光的衍射现象精讲.ppt

Related Concept The terms diffraction and scattering are often used interchangeably and are considered to be almost synonymous. Diffraction describes a specialized case of light scattering in which an object with regularly repeating features (such as a diffraction grating) produces an orderly diffraction of light in a diffraction pattern. In the real world most objects are very complex in shape and should be considered to be composed of many individual diffraction features that can collectively produce a random scattering of light. Definition Fraunhofer diffraction refers to parallel, collimated light (far-field diffraction). In Fresnel diffraction, the light need not be parallel (near-field diffraction). Fresnel diffraction is more general; it includes Fraunhofer diffraction as a special case. But Fraunhofer diffraction is so much easier to discuss that it is customarily presented first. Fraunhofer Joseph von Fraunhofer (1787-1826), German. After working for a while as a lens grinder and apprentice optician, he became a partner in an optical company that made precision theodolites, professor at the University of Munich, and was knighted by King Maximilian of Bavaria. In his short life (died of tuberculosis at age 39), he produced large-aperture telescope lenses, exceptionally well corrected for spherical and chromatic aberration, ruled precision gratings and discovered their use for spectroscopy, and found that the spectrum of the sun is crossed by dark lines since named Fraunhofer lines. Fresnel Augustin Jean Fresnel (1788-1827), a nineteenth century French physicist. He studied mathematics, then civil engineering; he went into optics later. He is best known for the invention of unique compound lenses designed to produce parallel beams of light, which are still used widely in lighthouses. In the field of optics, Fresnel derived formulas to explain reflection, diffraction, interference, refraction, double refraction, and the polarization of