BRAGG’S LAW , DERIVATION AND

APPLICATION

Name: Md Shahnawaz Hussain

Roll No: 2K17/ME/138
Contents 1. What is Bragg’s Law?
2. History
3. Bragg’s condition
4. Bragg’s Equation
5. Derivation of Bragg’s law
6. Application of Bragg’s law
7. Bragg’s Spectrometer
8. Bragg’s law conclusion
What is Bragg’s Law
Bragg’s law is the special case of laue diffraction which determines the
angle of coherent and incoherent scattering from a crystal lattice.

The hypothesis is to imagine Bragg’s diffraction as a reflection of X-ray on

the surface of imaginary “ mirrors” formed by the atomic planes in the
crystal lattice
History
Bragg’s diffraction was first proposed by
Lawrence Bragg and his father William Henry
Bragg in 1913 in response to their discovery
that crystalline solids produced surprising
patterns of reflected x-rays . They found that
these crystal at certain specific wavelength
and incident angles produced intense peak of
reflected radiation.
Bragg’s Condition
Bragg’s Diffraction occurs when radiation, with a wavelength comparable to
atomic spacing,is scattered in a specular fashion by atom of crystalline
system , and undergo constructive interference.

The concept of Bragg’s diffraction applies equally to neutron diffraction and

electron diffraction processes.
Bragg’s Equation
According to Bragg’s equation

n𝝺 = 2dsin𝛉

Where,

1. ‘n’ is a positive integer

2. ‘𝝺’ is the wavelength of incident wave
3. ‘d’ is the atomic spacing
4. ‘𝛉’ is the angle of incidence
Derivation of Bragg’s Equation

Deriving Bragg’s law using reflection geometry and trigonometry

 Derivation of Bragg’s Equation

Bragg’s law can easily be derived by considering the condition necessary to make the
phases of the beams coincide when the incident angle equals reflecting angle. The
rays of the incident beam are always in phase and parallel up to the point at which the
top beam strikes the top layer at atom z. The second beam continues to the next layer
where it is scattered by atom B. The second beam must travel the extra distance AB +
BC if the two beams are continue travelling adjacent and parallel. This extra distance
must be an integral (n) multiple of the wavelength (𝝺) for the phases of the two beam
to be same.
 Derivation of Bragg’s Equation

Constructive interference occurs only when extra pathlength

travelled is integral multiple of 𝝺
i.e AB + BC = n𝝺
AB = BC ( Corresponding sides of congruent triangle)
n𝝺 = 2AB
From the right triangle ABz
Sin𝛉 = AB/d
∴ AB = dSin𝛉
Therefore , n𝝺 = 2dSin𝛉
Application of There are numerous applications of Bragg’s law in the field of

Bragg’s Law science. Some common applications are given in the points
below

1. Using Bragg’s equation we can find lattice spacing /

distance between two adjacent atomic plane that
produce constructive interference.
2. In X-ray diffraction the inter planar spacing of a crystal
is used for identification and characterization purposes.
 Bragg’s Spectrometer
Bragg’s spectrometer method is one of the important methods for studying crystals using X-rays.
The apparatus consists of an X-ray tube from which a narrow beam of X-rays is allowed to fall on
the crystal mounted on a rotating table. The rotating table is provided with scale and vernier, from
which the angle of incidence, θ can be measured.
Bragg’s Law Conclusion The concluding ideas from Bragg’s law are:

● The diffraction has three parameters i.e, the

wavelength of X rays,λ
● The crystal orientation defined by the angle θ
● The spacing of the crystal planes, d.
● Bragg’s law gives the simple condition under
which a diffracted beam can be observed.

The diffraction can be conspired to occur for a

given wavelength and set of planes. For instance,
changing the orientation continuously i.e, changing
theta until Bragg’s Law is satisfied.
THANK
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