The Analysis of Various Diffraction Patterns Through the Use of

a Laser Diode and Multiple Slit Screen Setups

Sage Y. Co,*​1​ Vinz K. Go,​2​ and Ma. Antonia D. Mamaril​3
1​
​Department of Industrial Engineering and Operations Research, College of Engineering, University of the Philippines
Diliman, Philippines
2​
​Department of Mechanical Engineering, College of Engineering, University of the Philippines Diliman, Philippines
3​
​Department of Geodetic Engineering, College of Engineering, University of the Philippines Diliman, Philippines
*Corresponding author: cojavis@gmail.com

Abstract

The experiment was conducted in order to investigate the behavior of light as it passes through varying slit
interfaces. The researchers wanted to observe how this behavior would change with respect to the different
characteristics of the slit used. As such, the experimental setup used by the researchers allowed the use of several
configurations of the slit interface, varying in number of slits, width of the slits and separation of slits. A laser
diode was used to observe this phenomena with a white paper placed in the opposite end to act as a viewing screen
for the resulting laser projection. Generally, the experiment was able to conclude how slit width is inversely
proportional to the width of the central maximum Δy 1 and how an increase in slit distance ​m leads to an increase
in the number of fringes to be observed in the diffraction pattern.

keywords: diffraction pattern, slit width, slit distance

1 Introduction
Electromagnetic radiation propagates as a wave, and as such can exhibit interference and diffraction. [1] The
wave properties of light are most easily demonstrated by the interference and diffraction of a beam of light as it
passes through one or more small slits. As light goes through narrow cavities or openings in the case of slits,
diffraction and interference are observed and studied under the projections of a diffraction envelope.
Interference occurs when waves meet. It is the phenomena that occurs when two or more waves overlap in
space. The resulting wave from this overlap adheres to the principle of superposition, which states that the
vector sum of the displacements that would be produced by each individual wave [1]. It is then either
constructive or destructive if, under the circumstance, their wavelengths add up or cancel each other.
In the case of electromagnetic waves, specifically light waves, interference can be observed through
interference patterns, which are produced by light waves passing through one or more slits, and characterized by
regularly spaced, an alternating bright and dark fringes. Constructive interference is represented by the bright
fringes, and destructive interference is represented by the dark fringes [2]. Wave interference and diffraction can
thus be observed by performing single and double slit experiments. For a single slit experiment, when light is
shone such that it passes through a slit of known width ​a ​and a slit-to-screen separation of L, a projection of
fringe patterns can be observed. A large amount of light coming from the source would be located at the linear
center of the propagation. This single most prominent projection is called the central maximum. The fringes next
to the central maximum of mth intensity can be found by using the equation below:
mλL
a= ym
, (m = ±1, ±2, ±3,...) (1)
For the double slit, the light is shone through a medium with two identical slits of known separation ​d
at a distance ​L f​ rom the light source. The distance to the mth intensity peal (center of a bright fringe) away from
the center is:
mλL
ym = d , (m = ±1, ±2, ±3,...) (2)

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 Light, having properties of a wave, also exhibits diffraction. This phenomenon occurs when light
passes through a slit and radiates in all forward directions, with the slit acting as a point source. This produces a
diffraction pattern, which consists of a central bright fringe with weaker maxima on either side of it.
When the single slit diffraction pattern combines with the double slit interference pattern, the
diffraction pattern acts as a diffraction envelope which controls the intensity of the regularly spaced interference
maxima.Theoretically, the smaller the slit width is, the wider the observed diffraction fringes, and the larger the
slit separation, the smaller the interference fringe spacing [3].
The experiment aimed to produce interference and diffraction patterns which accurately illustrate the
behavior of light as a wave by using a laser to project patterns through slits of varying widths, and separations
(in the double-slit setups) onto a vertical surface. Then, wavelength, slit width, and fringe width (in the
double-slit setups) were calculated using data measured from the produced patterns and the setups. Lastly, the
relationship between slit width, and slit separation (in the double-slit setups), with the characteristics of the
produced diffraction envelope, diffraction pattern, and interference pattern, were also observed and illustrated.

2 Methodology
The 0.004 mm width single slit disk was placed in its holder about 3 cm away from the laser. A white sheet of
paper was attached on a side of a box to make sure that the laser would hit it when turned on. The single slit
wheel was rotated until the laser light beam is incident on the rectangular shaped single slit. The adjustment
screws on the back of the diode laser was used to adjust the vertical position of the beam, if necessary.

Figure 1: Set-up of laser slit disk holder and screen on optical bench for the both the single-slit and double slit diffraction

With the lights turned off, the boundaries of the dark fringes on the white sheet was marked. From this,
the intensity minima were located as well as the distances between the first order and the second order minima.
The central peak, which is the brightest region at the center of the pattern and is bracketed by two dark spots
were also identified. For the 0.02 mm slit width, the same procedures were performed, while for the 0.08 mm
slit width, the diffraction pattern was sketched to scale.
The 0.04 mm slit width with slit separation, d, varying from 0.125 to 0.75 was placed 3 cm in front of
the laser. A screen composed of a sheet of paper was placed on the adjacent vertical wall. This was done by
rotating the slit disk until the double slit is centered on the slit holder. The interference fringes and the
diffraction envelope were observed as the slit separation was varied.

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 For the 0.25 mm single slit separation, the slit-to-screen distance, L was measured. The boundaries of
the dark fringes were marked and the locations of the first and second order intensity minima were done using
the same procedures of the single-slit-diffraction.
The double-slit interference pattern was projected onto the white wall. The farther the slit is from the
screen, the easier it will be to see the interference pattern. The number of interference fringes located inside the
central maximum was observed and counted. The width of each interference fringe was approximated by
dividing the number of interference fringes by the width of the central maximum.
All procedures were repeated for the remaining double-slit with the following configuration: a= 0.04
mm, d= 0.50 mm; a= 0.08 mm, d= 0.25 mm; and a= 0.08 mm, d= 0.50 mm.

3 Results and Discussion

3.1 Single Slit Diffraction
According to the data gathered from the experiment, there was a direct relationship with the slit width and the
diffraction envelopes. One can notice that the narrower the slit width the thicker and more stretched the
diffraction pattern, while in the wider the slit diffraction pattern appears thinner and less stretched. This could be
the result of the inverse relationship of the slit width and ​y​m (distance
​ from center to side). [2] It was shown that
the value of the distance from center to side measured would increase as the given slit width decreases. (Refer to
Appendix A)
Wavelength and distance of the laser and slit were also tested in the experiment, we obtained data that
showed a direct linear relationship with the wavelength and the width of the fringes this could be explained by
the relationship that the two factors would have as seen in the equation:
ay 1
λ= mL (3)
Where λ is the wavelength and a being the slit width.
Distance on the other hand would also have a direct relationship with the width of the fringes, but at the
same time it also affects the size of the diffraction pattern observed, we can further prove the obtained data by
using the given equation below:
mλL
y1 = a (4)
Where y 1 is the fringe width and ​L​ is the slit to screen distance.

3.2 Double Slit Diffraction

There are two major factors that could potentially affect the diffraction envelope and interference fringes in
double-slit diffraction, the first being the slit width and the second being the slit separation. The slit width would
not make a noticable difference on the interference fringes moreover, only the distance between the slits would
affect the interference. This was further supported by our data wherein our calculated fringe width doesn't
change as we increase or decrease the slit width, on the other hand we noticed that as we increase or decrease
the distance between the 2 slits, the inverse relationship of it would respectively decrease and increase the fringe
width. (Refer to Appendix D) The diffraction pattern on the other hand would be affected in the same way that
the single slit was, wherein the narrower slits allow light to bend as they pass through resulting in a overlap in
diffraction pattern while the wider slits allow more light to pass through undiffracted resulting in less overlap.
[4]
The second factor that could affect the double slit setup would the slit separation, the separation of the
two slits in the setup would focus more on the interference instead of diffraction. This would mean that the
difference in the separation of the slits or the distance between the two slits has a bigger impact on the slit width
and pattern. [2] This was also proved by our data with the direct relationship between number of distance and
fringe width. (Refer to Appendix D) This could be explained because the distance of the slits from one another
would increase the number of visible fringes leading to a larger fringe width.

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 Increasing wavelength and distance from slit screen in double slit diffraction would result in the same
directly proportional effect as single slit diffraction this would be due to the fact that equations that are used
wherein the only difference is that the slit width is replaced by difference in slit distance as seen below, while an
increase in distance between slits would result in a decrease of fringe width as seen in Table 4:
mλL
y1 ≈ d ​(5)
Wherein ​d​ is the distance between slits and λ is the wavelength and y 1 is the fringe width, and L is the
distance of the slit from the screen.

4 Conclusion and Recommendations

With light possessing wave-like properties, the phenomena of wave diffraction and wave interference was
visualized through the use of a laser diode setup. As single slit diffraction and double slit diffraction setups were
used, different diffraction patterns were observed, all varying based on their own respective variable
configurations.
As slits were continuously varied across multiple trials, it was observed for the single slit diffraction
that having a 0.01 slit width resulted to a Δy 1 value of 4.00 cm while the 0.02 slit width resulted to a Δy 1 value
of 2.00 cm. On the other hand, for the double slit diffraction, it was observed how the previous results were
reinforced as the setup with a = 0.04 cm generally had a greater Δy 1 when compared to the setup with a = 0.08
cm. However, when slit distance was increased in the double slit diffraction setup, an increase in number of
fringes in the diffraction pattern was observed for both a = 0.04 cm and a = 0.08 cm. This confers to the
relationships established between the different variables observed throughout the experiment.

References
[1]Hugh D. Young, Roger A. Freedman,, University Physics with Modern Physics 13th Edition,, 1190-1201
(2012).
[2] Newman, J., Physics of the Life Sciences, Chapter 22, Springer Science and Business Media, USA 2010.
[3] Gupta, S., Engineering Physics: Volume 1, 18th ed., pp. 168-169, Krishna Prakashan Media, India, 2010.
[4]R. Nave, "Fraunhofer Diffraction", Hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu. [Online]. Available:
http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/phyopt/fraungeo.html#c2. [Accessed: 18- Sep- 2018].

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 Appendix A: Data for Wavelength of Laser Diode

a = ​0.02 mm, m
​ = ​1 a = ​0.04 mm, m
​ = ​1

Distance between side orders ​Δ​y​1 4.00 cm 2.00 cm

Distance from center to side, ​y​1 2.00 cm 1.00 cm

Calculated wavelength 7.5 x 10​-5 ​cm 7.5 x 10​-5 ​cm

Percent Difference 14.3 % 14.3 %

Average Wavelength (​λ) 7.5 x 10​-5 ​cm

Slit-to-screen distance (​L)​ 53.00 cm

Sample Calculations
a.) Wavelength
y 1 ≈ mλL
a
ay
λ = mL1
b.) Percent Difference
Expected − Actual
% Dif f erence = Expected + Actual x 100
2

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 Appendix B: Data for 0.04 mm Single-Slit

m = 1​ m = 2​

Distance between side orders ​Δ​y​m 2.00 cm 5.40 cm

Distance from center to side, ​y​m 1.00 cm 2.70 cm

Calculated slit width 3.4 x 10​-3 ​cm 2.6 x 10​-3 ​cm

Percent Difference 16.2 % 42.4 %

Sample Calculations
a.) Slit Width
mλL
y1 ≈ a
a= mλL
ym
b.) Percent Difference
Expected − Actual
% Dif f erence = Expected + Actual x 100
2

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 Appendix C: Data for the a = 0.04mm, d= 0.25 mm

m = 1​ m = 2​

Distance between side orders ​Δ​y​m 2.40 cm 4.40 cm

Distance from center to side, ​y​m 1.20 cm 2.20 cm

Calculated slit width 2.9 x 10​-3 ​cm 3.1 x 10​-3 ​cm

Percent Difference 31.9 % 25.4 %

Slit- to-screen distance (​L)​ 53.00 cm

Sample Calculations
a.) Slit Width
mλL
y1 ≈ d
y 1 = mλL
a
mλL
a= y
1

b.) Percent Difference

Expected − Actual
% Dif f erence = Expected + Actual x 100
2

Appendix D: Data for Double-slit Interference II

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 a = ​0.04 mm a = ​0.08 mm

​ 0.25 mm
d= ​ 0.50 mm
d= ​ 0.25 mm
d= ​ 0.50 mm
d=

Number of fringes 13 25 5 11

Width of central maximum 2.0 cm 1.75 cm 0.9 cm 0.8 cm

Fringe width 0.154 cm 0.07 cm 0.18 cm 0.07 cm

Sample Calculations
a.) Fringe Width
N umber of F ringes
W idth of central maximum

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