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Chapter 32: Problem 9

Sketch roughly the diffraction pattern you would expect for light passing through a square hole a few wavelengths wide.

Short Answer

Expert verified
The diffraction pattern consists of a bright central square with alternating bright and dark squares radiating outward. The intensity decreases as one moves away from the center.

Step by step solution

01

- Understand the Concepts of Diffraction and Interference

Diffraction is the bending of waves around obstacles or through openings. Interference is the overlapping of waves to produce areas of constructive and destructive superposition, leading to alternating bright and dark areas.
02

- Analyze the Single Slit Diffraction

When light passes through a narrow opening, it spreads out on the other side. This pattern of spreading light is known as diffraction. For an aperture about the size of the wavelength of light, the diffraction pattern essentially becomes a spread of light in all directions, with a bright spot in the center and dark spots at regular intervals. The intensity of light also decreases as you move away from the center.
03

- Understand Square Diffraction Pattern

The diffraction pattern of light passing through a square hole will simply be the addition of the diffraction patterns for slit in the horizontal and vertical directions. The overall pattern will be a square-framed central bright region, with decreasingly intense replicas radiating outward.
04

- Sketch the Diffraction Pattern

The pattern consists of a main bright square in the center with alternating bright and dark squares radiating outward. The intensity decreases as one moves away from the center.

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