Explorations-02

Learning objectives:
a)

Describe the nature of diffraction patterns in the near and the far field
and distinguish between them.
b) Predict the on-axis intensity for different cases of diffraction.
c) Analyze complicated wave forms in terms of appropriate sinusoidal
components.
1. A spotless theory! : Find out the intensity distribution at far
field when a plane wave is obstructed by a small opaque
disc of diameter d. What is the most surprising aspect and
what is the historical significance of this result?
2. Jincle all the way to patterns of current relevance: Use any simple
graph
plotting
software
to
familiarize yourself with the sinc and
jinc functions (and their squares),
paying attention to their positions of
maxima, zeroes, variation of
amplitudes etc. It is a very good
idea to be in sync with Math, it will
help you all the way throughout your career!
3. The plot thickens : Plane waves of wavelength are incident on a plate
with a circular aperture of diameter d.
a) Find the intensity at an on-axial point (x=y=0)
located at a distance z from the origin, as
given
by
the
direct
solution
of
Fresnel-Huygens equation without Fresnels
approximation (worked out in the ebook
chapter in Moodle) and obtain the ratio (I/I0)
as a function of z.
b) Repeat using Fresnels approximation.

c) Now repeat this with Fraunhofer approximation and plot all the three
different curves, plots of (I/I0) as a function of z obtained from the
three methods a, b and c, in the same plot, using logarithmic scale
(why?).
c) Interpret your result physically.
4. What is the typical distance where Fresnel
diffraction changes over to Fraunhofer diffraction?
Estimate this for a 1 mm X 5 mm slit when you
use radio waves (100 m), microwaves (1 cm),
red light (650 nm) green light (500nm) and
Gamma rays (1 picometer, i.e. 10-12m). Also for
acoustic waves ( 1m) . What would be the typical
slit width to be used for radio waves of 1 km wavelength in order to
observe diffraction?
5. Circling a square ... A rectangular wave is drawn in such a way that
f (u ) 1 for / 8 / 8
and f (u ) 0 for / 8 7 / 8 ; this
repeats on either side of the origin to form the square wave.
a) Expand this function in a Fourier series.
b) Plot the first several terms (using some software) and observe the
emerging wave pattern as we add more and more terms.
c) Plot the first several Fourier coefficients and draw the envelope.
What do you conclude?
8.

Extreme exploration (out of syllabus for the exams!) : Use any freeware
Math package such as Sage or Scilab (open source equivalents of
Mathematica and Matlab), or just Excel, if it can be used!) to
obtain the Fresnel and Fraunhofer diffraction patterns for a rectangular
slit of given dimensions at any distance. Use appropriate
approximations to make your life simple!
Bottom Line:
Optics is NOT light work, but making light work!