram is the record on film of
the interference pattern formed with
light from the coherent source and
light scattered from the object.
• Images are formed when light is
projected through the hologram.
• The observer sees the virtual image
formed behind the hologram.

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An Example of Holography
• Shown below are photographs of a holographic image from
two different angles, showing the changing perspective.

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