DIFFRACTION GRATING

A diffraction grating is made by making many parallel scratches on the surface of a flat
piece of transparent material.

Examples of diffraction:
 The most colorful examples of diffraction are those involving light; for example, the
closely spaced tracks on a CD or DVD act as a diffraction grating to form the familiar
rainbow pattern we see when looking at a disk.
 A shadow of a solid object, using light from a compact source, shows small fringes near
its edges.
Uses:
 X-ray diffraction patterns are used to measure spacing between layers or rows of
atoms, and to determine crystal orientations and crystal structures.
 Electron diffraction patterns are two-dimensional sections of the lattice of the diffracting
crystal.
 Wavelength of a light can be calculated with the diffraction grating equation (that gives
the relationship between the diffracted angle and wavelength of a monochromatic light.

nλ = d sin Θ
where,
λ = wavelength
n = order of the maxima or the fringe order (n= 0, 1, 2, 3 etc)
d = grating spacing or grating element or the slits separation
Θ = diffracted angle

Formation of diffraction grating pattern:

Diffraction grating vs double slit pattern on the screen:


  With a diffraction grating, the maxima are very sharp.
 With a diffraction grating the all maxima more and same brightness. Bcz for double slit
the bright spot is the contribution of just 2 slits. But in case of diffraction grating the
brightness is the contribution of thousands of slits.
 For 2 slits there is little accuracy to measure slit separation; whereas, there are
large number of slits per cm and thus slit separation.

For example fringe spacing = 1cm / 3000 (very precise)

 For double slits the fringes on screen are much closer; therefore fringe spacing less
accurate. However; for grating experiment the fringes (or maxima) are widely separated,
therefore, the angle measurements are highly accurate.
All these facts show that the measurement of wavelength will be highly precise in
case of diffraction grating experiment.

Diffracting white light:

Like a prism, a diffraction grating can also split white light into its constituent colours
(dispersion).
 The spectrum of colours appear on both sides of the grating.
 Red (large wavelength) colour spreads to the furthest angle. Similarly the violet colour
bends the least (bcz of very short wavelength). Therefore, violet is always closer to
the centre and red is always the furthest.