FAQs of Diffraction and Interference

Q1. What is Interference?

Answer: 

Interference is the phenomenon in which two waves traveling in the same direction superpose together to result in different wavefronts.

Q2. What is Diffraction?

Answer: 

Diffraction is the phenomenon in which light bends around the aperture or obstacle of size comparable to the wavelength of light spreading it in different regions of the aperture.

Q3. What is Nature of Fringe Intensity and Fringe Width in Diffraction and Interference?

Answer: 

Fringe width is unequal, and the intensity of the fringe is variable in diffraction while in the case of Interference the fringe width is equal and is of constant intensity.

Q4. What is Wavefront?

Answer: Wavefronts are the continuous point for all the particles of oscillating in the same phase in the medium.

Q5: What are Types of Interference?

Answer:

There are two types of interference namely constructive interference and destructive interference.

Q6: What is Constructive Interference?

Answer:

The interference of waves in which the crest of one wave superposes on the crest of another wave and the trough of one wave superposes on the trough of another wave is called Constructive Interference.

Q7: What is Destructive Interference?

Answer:

The interference of waves in which the crest of one wave superposes on the trough of another wave and the trough of one wave superposes on the crest of another wave is called Destructive Interference.

Q8: Which Experiment is performed to check Interference of Light?

Answer:

Young’s Double Slit Experiment is performed to check the Interference of light.

Q9: Which Experiment is performed to check Diffraction of Light?

Answer: 

Single Slit Experiment is performed to check Diffraction of Light.

Diffraction and Interference are two important phenomena studied in Wave Optics. These phenomena are linked to the Wave Nature of the matter. We know that when photons are emitted from the source they start oscillating in space and the locus of all such oscillating particles in the same phase is called Wavefronts. As per Huygens Wave Theory, each point on the Wavefront acts as a source of secondary Wavelets which later add up to give a new Wavefront. The sources of these Wavefronts can be coherent or non-coherent depending upon whether the phase difference is constant or not. These wavefronts interact with each other and with other particles to give rise to the phenomena of  Interference and Diffraction respectively. 

In this article, we will learn about what is diffraction, what is interference and what are the differences between Diffraction and Interference.