Short Note

OPTICAL REVIEW Vol. 8, No. 6 (2001) 495-497

Babinet's Principle in Scalar Theory of Diffraction

J. R. JIMI~NEZ* and E. HITA
Departamentode Optica,Facultadde Ciencias, Universidadde Granada,Granada,Spain
(ReceivedFebruary 13,2001; AcceptedAugust 8, 2001)
In this work, we present an original proof of Babinet's principle within the framework of the scalar theory of
diffraction. The proof is derived in the case of the Fraunhofer diffraction, directly from the Fresnel-Kirchhoff
formula, using properties of Fourier analysis and integral calculus, without considering Babinet's principle
itself for scalar waves. From the same proof, we also mathematically verify that, in the case of Fresnel
diffraction, Babinet's principle is fulfilled but in its more general scalar version.

Key words: diffraction, scalar theory of diffraction, Fraunhofer diffraction, Fresnel diffraction

1. Introduction from the diffracting object). In this way, we verify that, for
the Fraunhofer and Fresnel diffraction, Babinet's principle is
Within the study of the phenomenon of light diffraction,
implicitly included in the formulation of the scalar theory of
Babinet's principle or theorem states that: 1) "in the Fraun-
diffraction as a corollary of this theory.
hofer diffraction formulation (source and observation screen
situated very far from the diffracting object), the diffraction
2. Proof
figures of an opaque obstacle and the complementary aper-
ture coincide, except at the central peak." Mathematically this Let us consider an aperture or obstacle illuminated by a
means: plane-wave of unity amplitude with normal incidence. We
know that the amplitude of the field, U(xo, Y0), at (x0, Yo)
Ia(xo, YO) = IAC(Xo, YO) if (X0, Y0) # (0, 0), (1) on the image plane in the Fraunhofer diffraction region ac-
where IA(XO, YO) and Iac (X0, Y0) are the intensities at a point cording to the Fresnel-Kirchoff formula in the scalar theory
(xo, Y0) in the observation screen corresponding to the obsta- is: 6)
cle and complementary aperture, A and A c.
This formulation of Babinet's principle is a particular case
of a more general B abinet's principle which statesl-5~ that the
U(xo, Yo)- exp(jO)
j)~ /5 P(xl, Yl)
sum of the scalar diffraction fields UA(r) and UAc (r) behind 2re
• exp[-j~z(XOX] + yoy,)]dxldyl,
two complementary black screens, A and A c, is the incident
wave Uo: 0 = 27r[z + (x2 + y2)/2z]/)~, (3)
Uo(r) = UA(r) -F- UAc(r). (2) indicating that this amplitude is the Fourier transform of the
The formulation of this principle is very general and it has pupil function represented by the function P(x], Yl) that de-
been shown that it does not hold in certain cases. The experi- fines the geometry of the diffracting object; j is the com-
mental validity range of this principle 1) is known to be that of plex unit; )~ is the wavelength; z indicates the distance from
the scalar theories, 5) and is not generally fulfilled within the the diffracting obstacle to the observation or image plane and
framework of the vectorial theory of diffraction. exp(j0) is a phase term, which is not relevant in our analysis.
Within the scalar theory of diffraction, the Fresnel-Kirchoff As indicated above, this expression is valid in the Fraunhofer
formula and that of Rayleigh-Sommerfield are known, 3'4'6) diffraction region in which the source and image plane are
the latter giving the solution to the problems concerning very far from the obstacle and diffracting aperture 6~
boundary conditions of Kirchoff's diffraction theory) '4'6)
([Z)) '(x2+-y2)max]).
Nevertheless, it should borne in mind that in the Fraunhofer
diffraction region, if we study the central region on the image
plane--that is, if we work with small angles--the two formu- In the case that we have an aperture A, this pupil function
lae coincide. 3'4,6) would be:
Below, we present an original proof of Babinet's theorem
1 if (x, y) EA / (4)
in the Fraunhofer region (Eq. (1)), derived from the Fresnel- P(x, y)= 0 if (x, y) ~ A
Kirchoff formula and not based on the acceptance of Babi-
net's principle but rather drawn directly from simple proper- and therefore the expression on the amplitude of the field is,
ties of Fourier analysis and integral calculus. We also verify ignoring phase factors and the factor 1/j)~z, which are both
from the same demonstration that this principle, in its more outside the integral:
general version (Eq. (2)) is fulfilled in the Fresnel diffrac-
tion regime (source, image plane, or both, at a finite distance 92rr (XOXl+ Y0Y])] dxldy],
UA(XO, yo) = faeXp [--J~z (5)

where A represents the aperture.

*E-mail:jrjimene@ugr.es

495
 496 O P T I C A L R E V I E W Vol: 8, No. 6 (2001) J . R . JIMI~NEZ & E. HITA

ff we have an opaque obstacle A, the pupil function would we would get:

be:
p(x, y)= { 0 if (x, y) e A } fAexp(-J~z(XOXl+YoYl))dxldyl
1 if (x, y) ~ A (6)

and in this case the integral would extend over the entire R 2-
<--fA exp(-J~z(X~176
plane, except for the diffracting obstacle area, A. In the case
of uniform amplitude distribution, but with a value different fA dxldyl = s(A), (15)
from unity, the value 1 in Eqs. (4) and (6) would have to be
replaced by a constant. where s (A) represents the area of the aperture. The intensity
Let us consider an aperture A, if we take into account that of the diffraction figure given by the aperture always takes a
the union of a set and its complement is the R2-plane: finite value at any point, and therefore the singularity due to
Dirac's delta originates in the diffraction caused by the ob-
R2 = A U A c (7) stacle. The mathematical singularity of Dirac's delta at the
and, applying the additivity property of integrals, we would central peak must be interpreted, physically, as a strong con-
get: centration of light surrounding the central point due to the
contribution of R2-A to the integral.
It is also useful to show the result found for the case within
s exp l - j ~z (XOXl+ yoyl)] dxldy~
the Fresnel diffraction approximation, using the same tech-
nique of the demonstration used in the case of the Fraun-
= 2rr (XOX,+ Y0Yl)] dxldyl
fA exp [-J-~z hofer diffraction. In this case, the expression (3) for the am-
plitude field, U(xo, Yo), includes a quadratic phase term,6)
exp[jiT~2:r (X21 + Y~)]:
+
c
exp -j-7-(XOXl
/~z
+ Y0Yl) dxldy~. (8)
P(Xl, Yl) exp [Jrr(x2 + y2)
If we apply the definition of the Fourier transform, we find
that the first member of the equation is the Fourier transform
U(xo, yo) -
exp(j0)
j)~z
f ~ [ )~z
]
of the identity function with the variable changes6): x exp [ - j 27r~-z(X0Xl +yoYl)]dxldyl
fx = xo/%z fy = yo/%z. (9)
0 = 2Jr[(z + (xg + yg)/2z)]/)~. (16)
If we take into account that the Fourier transform of the
identity is the Dirac delta function,6) we get: If we again apply that R 2 = A U A c and the additiv-
ity property of the integrals, we would not have the Fourier
3(fx, fy) = UA(fx, fy) + UAc(fx, fy). (10) transform of the identity function but rather the function,
Therefore, for any point except the central point: e x9 prt - j .27r
~ ~X2t _"- Y~)]' Thus, we have to solve:

UA(xo, Yo) = -Uac(xo, Y0) : if (xo, Y0) r (0, 0) (11) exp(j0)jLz ~2 exp[jrrcx2+[
%z ' 1 y2)]
and thus, the intensifies coincide at any point of the obser-
vation zone (obtaining Babinet's principle, Eq. (1)), except
at the central peak, since the intensity is proportional to the
x exp [ - j ~27v "+yoyl)]dxldyl
z (xOXl
module of the amplitude squared:
0 = 27r[(z + (x2 + yg)/2z)]/)~. (17)
IA(XO, YO) ~ If(xo, YO) if (x0, Y0) 7~ (0, 0). (12)
Using the following identity:6)
Let us examine the situation at the central point or peak.
In this case, the first term of Eq. (10) would give a singu-
larity, since the delta would take infinity for that point. We
would have to determine which term of the two in the second
jexp (-jrr -x+
a2 b2]]
member of Eq. (10) causes the singularity, or, in other words, tab7
(18)
whether the term corresponding to the diffraction through the
aperture or the complementary opaque obstacle contributes to where ~ denotes Fourier transform and (COx, COy),the spatial
the singularity at the central peak. For this, if we apply the frequencies corresponding to (x, y) and, applying (18) with
following inequality of modules: a2 = b2 = 1/%z,we find that (17) is equal to:
s yl)dxldytl<fA[f(xl, yl)l]dxldyl (13) exp(jO)j%zexp( [.k,~zz/ +(~zzY~

to the thncfion:
= exp(2rrjz/)O.
f(xl, Yl) ----exp -jT(xoxl + YoYl) , (14)
xexp(j-~z(Xg+y2))exp(-Jrr~z (x~ + yg))
OPTICAL REVIEW Vol. 8, No. 6 (2001)
x exp(2:rjz/)~) (19)
thus, the term UA + UAC is not the delta function but rather
the function exp(2rrjz/~,):
exp(2zGz/X) = UA + UAC. (20)
The function exp(2:rjz/,k) represents an incident plane
wave in the z direction, and thus we would have Eq. (2), ver-
ifying Babinet's principle in the general form for the Fresnel
diffraction. Equation (20) enables us to know the diffracted
field of an obstacle from the complementary aperture and vice
versa, knowing the exact relationship.
3. Conclusions
In the present paper, we present an original proof of Babi-
net's principle in the scalar diffraction theory for the Frann-
hofer and Fresnel regimes. It is deduced in the form of a
corollary from the Fresnel-Kirchhoff theory, using analytic
techniques of Fourier, as well as simple properties of inte-
gral calculus. With this demonstration, we have checked that,
J. R. JIMt~NEZ& E. HITA 497
in the case of the Fraunhofer and Fresnel regimes, Babinet's
principle is implicitly included in the formulation of the scalar
theory of diffraction.
Acknowledgments
We would like to thank Dr. Joseph W. Goodman (Stanford University),
Dr. M. Yzuel and Dr. J. Campos (both from Universidad Aut6noma de
Barcelona, Spain) and an anonymous reviewer for their helpful comments
in improving this manuscript.
References
1) M. Babinet: C. R. Acad. Sci. 4 (1837) L638.
2) E. T. Copson: R. Soc. Lond. 186 (1946) L100.
3) M. Born and E. Wolf: Principles of Optics (Pergamon Press, Oxford,
1980).
4) M. Nieto-Vesperinas: Scattering and Diffraction in Physical Optics
(John Wiley & Sons, New York, 1991).
5) M. Totzeck and M. A. Krumbiigel:J. Opt. Soc. Am. A 11 (1994) L3235.
6) J. W. Goodman: Introduction to Fourier Optics (McGraw-Hill, New
York, 1996).