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8 December 1997 How to teach interference and diffraction in a hurry
Henri H. Arsenault
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Proceedings Volume 3190, Fifth International Topical Meeting on Education and Training in Optics; (1997) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.294372
Event: Fifth International Topical Meeting on Education and Training in Optics, 1997, Delft, Netherlands
Abstract
We introduce a new approach for teaching interference and diffraction, which expresses the Huyghens-Fresnel diffraction formula in terms of the observation plane. This makes it easier to obtain the expressions for Fraunhofer diffraction and for Youn's fringes, which appear as special cases, as well as the far-field condition. This allows interference and diffraction to be covered in a fraction of the classroom time usually required. Once the approximation is made, all waves are expressed in terms of their angular distance from the optical axis. The method may be applied to more complex cases like Newton's rings and diffraction by multiple slits.
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Henri H. Arsenault "How to teach interference and diffraction in a hurry", Proc. SPIE 3190, Fifth International Topical Meeting on Education and Training in Optics, (8 December 1997); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.294372
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KEYWORDS
Diffraction
Far-field diffraction
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