Diffraction at A Level

Diffraction is the spreading of waves when they pass through a gap or by an

edge. Particles would not do that so diffraction is evidence of the wave nature
of light. 
This general property of all waves is very important in the design of optical
instruments, such as cameras, microscopes and telescopes.
For example, when a telescope is used to observe planets, we can often see
features that are not evident when observed directly. This is partly because
less diffraction occurs when waves pass through a wide gap than through a
narrow gap. Therefore, because a telescope is much wider than the eye pupil,
much less diffraction occurs when using a telescope than when observing with
the unaided eye.
 
 Diffraction of water waves through a gap can be observed using a ripple

tank. 
This arrangement shows that the diffracted waves become more circular if:
the gap is made narrower, or
the wavelength is made larger.
Close examination of the diffracted waves reveals that the each diffracted
wavefront has breaks either side of the centre. These breaks are due to waves
diffracted by adjacent sections on the gap being out of phase and cancelling
each other out in certain directions.
Diffraction of light by a single slit can be demonstrated by directing a parallel
beam of light at the slit (a laser is good to use).
The diffracted light forms a pattern that can be observed on a white screen.
You see 'fringes' - bands of light (which from a laser are red) and no light
(which on the diagram are shown in black.
The pattern shows a central bright fringe with further dark and bright fringes
either side. The intensity of the fringes is greatest at the centre of the central
fringe. The central fringe is twice as wide as the others.
NOTE
the central fringe is twice as wide as each of the outer fringes (measured
from minimum to minimum intensity),
the peak intensity of each fringe decreases with distance from the centre,
each of the outer fringes is the same width,
the outer fringes are much less intense than the central fringe.
 If the single slit pattern is observed:
using different sources of monochromatic light in turn, the observations
show that the greater the wavelength, the wider the fringes,
using an adjustable slit, the observations show that making the slit narrower
makes the fringes wider.

It can be shown theoretically that using light of wavelength   , the width Wc of
the central fringe observed on a screen at distance D from the slit is given by:
Wc = 2D(   /a)
Diffraction Gratings

Transmission Diffraction Gratings

A transmission diffraction grating is a slide with large number of parallel,
closely spaced slits (transparent spaces) drawn on it. Early ones were carbon
covered glass slides etched by a needle point - now they tend to be printed onto
a slide.

When a parallel beam of monochromatic light is directed normally (at right

angles to it!) at a diffraction grating, light is transmitted by the grating in
certain directions only.
This is because:
 the light passing through each slit is diffracted,
 the diffracted light waves from adjacent slits reinforce each other in
certain directions only, including the incident light direction, and cancel out in all
other directions.
It is excellent at separating the colors in incident light because different
wavelengths are diffracted at different angles, according to the grating
relationship:
 d sin θ = nλ
where
 d is the distance between the slits
 θ is the angle of diffraction
 λ is the wavelength of the light
 n is the order of diffraction
The separation being so small makes the angle large.
Consider a magnified view of part of a diffraction grating:

Each slit diffracts the light waves that pass through it.
The diffracted waves then interfere with each other. Where crests meet or
troughs meet there is reinforcement (constructive interference) – where a
crest and tough meet there is cancellation (destructive interference). This
results in only the ‘orders’ of light being viewed.
As each diffracted wavefront emerges from a slit, it reinforces a wavefront
from each of the adjacent slits.
For example, in the diagram, the wavefront emerging at P reinforces the
wavefront emitted from Q one cycle earlier, which reinforces the wavefront
emitted from R one cycle earlier, etc.
The effect is to form a new wavefront PYZ which travels in a certain direction
and contributes to the first order diffracted beam.
The diagram above shows the formation of a wavefront of the nth order beam.
The wavefront emerging from slit P reinforces a wavefront emitted n cycles
earlier by the adjacent slit Q.
This earlier wavefront therefore must have travelled a distance
of n wavelengths from the slit.
Therefore the perpendicular distance QY from the slit to the wavefront is
equal to nλ , where λ is the wavelength of the light waves.
Since the angle of diffraction of the beam, θ , is equal to the angle between the
wavefront and the plane of the slits, it follows that sin θ  = QY/QI where QP is
the grating spacing (i.e. the centre-to-centre distance d between adjacent
slits).
Substituting d for QP and nd for QY therefore gives sin θ = nλ /d.
Rearranging this equation gives the diffraction grating equation for the angle of
diffraction of the nth order beam

dsin θ = n λ
 The number of slits per metre on the grating, N = 1/ d where d is the
grating spacing.
 For a given order and wavelength, the smaller the value of d, the greater
the angle of diffraction. In other words, the larger the number of slits per
metre, the bigger the angle of diffraction.
 Fractions of a degree are usually expressed either as a decimal or in minutes
(abbreviated ') where 1° = 60'.
  To find the maximum number of orders produced, substitute θ = 90 ° (sinθ =
1) in the grating equation and calculate n using n = d/λ .
The maximum number of orders is given by the value of d/λ, rounded down to
the nearest whole number.
-----------------------------------------------
The diffraction grating is an immensely useful tool for the separation of the
spectral lines associated with atomic transitions. It separates the different
colors of light much more than the dispersion effect in a prism is able to - it
uses diffraction not refraction to do it!
Note that from the equation you can see that, the bigger the wavelength the
more diffraction. This means that it is the red end of the visible spectrum that
is diffracted the most. In the prism the red end of the spectrum is refracted
the least!
 
The illustration shows the hydrogen
spectrum.
The hydrogen gas in a thin glass tube is
excited by an electrical discharge, the
electrons are promoted by electrical energy
into higher energy states - an then as they
fall back to ground state some of the
transitions result in photons in the visible
region being emitted. This visible spectrum
can be viewed through the grating.
Click onto the image to go to an excellent
site that explains this in even more detail
and allows you to explore diffraction via an
interactive activity.
 
The condition for maximum intensity is the same as that for the double slit or
multiple slits, but with a large number of slits the intensity maximum is very
sharp and narrow, providing the high resolution for spectroscopic applications.
The peak intensities are also much higher for the grating than for the double
slit.
 
When monochromatic light (light of a single
wavelength - like the 632.8 nm red light from
a helium-neon laser) strikes a diffraction
grating it is diffracted to each side in
multiple orders. The condition for maximum
intensity is the same as that for a double slit.
However, angular separation of the maxima is generally much greater because
the slit spacing is so small for a diffraction grating.
 
 

Slits - diffraction effects

Diffraction through a single slit.

This effect of diffraction is superimposed on
all of the multiple slit images we see below. The
central maximum is twice the width of the ones
either side and it is very much brighter - see
the graph of the intensity below.
Top image shows monochromatic light, bottom
image shows white light - see how the red end
of the spectrum is diffracted the most, making
the colours spread out and note that the
central fringe is white - as all of the colours
are at that point.
In practice we look at the fringe pattern produced within that central
maximum. The narrower the slits the wider that central maximum will be (see
diagram below - its width is 2 /a - where 'a' is the width of the slit). Therefore
the narrower the slit the broader the central maximum.
 NB 'a' is the aperture size - intensity maxima for the single slit pattern
envelope occur at the straight through position (principal maximum) and
thereafter half way between the minima. The minima occur at multiples of   /a.
In the following images the slits are very narrow and the photo only shows what
happens within the central bright region. There would be dark bands in the left
picture would be far outside of the details shown in the following images.
Double slit - Young's slits

Three equally spaced slits.

Adding a third slit at the same distance, the
intensity maxima are preserved. Between them
there are now two dark bands and a faint
secondary maximum.
The pattern produced by white light shows
more intense colours.
Seven equally spaced slits
The bright "lines" are now separated by six
dark bands and five faint secondary maxima.
The colours of the "first order" diffraction
maximum on both sides of the central white
beam approach saturated spectral colours. The
short-wave (blue-violet) end of the third-order
diffraction already overlaps the long-wave
(red) end of the second order.
The more slits, the narrower are the main
maxima and the weaker are the secondary
maxima between them.

A diffraction grating has hundreds of lines

etched onto it. You cannot see the lines - you
just see an iridescent pattern on it in bright
light - or it looks black. Because it has so many
lines it has the ability to disperse light better
than a prism. It is the tool of choice for
separating the colours in incident light because
it spreads the colours out so much better.
The more lines per millimetre the further the
diffracted lines will spread out and the less
likely you are to have the 'orders of
diffraction' overlapping.... but if you want to
see more than one order of diffraction you
need to make sure the diffraction grating does
not have too many lines.
The photo on the right shows the hydrogen
spectrum being produced in a lab. The hydrogen
gas in a thin glass tube is excited by an
electrical discharge and the spectrum can be
viewed through the grating.
 
 
In a similar way we can look at the spectra
from stars and use the information to work out
which chemicals are in the star and to work out
the star's red shift.
We know the pattern of lines (the spectrum)
from each element - they are like fingerprints
of the element. When we look at the light from
a star we can spot these line patterns and
identify the elements. How much the pattern
has been shifted towards the red end of the
spectrum gives us the red shift of the star - so
that we can work out it is moving away from us.