Fraunhofer diffraction
E23693
Fraunhofer diffraction is the far-field diffraction pattern of waves, typically light, observed when both the source and observation screen are effectively at infinite distance or made so with lenses, producing characteristic interference patterns.
Aliases (1)
Statements (48)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
diffraction phenomenon
→
optics concept → |
| appliesTo |
acoustic waves
→
electromagnetic waves → light waves → matter waves → |
| assumes |
coherent illumination
→
paraxial approximation → small-angle approximation → |
| canBeObservedWith |
laser light
→
|
| canBeRealizedWith |
collimating lens
→
focusing lens → |
| characterizedBy |
far-field approximation
→
plane wave approximation at aperture → plane wave approximation at observation screen → |
| contrastsWith |
Fresnel diffraction
→
|
| dependsOn |
aperture shape
→
aperture size → wavelength of the wave → |
| determines |
diffraction-limited resolution
→
|
| field |
physical optics
→
wave optics → |
| governedBy |
Huygens–Fresnel principle
→
scalar diffraction theory → |
| historicallyDevelopedIn |
19th century
→
|
| intensityProportionalTo |
square of Fourier transform magnitude of aperture
→
|
| isA |
far-field diffraction
→
|
| mathematicallyDescribedBy |
Fourier optics
→
Fourier transform of aperture function → |
| namedAfter |
Joseph von Fraunhofer
→
|
| produces |
Airy pattern for circular aperture
→
diffraction orders for gratings → sinc-squared intensity pattern for single slit → |
| relatedTo |
Rayleigh criterion
→
optical transfer function → point spread function → |
| requires |
observation screen at effectively infinite distance
→
source at effectively infinite distance → |
| resultsIn |
far-field diffraction pattern
→
interference pattern → |
| usedIn |
diffraction grating analysis
→
microscope resolution analysis → optical imaging theory → spectroscopy → telescope resolution analysis → |
| usedToExplain |
spectral line dispersion by gratings
→
|
| validWhen |
Fresnel number is much less than 1
→
aperture-to-screen distance is large compared to aperture size squared over wavelength → |
Referenced by (3)
| Subject (surface form when different) | Predicate |
|---|---|
|
Fresnel diffraction theory
("Fraunhofer diffraction theory")
→
|
contrastedWith |
|
Huygens–Fresnel principle
→
|
explains |
|
Poisson spot
→
|
isRelatedTo |