What happens to the diffraction pattern of light as an aperture becomes infinitely small?

daniellex0x0xto

daniellex0x0xto

Answered question

2022-08-10

What happens to the diffraction pattern of light as an aperture becomes infinitely small?

Answer & Explanation

Brennan Parks

Brennan Parks

Beginner2022-08-11Added 14 answers

The Interference pattern behind an aperture in the far field is given by the Fourier transform of the aperture function. In the case of a 1-dimensional aperture, if the width of it is d, then the diffraction pattern is given by the function
g ( x ) = sin ( x d ) x ,
where x is the point on the screen. So, as d goes towards 0, you could argue that the pattern is just becoming more and more constant, going outwards from the middle of the screen. Of course since you are letting less and less light through, you could argue that the intensity also tends towards 0 everywhere.

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