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Concept
Diffraction grating
Summary
In optics, a diffraction grating is an optical grating with a periodic structure that diffracts light into several beams travelling in different directions (i.e., different diffraction angles). The emerging coloration is a form of structural coloration. The directions or diffraction angles of these beams depend on the wave (light) incident angle to the diffraction grating, the spacing or distance between adjacent diffracting elements (e.g., parallel slits for a transmission grating) on the grating, and the wavelength of the incident light. The grating acts as a dispersive element. Because of this, diffraction gratings are commonly used in monochromators and spectrometers, but other applications are also possible such as optical encoders for high precision motion control and wavefront measurement.
For typical applications, a reflective grating has ridges or rulings on its surface while a transmissive grating has transmissive or hollow slits on its surface. Such a grating modulates the amplitude of an incident wave on it to create a diffraction pattern. There are also gratings that modulate the phases of incident waves rather than the amplitude, and these type of gratings can be produced frequently by using holography.
James Gregory (1638–1675) observed the diffraction patterns caused by a bird feather, which was effectively the first diffraction grating (in a natural form) to be discovered, about a year after Isaac Newton's prism experiments. The first man-made diffraction grating was made around 1785 by Philadelphia inventor David Rittenhouse, who strung hairs between two finely threaded screws. This was similar to notable German physicist Joseph von Fraunhofer's wire diffraction grating in 1821. The principles of diffraction were discovered by Thomas Young and Augustin-Jean Fresnel. Using these principles, Fraunhofer was the first who used a diffraction grating to obtain line spectra and the first who measured the wavelengths of spectral lines with a diffraction grating.
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