Similarities Between Diffraction and Interference

There are following similarities between Diffraction and Interference

  • Both Diffraction and Interference are phenomena of waves.
  • Both deal with wavefronts.
  • The superposition of waves occurs in both diffraction and interference.

Difference Between Diffraction And Interference

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.

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Diffraction Definition

The phenomenon in which light bends around the apertures or the corner of the particles spreading into different regions of the geometrical shadow of the aperture is called Diffraction. Diffraction of Light results is due to the superposition of secondary waves from different parts of the same wavefront. For Diffraction to happen the size of the particle or slite must be comparable to the wavelength of the light i.e. d ≈ λ....

Interference Definition

The phenomenon in which two waves traveling in the same direction in the same medium superpose on each other, resulting in different wavefronts is called Interference. Superposition of waves means vector addition of the displacement of waves at any point of time. The interference of two waves causes the resultant intensity of the wave to be different from the intensities of the two waves. Depending upon the resultant intensity the interference can be classified as constructive interference and destructive interference. Interference of the waves can be shown by Young’s Double Slit Experiment....

Similarities Between Diffraction and Interference

There are following similarities between Diffraction and Interference...

Difference Between Diffraction and Interference

There are following differences between Diffraction and Interference are discussed in the table below,...

Conclusion

In this article, we learn that diffraction and interference both deal with the wavefronts with a basic difference that diffraction doesn’t create new fronts but interference creates new wavefronts of different intensities. The mandatory condition for diffraction is that there should be a slit or an obstacle of size comparable to the wavelength of light while there is no such condition for interference. Also in the case of diffraction, the fringes are of unequal width and variable intensity while in the case of interference the width of the fringes are equal and are of the same intensity. Thus the contrast between maxima and minima for diffraction is poor while that of interference is good....

FAQs of Diffraction and Interference

Q1. What is Interference?...

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