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gladius999
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i think its to do with huygens sources?
gladius999 said:i think its to do with huygens sources?
Edgardo said:When a plane wave is incident on the slit Huygen's principle says that new waves are created in the slit. You can now calculate the interference pattern behind the slit by adding up all the little waves that are created in the slit.
This is done by writing down an integral (see [tex]\psi_{\mathrm{rad}}(\theta,\phi,r)[/tex] here).
You can approximate the integral and end up with a Fourier transformation (see here).
For a more thorough discussion read Eugene Hecht's optics book. Also look up Fraunhofer diffraction.
It is nice to see a little calculi here in the formula as well. Is the slit an axiom, logically yes.dulrich said:I'm not sure this really answers your real question, but the conservation of momentum looks like:
[tex] \sum \vec{p}(0) = \sum \vec{p}(t) [/tex]
In this case, all the momentum is in the [itex]x[/itex]-direction, so [itex]\sum p_y = 0[/itex] both before and after. Since the [itex]y[/itex] component is zero, any contribution in the positive direction (i.e., up) must be compensated by a contribution in the negative direction (i.e., down).
Diffraction is a phenomenon that occurs when a wave encounters an obstacle or aperture that is comparable in size to its wavelength. When the slit size is close to the wavelength of light, the light waves diffract or spread out as they pass through the slit, causing interference patterns to form.
The size of the slit is directly proportional to the amount of diffraction that occurs. This means that as the slit size gets closer to the wavelength of light, the amount of diffraction increases. Conversely, as the slit size gets larger compared to the wavelength, the amount of diffraction decreases.
Yes, diffraction can occur with all types of waves, including light, sound, and water waves. It is a fundamental property of wave behavior and is not limited to a specific type of wave.
Having a small slit size is important for diffraction experiments because it allows for a clearer and more pronounced diffraction pattern to be observed. If the slit size is too large, the diffraction pattern may be less defined and harder to analyze.
The distance between the slit and the screen does not have a significant effect on diffraction. The distance only affects the size and position of the diffraction pattern on the screen, but not the overall amount of diffraction that occurs. This is because diffraction is primarily determined by the size of the slit and the wavelength of light.