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Diffraction Grating Physics

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Diffraction Grating Physics

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When light encounters an obstacle such as an opaque screen with a small opening (or aperture), the intensity distribution behind the screen can look much different than the shape of the aperture that it passed through. Since light is an electromagnetic wave, its wavefront is altered much like a water wave encountering an obstruction. This diffraction phenomenon occurs because of interference (see Laser Light Characteristics on coherence for details) between different portions of the wavefront. The resulting intensity distribution is called a diffraction pattern. Similarly, when light passes through an opaque screen consisting of multiple elongated apertures (or slits) with a fixed spacing between them, the emerging wavefronts constructively interfere to produce a diffraction pattern with intensities peaked in certain directions.

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