Question

1. Explain the difference between diffraction through double-slit and through diffraction grating in your own words and in detail.

1. Explain the intensity curve of the diffraction pattern through diffraction grating.

Answer 1

Explain the difference between diffraction through double-slit and through diffraction grating in your own words and in detail.

Double-slit:

1. The double slit experiment works by shooting parallel light rays from the same source, commonly a laser, at a pair of parallel openings in order to cause interference.

2. The idea is that as the light hits the slits, it is in the same phase, so you can consider each slit to be the source of the same light.

3. When the light hits a wall, depending on what phase each beam is in they will interfere either constructively, providing maxima, or destructively, providing minima.

4. These interference patterns are seen as a series of bright and dark lines. Here is a more in depth explanation of how the experiment works.

Diffraction grating :

1. diffraction grating provides more slits, which increases the interference between the beams.

2. By using more slits, you get more destructive interference.

3. The maxima on the other hand become much brighter because of increased constructive interference.

4. This effectively increases the resolution of the experiment, making it easier to measure the distance between consecutive maxima.

Explain the intensity curve of the diffraction pattern through diffraction grating.

The grating intensity expression gives a peak intensity which is proportional to the square of the number of slits illuminated. Increasing the number of slits not only makes the diffraction maximum sharper, but also much more intense. ... Such a multiple-slit is called a diffraction grating.