Fraunhofer diffraction

E23693

diffraction phenomenon optics concept

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.

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All labels observed (3)

Label	Occurrences
Fraunhofer diffraction canonical	6
Fraunhofer diffraction formula	1
Fraunhofer diffraction theory	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 (8)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Huygens–Fresnel principle → explains → Fraunhofer diffraction ⓘ

Fresnel diffraction theory → contrastedWith → Fraunhofer diffraction ⓘ

this entity surface form: Fraunhofer diffraction theory

Poisson spot → isRelatedTo → Fraunhofer diffraction ⓘ

Fresnel zones → contrastedWith → Fraunhofer diffraction ⓘ

Kirchhoff diffraction theory → yields → Fraunhofer diffraction ⓘ

this entity surface form: Fraunhofer diffraction formula

Babinet's principle → relatedTo → Fraunhofer diffraction ⓘ

Joseph von Fraunhofer → hasEponym → Fraunhofer diffraction ⓘ

Fourier optics → studies → Fraunhofer diffraction ⓘ