The University of Texas at Dallas

Erik Jonsson School PhoTEC

DIFFRACTION (1) Diraction is the name given to the deviation of light from rectilinear propagation A property of all waves Usually most evident at the edges of shadows Vital for a quantitative understanding of free-space optical beam propagation Light exiting into air from a waveguide diracts strongly Diractive eects are already included in guided modes, so dont need to treat diraction separately for light inside a waveguide Important special cases Diraction by a circular aperture Airy disk Diraction by a rectangular aperture Optics of Gaussian beams
c C. D. Cantrell (01/2002)

The University of Texas at Dallas

Erik Jonsson School PhoTEC

DIFFRACTION (2) The details of diraction patterns depend on the Fresnel number a2 N= d a is the radius of the aperture (were assuming a circular aperture here...) d is the distance to the observation point, or the focal length of a lens, if one is used; is the wavelength Large Fresnel numbers (N 1): Fresnel regime Wavefront curvature is an essential part of the physics Crudely, Fresnel diraction by an aperture or obstacle results in a shadow with lots of bright and dark fringes Small Fresnel numbers (N 1): Fraunhofer regime Plane-wave limit The diraction pattern is the Fourier transform of the aperture The focal plane of an ideal lens is in the Frauhofer regime a lens is a Fourier transformer (see Jack Gaskills book)

c C. D. Cantrell (02/2002)

The University of Texas at Dallas

Erik Jonsson School PhoTEC

FRESNEL DIFFRACTION EXPERIMENT

c C. D. Cantrell (02/2002)

The University of Texas at Dallas

Erik Jonsson School PhoTEC

OBLONG APERTURE AND GEOMETRICAL SHADOW

c C. D. Cantrell (02/2002)

The University of Texas at Dallas

Erik Jonsson School PhoTEC

FRESNEL DIFFRACTION BY AN OBLONG APERTURE

c C. D. Cantrell (02/2002)

The University of Texas at Dallas

Erik Jonsson School PhoTEC

FRESNEL DIFFRACTION BY A CIRCULAR OBSTACLE

Notice the Poisson bright spot in the center of the geometrical shadow!
c C. D. Cantrell (02/2002)

The University of Texas at Dallas

Erik Jonsson School PhoTEC

FRAUNHOFER DIFFRACTION BY AN OBLONG APERTURE

Note that the diraction pattern is widest in the direction in which the aperture is narrowest
c C. D. Cantrell (02/2002)

The University of Texas at Dallas

Erik Jonsson School PhoTEC

FRAUNHOFER DIFFRACTION Plane-wave limit Criterion for destructive interference (minimum of the diraction pattern): s sin m 1), and for the rst minimum, s Fraunhofer diraction by a slit of width s:
Intensity

For small angles (

s s sin

7.5 5 2.5

2.5

7.5

(s sin )/
c C. D. Cantrell (02/2002)

The University of Texas at Dallas

Erik Jonsson School PhoTEC

DIFFRACTION GRATINGS (PHYSICS 2 APPROACH) The grating shown below consists of a repeating pattern of opaque screen + aperture, with period a The path dierence for parallel rays through adjacent apertures is L = a sin 1 a sin 2 Constructive interference occurs when L = m (where m = integer)
2

1 a sin 2

a sin 1

c C. D. Cantrell (10/2002)

The University of Texas at Dallas

Erik Jonsson School PhoTEC

ORDERS OF DIFFRACTION Constructive interference occurs when L = m The integer |m| is called the order of diraction The zero order (m = 0) corresponds to transmission straight through the grating The wavelength interval FSR between successive orders of diraction that exactly overlap (have the same 1 and 2), such that m = a sin 1 a sin 2 = m+1 + FSR, is called the free spectral range of the grating: m+1 FSR = m m

c C. D. Cantrell (10/2002)

COORDINATES FOR THE DIFFRACTION INTEGRAL

k2 q k1 s r r s r1

c C. D. Cantrell (06/1997)

The University of Texas at Dallas

Erik Jonsson School PhoTEC

DIFFRACTION GRATINGS (1) Fraunhofer diraction by a screen: E(r1) = C

S

() eiq dS

r s where q := k1 k2, k1 := k , k2 := k (see preceding slide), is the transmission function of the screen, is the position vector in the screen, and C is a constant For our simple diraction-grating model, = 0 in the opaque regions, and = 1 in the transparent regions Fraunhofer diraction by a screen with N identical apertures (a grating!): Aperture An is displaced from aperture A1 by a vector an = (n 1)a Amplitude of diracted eld is
N

E(r1) = C
S

() eiq dS =
n=1

eiqan
A1

eiq dS
c C. D. Cantrell (10/2002)

The University of Texas at Dallas

Erik Jonsson School PhoTEC

DIFFRACTION GRATINGS (2) Amplitude of eld diracted by a screen with N identical, periodically arranged apertures:
N

E(r1) =
n=1

eiqan
multiple-beam interference pattern
1 0.9 0.8 0.7

A1

eiq dS
diraction pattern of one aperture

P. Krizan (10/2001)

Intensity = |E|2

0.6 0.5 0.4 0.3 0.2 0.1 0 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4

c C. D. Cantrell (10/2002)

The University of Texas at Dallas

Erik Jonsson School PhoTEC

BRAGG REFLECTION Plane-wave limit Braggs law for constructive interference of plane waves reected from a refractive-index grating: 2 sin = m/ n is the grating period, m is an integer, and n is the mean refractive index of the medium

sin
c C. D. Cantrell (08/2002)