diffraction
Sign in to savethumb|The diffraction pattern Airy disk|(Airy disc) of a red [[laser beam projected onto a plate after passing through a small circular aperture in another plate]] Diffraction is the deviation of waves from straight-line propagation due to an obstacle or through an aperture, without any change in their energy. Diffraction is the same physical effect as interference, but interference is typically used for the superposition of a few waves, while the term diffraction is used when many waves are superposed. The term diffraction pattern is used to refer to an image or map of the different direction
AI overview
Diffraction is what happens when waves bend around obstacles or pass through openings instead of traveling in straight lines, without losing energy in the process. It matters because it affects how waves like light and sound behave in the real world, creating visible patterns that reveal information about both the waves and the objects they encounter.
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Article
18 sectionsContents
- History
- Basics
- Occurrence
- Different cases
- Single-slit diffraction
- Circular aperture
- Babinet's principle
- Knife edge
- Gratings
- General case for far field
- Dynamical diffraction
- Matter wave diffraction
- Bragg diffraction
- Importance of coherence
- Main articles involving diffraction
- See also
- References
- External links
thumb|The diffraction pattern Airy disk|(Airy disc) of a red [[laser beam projected onto a plate after passing through a small circular aperture in another plate]] Diffraction is the deviation of waves from straight-line propagation due to an obstacle or through an aperture, without any change in their energy. Diffraction is the same physical effect as interference, but interference is typically used for the superposition of a few waves, while the term diffraction is used when many waves are superposed. The term diffraction pattern is used to refer to an image or map of the different directions of the waves after they have been diffracted. Diffraction patterns are pronounced when a wave from a coherent source (such as a laser) encounters a slit/aperture as shown in the first image.
In classical physics, diffraction is described by the Huygens–Fresnel principle that treats each point in a propagating wavefront as a collection of individual spherical wavelets. The patterns are due to the summation over different points on the wavefront (or, equivalently, each wavelet) that travel by paths of different lengths to the registering surface. If there are multiple closely spaced openings, a complex pattern of varying intensity can result. Other types of apertures or obstacles lead to different patterns, some of which are described later on this page.