Diffraction grating

DIffraction grating is when we have a lot of tiny slits (openings) close to each other in a material, and we send waves through those slits.

When the waves pass through the slits, they diffract (spread out) and overlap with each other

This creates a pattern of bright and dark spots on a screen placed behind the grating. This is because of the interference of the waves - where the waves overlap, they can either add together (constructive) or cancel out (destructive).

Formula

The formula for diffraction grating is:

Where:

• is the order of the spectrum (or maximum).
• is the wavelength of the wave.
• is the distance between the slits (also called the grating spacing).
• is the angle between the central maximum and the nth maximum.