Interference with more than 2 beams

3, 4, 5 beams Large number of beams

Diffraction

Diffraction gratings
Equation Uses

Diffraction by an aperture

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Huygens principle again, Fresnel zones, Aragos spot Qualitative effects, changes with propagation distance Fresnel number again Imaging with an optical system, near and far field Fraunhofer diffraction of slits and circular apertures Resolution of optical systems
April 03

Diffraction of a laser beam

Interference from multiple apertures

L

Bright fringes when OPD=n

40

x d

source

OPD

nL x= d

two slits

Intensity

position on screen

screen Complete destructive interference halfway between

OPD 1 OPD 2 d
Intensity

OPD 1=n, OPD 2=2n 40 all three waves interfere constructively

source

three equally spaced slits screen

position on screen

OPD 2=n, n odd outer slits constructively interfere middle slit gives secondary maxima
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Diffraction from multiple apertures

Fringes not sinusoidal for more than two slits Main peak gets narrower
Center location obeys same equation 2 slits 3 slits 4 slits 5 slits

Secondary maxima appear between main peaks

The more slits, the more secondary maxima The more slits, the weaker the secondary maxima become

Diffraction grating many slits, very narrow spacing

Main peaks become narrow and widely spaced Secondary peaks are too small to observe
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Reflection and transmission gratings

Transmission grating many closely spaced slits Reflection grating many closely spaced reflecting regions
Input wave
opaque transmitting opening Huygens wavelets

screen

Input wave

path length to observation point

wavelets
path length to observation point screen

absorbing

reflecting

Transmission grating
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Reflection grating
April 03

Grating equation transmission grating with normal incidence

input d Diffracted light

p sin d = l
Except for not making a small angle approximation, this is identical to formula for location of maxima in multiple slit problem earlier

d is angle of diffracted ray is wavelength l is spacing between slits p is order of diffraction

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April 03

Diffraction gratings general incidence angle

Grating equation

p sin d sin i = l

l=distance between grooves (grating spacing)

i=incidence angle (measured from normal) d d=diffraction angle (measured from normal)
p=integer (order of diffraction)

Same formula whether its a transmission or reflection grating

n=0 gives straight line propagation (for transmission grating) or law of reflection (for reflection grating)
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Intensities of orders allowed orders

Diffraction angle can be found only for certain values of p strong diffracted
If sin(d) is not between 1 and 1, there is no allowed d
order input beam weak diffracted order

Intensity of other orders are different depending on wavelength, incidence angle, and construction of grating Grating may be blazed to make a particular order more intense than others
angles of orders unaffected by blazing

Blazed grating

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April 03

Grating constant (groove density) vs. distance between grooves

Usually the spacing between grooves for a grating is not given
Density of grooves (lines/mm) is given instead 1 g= l Grating equation can be written in terms of grating constant

sin( d ) sin ( i ) = pg

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April 03

Diffraction grating - applications

Spectroscopy
Separate colors, similar to prism
1st order negative orders

2nd order

grating

Laser tuning
narrow band mirror Select a single line of multiline laser Select frequency in a tunable laser

Littrow mounting input and output angles identical

2 sin ( ) =

grating

Pulse stretching and compression

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Different colors travel different path lengths

two identical gratings

April 03

Fabry-Perot Interferometer
Input transmitted through Beam is partially reflected and first mirror
partially transmitted at each mirror with each other All reflected beams interfere with each other OPD depends on mirror separation

Transmitted All transmitted beams interfere Reflected field field Partially reflecting mirrors

Multiple beam interference division of amplitude

As in the diffraction grating, the lines become narrow as more beams interfere
LASERS 51 April 03

Fabry-Perot Interferometer
1 transmission free spectral range, fsr Linewidth= fsr*finesse

Transmission changes with frequency

Can be very narrow range where transmission is high
Width characterized by finesse Finesse is larger for higher reflectivity mirrors

frequency or wavelength

Transmission peaks are evenly spaced

Spacing called Free spectral range Controlled by distance between mirrors, fsr=c/(2L)

Applications
Measurement of laser linewidth or other spectra Narrowing laser line LASERS 51
April 03

Diffraction at an apertureobservations

Aperture

Light through aperture on screen downstream

A careful observation of the light transmitted by an aperture reveals a fringe structure not predicted by geometrical optics Light is observed in what should be the shadow region
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Pattern on screen at various distances

2.5mm

Near Field

Intermediate field

Immediately behind screen

25 mm from screen, bright fringes just inside edges

250 mm light penetrates into shadow region

2500 mm pattern doesnt closely resemble mase

Far field at a large enough distance shape of pattern no longer changes but it gets bigger with larger distance. Symmetry of original mask still is evident.
LASERS 51 April 03

Huygens-Fresnel diffraction
screen with aperture observing screen

Point source

Each wavelet illuminates the observing screen The amplitudes produced by the various waves at the observing screen can add with different phases Final result obtained by taking square of all amplitudes added up
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Wavelets generated in hole

Zero in shadow area Non-zero in illuminated area

April 03

Fresnel zones
Incident wave propagating to right What is the field at an observation point a distance of b away? Start by drawing a sphere with radius b+/2 Region of wave cut out by this sphere is the first Fresnel zone All the Huygens wavelets in this first Fresnel zone arrive at the observation point approximately in phase Call field amplitude at observation point due to wavelets in first Fresnel zone, A1
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b + /2 First Fresnel zone

observation point

b
incident wavefront

April 03

Fresnels zones continued

Divide incident wave into additional Fresnel zones by drawing circles with radii, b+2/2, b+3/2, etc. Wavelets from any one zone are approximately in phase at observation point
out of phase with wavelets from a neighboring zone
b +/2 b + b
observation point

Each zone has nearly same area Field at observation point due to second Fresnel zone is A2, etc. All zones must add up to the uniform field that we must have at the observation point
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incident wavefront

 A1, the amplitude due to the first zone and A2, the amplitude from the second zone, are out of phase (destructive interference)
A2 is slightly smaller than A1 due to area and distance

Adding up contributions from Fresnel zones

The total amplitude if found by adding contributions of all Fresnel zones A=A1-A2+A3-A4+ minus signs because the amplitudes are out of phase amplitudes slowly decrease
So far this is a complex way of showing an obvious fact.
LASERS 51 April 03

Diffraction from circular apertures

What happens if an aperture the diameter of the first Fresnel zone is inserted in the beam? Amplitude is twice as high as before inserting aperture!!
Intensity four times as large

This only applies to intensity on axis

b +/2 b + b

observation point

incident wavefront

Blocking two Fresnel zones gives almost zero intensity on axis!!

LASERS 51 April 03

 Suppose aperture size and observation distance chosen so that aperture allows just light from first Fresnel zone to pass
Only the term A1 will contribute Amplitude will be twice as large as case with no aperture!

Fresnel diffraction by a circular aperture

If distance or aperture size changed so two Fresnel zones are passed, then there is a dark central spot
alternate dark and light spots along axis circular fringes off the axis

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April 03

Fresnel diffraction by circular obstacle Aragos spot

Construct Fresnel zones just as before except start with first zone beginning at edge of aperture Carrying out the same reasoning as before, we find that the intensity on axis (in the geometrical shadow) is just what it would be in the absence of the obstacle Predicted by Poisson from Fresnels work, observed by Arago (1818)
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observation point

b+/2

incident wavefront

April 03

Character of diffraction for different locations of observation screen

Close to diffracting screen (near field)
Intensity pattern closely resembles shape of aperture, just like you would expect from geometrical optics Close examination of edges reveals some fringes

Farther from screen (intermediate)

Fringes more pronounced, extend into center of bright region General shape of bright region still roughly resembles geometrical shadow, but edges very fuzzy

Large distance from diffracting screen (far field)

Fringe pattern gets larger bears little resemblance to shape of aperture (except symmetries) Small features in hole lead to larger features in diffraction pattern Shape of pattern doesnt change with further increase in distance, but LASERS 51 it continues to get larger April 03

How far is the far field?

z = distance from aperture to observing screen A = area of aperture Fresnel number = wavelength characterizes importance A of diffraction in any Fresnel number, F = z situation

A reasonable rule: F<0.01, the screen is in the far field

Depends to some extent on the situation

F>>1 corresponds to geometrical optics Small features in the aperture can be in the far field even if the entire aperture is not Illumination of aperture affects pattern also
LASERS 51 April 03

screen with aperture

Imaging and diffraction

Lens

Image of aperture

observing screen at image of plane P

Image on screen is image of diffraction pattern at P

Same pattern as diffraction from a real aperture at image location except:
Distance from image to screen modified due to imaging equation Magnification of aperture is different from magnification of diffraction pattern

Diffraction pattern at some plane, P

Important: for screen exactly at the image plane there is no diffraction (except for effects introduced by lens aperture)
LASERS 51 April 03

Imaging and far-field diffraction

screen with aperture Lens observing screen

Looking from the aperture, the observing screen appears to be located at infinity. Therefore, the far-field pattern appears on the screen even though the distance is quite finite.
LASERS 51 April 03

Fresnel and Fraunhofer diffraction

Fraunhofer diffraction = infinite observation distance
In practice often at focal point of a lens If a lens is not used the observation distance must be large (Fresnel number small, <0.01)

Fresnel diffraction must be used in all other cases The Fresnel and Fraunhofer regions are used as synonyms for near field and far field, respectively
In Fresnel region, geometric optics can be used for the most part; wave optics is manifest primarily near edges, see first viewgraph In Fraunhofer region, light distribution bears no similarity to geometric optics (except for symmetry!) Math in Fresnel region slightly more complicated
mathematical treatment in either region is beyond the scope of this course
LASERS 51 April 03

 Traditional (pre laser) setup

source is nearly monochromatic

Fraunhofer diffraction at a slit Observation small

Light source screen source slit Collimating Diffracting lens slit

Condenser lens collects light

Source slit creates point source

Condenser lens

f1

f2 Focusing lens

produces spatial coherence at the second slit

Collimating lens images source back to infinity

laser, a monochromatic, spatially coherent source, replaces all this

second slit is diffracting aperture whose pattern we want Focusing lens images Fraunhofer pattern (at infinity) onto screen LASERS 51 April 03

 Wavelets radiate in all directions

Fraunhofer diffraction by slitzeros

field radiated by wavelets at angle

Point D in focal plane is at angle from slit, D=f Light from each wavelet radiated in direction arrives at D

/2

D=

f d

Distance travelled is different for Slit each wavelet width = d Interference between the light from all the wavelets gives the diffraction patter

Zeros can be determined easily

If =/d, each wavelet pairs with one exactly out of phase

Complete destructive interference additional zeros for other multiples of , evenly spaced zeros
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Fraunhofer diffraction by slitcomplete pattern

slit Diffraction pattern, short exposure time Diffraction pattern, longer exposure time

Evenly spaced zeros Central maximum brightest, twice as wide as others

LASERS 51 April 03

Multiple slit diffraction

In multiple slit patterns discussed earlier, each slit produces a diffraction pattern Result: Multiple slit interference pattern is superimposed over single slit diffraction pattern
Three-slit interference pattern with single-slit diffraction included

Intensity

position on screen
LASERS 51 April 03

Fraunhofer diffraction by other apertures

Rectangular aperture
Diffraction in each direction is just like that of a slit corresponding to width in that direction Narrow direction gives widest fringes

Circular aperture
circular rings central maximum brightest zeros are not equally spaced diameter of first zero=2.44f2/d where d= diameter of aperture Note: this is 2.44f/# angle=1.22/d
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Resolution of optical systems

Same optical system as shown previously without diffracting slit
produces image of source slit on observing screen magnification f2/f1
Light source small source slit Collimating lens

Observation screen

f1 Condenser lens Focusing lens

f2

Weve assumed before that the source slit is very small, lets not assume that any more
each point on source slit gives a point of light on screen if we put the diffracting aperture back in, each point gives rise to its own diffraction pattern, of the diffracting slit ideal point image is therefore smeared

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April 03

Resolution of optical systems (cont.)

With two source slits we can ask the question, will we see two images on the observation screen or just a diffraction pattern?
Main lobe of pattern due to one slit
Light source Observation screen with screen two source slits Collimating lens Diffracting slit

f1 Condenser lens Focusing lens

f2

Answer: If the spacing between the images is larger than the diffraction pattern, then we see images of two slits, i.e. they are resolved. Otherwise they are not distinguishable and we only see a diffraction pattern April 03 LASERS 51

Rayleigh criterion-images are just resolved if minimum of one coincides with peak of neighbor

Resolution of optical systems (cont.)

Limiting aperture is usually a round aperture stop, so Rayleigh criterion is found using diffraction pattern of a round aperture 1.22f minimum resolvable distance = R = = 1.22f /# D
f= focal length D=diameter of aperture stop R= distance spots which are just resolved

Diffraction Limited System: Resolution of an optical system may be worse than this due to aberrations, ie not all rays from source point fall on image point. An optical system for which aberrations are low enough to be negligible compared to diffraction is a diffraction limited system. If geometrical spot size is 2 times size of diffraction spot, LASERS 51 then system is 2x diffraction limited, or 2 XDL April 03

Resolution of spots and Rayleigh limit

Well resolved

Rayleigh limit

Slightly closer, are you sure its really two spots?

At the Rayleigh limit, two spots can be unambiguously identified, but spots only slightly closer merge into a blur
LASERS 51 April 03

Diffraction of laser beams

Till now, disscussion has been of uniformly illuminated apertures
mathematical diffraction theory can treat non-uniform illumination and even non-plane waves

A TEM00 laser beam has a Gaussian rather than uniform intensity pattern
no edge to measure from so we use 1/e2 radius, w wo is radius where beam is smallest (waist size) relatively simple formulae for diffraction apply both in near field (Fresnel) and far field (Fraunhofer) zones only far field result will be presented here

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far field divergence half angle, = w0 z far field beam radius, w = w0

April 03

Diffraction losses in laser resonators

2a L

Light bounces back and forth between mirrors Spreads due to diffraction as it propagates Some diffracted light misses mirror and is not fed back Resonator Fresnel Number measures diffraction losses

a F= L
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If index of refraction in laser resonator is not 1, multiply by n

April 03