CERTIFICATE

This Is To Certify That This

“PHYSICS INVESTIGATORY
PROJECT On The
Topic “To Study Diffraction And Explain
Its Intensity Curve” Has Been Successfully
Completed By HARSH KUMAR SAH Of
Class – XII “B” Under The Guidance Of
Mr. Ajit Kumar Singh Sir ,
During The Academic Year 2023-2024
As Per The Guidelines Issued By Central
Board Of Secondary Education .

Internal Examiner: Principal:

External Examiner: Date:

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I would like to express my special thanks of
gratitude to my teacher Mr. Ajit Kumar Singh
Sir, who gave me the opportunity to do this
wonderful project of Physics on
“To Study Diffraction And Explain Its
Intensity Curve”, Who also helped me in
completing my project. I came to know
about so many new things I am really
thankful to her.
Secondly i would also like to thank my
Parents and Friends who helped me a lot
in finalizing this project within the limited
time frame.

HARSH KUMAR SAH

TEACHER’S SIGNATURE
S. NO. TITLE PAGE NO.
1. Introduction 1-2

2. Types of Diffraction 3-4

3. Experimental Analysis 5-6

4. Single Slit Diffraction 7-8

5. Diffraction by Circular 9
Aperture
6. Intensity Curve 10

7. Bibliography 11
 INTRODUCTION
 Diffraction refers to various phenomena
that occur when a wave encounters an
obstacle or a slit. It is defined as the
bending of waves around the corners of
an obstacle or through an aperture into
the region of geometrical shadow of the
obstacle/aperture. The diffracting object
or aperture effectively becomes a
secondary source of the propagating wave.
Italian scientist Francesco Maria Grimaldi
coined the word "diffraction" and was the
first to record accurate observations of the
phenomenon in 1660.
 In classical physics, the diffraction
phenomenon is described by the
Huygens-Fresnel principle that treats
each point in a propagating wave-front as
a collection of individual spherical
wavelets. The characteristic banding
pattern is most pronounced when a wave
from a coherent source (such as a laser)
encounters a slit/aperture that is
comparable in size to its wavelength, as
shown in the inserted image.
 This is due to the addition, or
interference, of different points on
the wave-front (or, equivalently, each
wavelet) that travel by paths of
different lengths to the registering
surface. However, if there are
multiple, closely spaced openings, a
complex pattern of varying intensity
can result.
 Diffraction and interference are
closely related and are nearly - if not
exactly - identical in meaning.
Richard Feynman observes that
"diffraction" tends to be used when
referring to many wave sources, and
"interference" when only a few are
considered.
 The effects of diffraction are often
seen in everyday life. The most
striking examples of diffraction are
those that involve light; for example,
the closely spaced tracks on a CD or
DVD act as a diffraction grating to
form the familiar rainbow pattern
seen when looking at a disc. This
principle can be extended to engineer
a grating with a structure such that it
will produce any diffraction pattern
desired; the hologram on a credit card
is an example.
 TYPES OF
DIFFRACTION
There are two ways in which analysis of
diffraction of light is done which are given
below :
 1. FRESENEL DIFFRACTION:
 When diffraction of light is
analyzed for a light source at
finite distance from the
diffracting device and point of
observation or screen is also
located at finite distance from
the device as show in figure 6.73,
then in such conditions mostly
the diffraction analysis is done
with some specific methods
called as "Fresnel's Diffraction".
 2. FRAUNHOFFER
DIFFRACTION:
 When diffraction is analyzed
for a source at very large
distance from the diffracting
device and point of
observation or screen is also
at very large distance from
the device as shown in figure
6.74, then in such conditions
mostly the diffraction
analysis is done with some
specific methods called as
"Fraunhoffer Diffraction.
EXPERIMENTAL
ANALYSIS OF
DIFFRACTION
Single Slit Diffraction
 Aim: Experiment to study the phenomena of
single slit diffraction.
 Requirements: Two Razor Blade, One glass
electric Bulb, Filter, Black Paper
 Procedure:
 A.) Hold the two blades so that the edges are
parallel and have a narrow slit in between.
This can be done easily with thumb and
forefingers as shown figure, and cover them
with black paper.

 B.) Keep the slit parallel to the filament of

the bulb which plays the role of first slit,
right in front of eye.
 C.) Adjust the width of the slit and the
parallelism of the edges the pattern the
pattern of light and dark bands is visible.
 D.) As the position of the bands
(except the central one) depends on
the wavelength, they will show some
colors.
 E.) Use a filter for red and blue to
make fringes clearer, Compare the
fringes.
 Observations:
 Since the position of all the bands
depends on wavelength so they will
show some color. More the wavelength,
More they will diffract. Result: Fringes
are wider for red compared to blue.

 Precaution:
 Protect your eyes by using spectacles
while performing the experiment. Don't
use sunlight instead of the bulb as sun
also produces infrared rays harmful to
our eyes.
• *By repeating the above experiment with
aluminum foil we can easily show double
slit diffraction.*
 SINGLE SLIT
DIFFRACTION
When light rays travelling encounter obstacle of
comparable size relative to their wavelength in
their path, these light rays bend across the
object and bending causes change in optical
path travelled by the light and thus it generates
path difference between coherent light rays and
this creates interference on the screen. In
Young's double slit experiment path difference
was generated by different path length of
coherent light rays by two slits. But in single slit
bending of rays cause the interference pattern.
With the help of Huygens principle we can
understand diffraction:
Light ray travelling towards the slit can be
considered as plane wave front after passing
through the slit new wavelets are generated
these wavelets either interfere constructively at
some point on the screen or destructively at
other points, thus bright and dark fringes are
generated.
 To find dark fringes we shall use follow the
following:
 Pairing all the rays coming through the slit
and then finding what conditions cause the
wavelets of the rays in each pair to cancel
each other.
 Dividing the slit in two regions each a/2. We
can see the wavelets along these two rays
cancel each other when they arrive at P1.
 produce the first dark fringe they must be out
of phase by 1/2 when they reach at P1. This
phase difference is due to path length
difference travelled by wavelets.

a sin θ = λ (first minimum)

• Therefore the above result can be generalized for

every dark fringe as:
a sin θ =mλ for m=1,2,3,..(minima—dark
fringes).
DIFFRACTION BY
CIRCULAR
APERTURE
 Here we consider diffraction by a
circular aperture that is a circular
opening, such as circular lens through
which light can pass. The image
formed by light from a laser that was
directed onto a circular aperture with
a very small diameter. This image is
not a point as geometrical optics
would suggest but a circular disk
surrounded by several progressively
fainter secondary rings.
 The analysis of such patterns shows
that the first minimum for the
diffraction pattern of a circular
aperture of diameter d is located by
sinθ = 1.22 d
(first minimum-circular aperture).
 The angle theta is the angle from the
central axis to any point on that
circular minimum.
 INTENSITY CURVE
 The equation below tells us intensity
at an angle theta from the principle
line.
Where,

 Note that as the slit width increases

(relative to the wavelength), the width
of the central diffraction maximum
(the central hill like region of the
graphs) decreases; that is the light
undergoes less flaring by the slit. The
secondary maxima also decrease in
width.
 BIBLIOGRAPHY
 www.slideshare.net
 www.zemvelocare.com
 www.katyaniexports.com
 www.icbse.com