Why exactly does diffraction occur?











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Why do waves that were traveling in a straight direction change direction when passing through an opening?



I thought that the waves (red arrow) when colliding with the wall bounce in the opposite direction (green arrow).



And the waves that pass through the aperture follow its path normally as shown in the image on the right.



enter image description here
The waves that go in a straight direction should follow traveling straight line like a car that goes under a bridge the car is straight on the road.
But this is not so.



Why does the direction of the waves change?



How is the direction of the waves calculated?










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  • It is called diffraction: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diffraction
    – Aaron Stevens
    10 hours ago






  • 1




    I think OP wants to know why the diffraction occurs and why the waves don't just continue like they pointed out in the diagram. Maybe an answer with wavelets and Huygens' Principle. I don't understand the principle well enough to write a good answer though.
    – Tausif Hossain
    10 hours ago






  • 1




    @TausifHossain Yeah that is why I posted a comment :) It seems like the OP doesn't know what it is called, or else they would have said "How does diffraction work" or something like that. Just thought the reference would be helpful just in case.
    – Aaron Stevens
    10 hours ago












  • Possible duplicate of How does the Huygens–Fresnel principle apply to diffraction?
    – Aaron Stevens
    10 hours ago










  • I see, you're right. Though I found it hard to find a good intuitive explanation of the Huygens Principle online.
    – Tausif Hossain
    10 hours ago

















up vote
10
down vote

favorite
1












Why do waves that were traveling in a straight direction change direction when passing through an opening?



I thought that the waves (red arrow) when colliding with the wall bounce in the opposite direction (green arrow).



And the waves that pass through the aperture follow its path normally as shown in the image on the right.



enter image description here
The waves that go in a straight direction should follow traveling straight line like a car that goes under a bridge the car is straight on the road.
But this is not so.



Why does the direction of the waves change?



How is the direction of the waves calculated?










share|cite|improve this question









New contributor




jony alton is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.




















  • It is called diffraction: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diffraction
    – Aaron Stevens
    10 hours ago






  • 1




    I think OP wants to know why the diffraction occurs and why the waves don't just continue like they pointed out in the diagram. Maybe an answer with wavelets and Huygens' Principle. I don't understand the principle well enough to write a good answer though.
    – Tausif Hossain
    10 hours ago






  • 1




    @TausifHossain Yeah that is why I posted a comment :) It seems like the OP doesn't know what it is called, or else they would have said "How does diffraction work" or something like that. Just thought the reference would be helpful just in case.
    – Aaron Stevens
    10 hours ago












  • Possible duplicate of How does the Huygens–Fresnel principle apply to diffraction?
    – Aaron Stevens
    10 hours ago










  • I see, you're right. Though I found it hard to find a good intuitive explanation of the Huygens Principle online.
    – Tausif Hossain
    10 hours ago















up vote
10
down vote

favorite
1









up vote
10
down vote

favorite
1






1





Why do waves that were traveling in a straight direction change direction when passing through an opening?



I thought that the waves (red arrow) when colliding with the wall bounce in the opposite direction (green arrow).



And the waves that pass through the aperture follow its path normally as shown in the image on the right.



enter image description here
The waves that go in a straight direction should follow traveling straight line like a car that goes under a bridge the car is straight on the road.
But this is not so.



Why does the direction of the waves change?



How is the direction of the waves calculated?










share|cite|improve this question









New contributor




jony alton is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.











Why do waves that were traveling in a straight direction change direction when passing through an opening?



I thought that the waves (red arrow) when colliding with the wall bounce in the opposite direction (green arrow).



And the waves that pass through the aperture follow its path normally as shown in the image on the right.



enter image description here
The waves that go in a straight direction should follow traveling straight line like a car that goes under a bridge the car is straight on the road.
But this is not so.



Why does the direction of the waves change?



How is the direction of the waves calculated?







waves diffraction huygens-principle






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New contributor




jony alton is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.











share|cite|improve this question









New contributor




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Check out our Code of Conduct.









share|cite|improve this question




share|cite|improve this question








edited 35 mins ago









AccidentalFourierTransform

24.9k1466121




24.9k1466121






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asked 10 hours ago









jony alton

512




512




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New contributor





jony alton is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.






jony alton is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.












  • It is called diffraction: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diffraction
    – Aaron Stevens
    10 hours ago






  • 1




    I think OP wants to know why the diffraction occurs and why the waves don't just continue like they pointed out in the diagram. Maybe an answer with wavelets and Huygens' Principle. I don't understand the principle well enough to write a good answer though.
    – Tausif Hossain
    10 hours ago






  • 1




    @TausifHossain Yeah that is why I posted a comment :) It seems like the OP doesn't know what it is called, or else they would have said "How does diffraction work" or something like that. Just thought the reference would be helpful just in case.
    – Aaron Stevens
    10 hours ago












  • Possible duplicate of How does the Huygens–Fresnel principle apply to diffraction?
    – Aaron Stevens
    10 hours ago










  • I see, you're right. Though I found it hard to find a good intuitive explanation of the Huygens Principle online.
    – Tausif Hossain
    10 hours ago




















  • It is called diffraction: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diffraction
    – Aaron Stevens
    10 hours ago






  • 1




    I think OP wants to know why the diffraction occurs and why the waves don't just continue like they pointed out in the diagram. Maybe an answer with wavelets and Huygens' Principle. I don't understand the principle well enough to write a good answer though.
    – Tausif Hossain
    10 hours ago






  • 1




    @TausifHossain Yeah that is why I posted a comment :) It seems like the OP doesn't know what it is called, or else they would have said "How does diffraction work" or something like that. Just thought the reference would be helpful just in case.
    – Aaron Stevens
    10 hours ago












  • Possible duplicate of How does the Huygens–Fresnel principle apply to diffraction?
    – Aaron Stevens
    10 hours ago










  • I see, you're right. Though I found it hard to find a good intuitive explanation of the Huygens Principle online.
    – Tausif Hossain
    10 hours ago


















It is called diffraction: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diffraction
– Aaron Stevens
10 hours ago




It is called diffraction: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diffraction
– Aaron Stevens
10 hours ago




1




1




I think OP wants to know why the diffraction occurs and why the waves don't just continue like they pointed out in the diagram. Maybe an answer with wavelets and Huygens' Principle. I don't understand the principle well enough to write a good answer though.
– Tausif Hossain
10 hours ago




I think OP wants to know why the diffraction occurs and why the waves don't just continue like they pointed out in the diagram. Maybe an answer with wavelets and Huygens' Principle. I don't understand the principle well enough to write a good answer though.
– Tausif Hossain
10 hours ago




1




1




@TausifHossain Yeah that is why I posted a comment :) It seems like the OP doesn't know what it is called, or else they would have said "How does diffraction work" or something like that. Just thought the reference would be helpful just in case.
– Aaron Stevens
10 hours ago






@TausifHossain Yeah that is why I posted a comment :) It seems like the OP doesn't know what it is called, or else they would have said "How does diffraction work" or something like that. Just thought the reference would be helpful just in case.
– Aaron Stevens
10 hours ago














Possible duplicate of How does the Huygens–Fresnel principle apply to diffraction?
– Aaron Stevens
10 hours ago




Possible duplicate of How does the Huygens–Fresnel principle apply to diffraction?
– Aaron Stevens
10 hours ago












I see, you're right. Though I found it hard to find a good intuitive explanation of the Huygens Principle online.
– Tausif Hossain
10 hours ago






I see, you're right. Though I found it hard to find a good intuitive explanation of the Huygens Principle online.
– Tausif Hossain
10 hours ago












5 Answers
5






active

oldest

votes

















up vote
8
down vote













For the full math, you can look up 'diffraction' and 'Huygens Principle' but here I will just post a quick observation that is enough to get a good physical intuition.



Suppose we are considering water waves, and imagine yourself sitting behind the barrier in the 'harbour' (at the lower part of your diagram), watching the waves approaching from 'out at sea' (i.e. the top of your diagram). As the waves reach the 'harbour mouth' (i.e. the small opening in your diagram) the water there is caused to go up and down. So there is this water bobbing up and down in the small opening. Now the surface of the water nearby is going to bob up and down too, isn't it? And the ripples will spread out from there. It doesn't really matter in what direction you consider: the waves will spread out into the 'harbour' because the water at the harbour mouth is moving.



From this way of thinking, you begin to wonder why the waves out at sea are so straight! Ultimately it is because in that case you have oscillating water all along a long line, and so the water all along that long line is caused to move in synchrony.



As I say, this is not a full mathematical answer, just an attempt to give you some intuition about the physics.






share|cite|improve this answer




























    up vote
    3
    down vote













    A quick answer would be that they are not changing direction.
    Each point in the plane is the source of a single wave. Single waves expand in circles, but as you put many single waves together you sum them and get a plane wave.
    The aperture if small enough simply blocks the other waves allowing only one to pass and thus it re-takes circular shape.



    This is a simplification of diffraction and huygens' principle but it might help you get an idea.






    share|cite|improve this answer




























      up vote
      2
      down vote













      Your aperture only allows a very short segment of the incoming plane wave to pass through. As the aperture becomes smaller, the segment looks more and more like a point source. A point source emits spherical waves like you show in your lower right figure. (this is almost intuitively obvious because of symmetry--what other shape of wave would a point emit?).



      This is usually explained more formally via diffraction:



      https://isaacphysics.org/concepts/cp_diffraction



      "Diffraction is the spreading out of waves as they pass through an aperture or around objects. ... In an aperture with width smaller than the wavelength, the wave transmitted through the aperture spreads all the way round and behaves like a point source of waves (they spread out below)"






      share|cite|improve this answer




























        up vote
        1
        down vote













        Tausif commented:




        I think OP wants to know why the diffraction occurs and why the waves don't just continue like they pointed out in the diagram.




        In any elastic medium, a pressure effect not only leads to material displacement in this direction, but also to lateral displacement. (In an inelastic medium the material gets simply punched out.) So the awaited longitudinal wave is accompanied always by a transversal wave.



        This transversal wave spread out in isotropic media as a spherical wave. The obstacle with the slit limiting the isotropy and instead of a spherical wave on get only have of a spherecal wave.






        share|cite|improve this answer




























          up vote
          0
          down vote













          In the aperture the wave us no longer plane : it us the product of a rect function, which is unity in the aperture and zero outside it, and a plane wave. You can inspect which wave vectors are present by Fourier transforming this product. The result is a convolution of the transform of the rect, the so called sinc function, and the plane wave. The message is that the result is a sum of plane waves of varying direction. For a point aperture all plane waves are present with equal amplitude and phase, that is, a spherical wave. Alas this requires some elementary math to understand.






          share|cite|improve this answer





















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            5 Answers
            5






            active

            oldest

            votes








            5 Answers
            5






            active

            oldest

            votes









            active

            oldest

            votes






            active

            oldest

            votes








            up vote
            8
            down vote













            For the full math, you can look up 'diffraction' and 'Huygens Principle' but here I will just post a quick observation that is enough to get a good physical intuition.



            Suppose we are considering water waves, and imagine yourself sitting behind the barrier in the 'harbour' (at the lower part of your diagram), watching the waves approaching from 'out at sea' (i.e. the top of your diagram). As the waves reach the 'harbour mouth' (i.e. the small opening in your diagram) the water there is caused to go up and down. So there is this water bobbing up and down in the small opening. Now the surface of the water nearby is going to bob up and down too, isn't it? And the ripples will spread out from there. It doesn't really matter in what direction you consider: the waves will spread out into the 'harbour' because the water at the harbour mouth is moving.



            From this way of thinking, you begin to wonder why the waves out at sea are so straight! Ultimately it is because in that case you have oscillating water all along a long line, and so the water all along that long line is caused to move in synchrony.



            As I say, this is not a full mathematical answer, just an attempt to give you some intuition about the physics.






            share|cite|improve this answer

























              up vote
              8
              down vote













              For the full math, you can look up 'diffraction' and 'Huygens Principle' but here I will just post a quick observation that is enough to get a good physical intuition.



              Suppose we are considering water waves, and imagine yourself sitting behind the barrier in the 'harbour' (at the lower part of your diagram), watching the waves approaching from 'out at sea' (i.e. the top of your diagram). As the waves reach the 'harbour mouth' (i.e. the small opening in your diagram) the water there is caused to go up and down. So there is this water bobbing up and down in the small opening. Now the surface of the water nearby is going to bob up and down too, isn't it? And the ripples will spread out from there. It doesn't really matter in what direction you consider: the waves will spread out into the 'harbour' because the water at the harbour mouth is moving.



              From this way of thinking, you begin to wonder why the waves out at sea are so straight! Ultimately it is because in that case you have oscillating water all along a long line, and so the water all along that long line is caused to move in synchrony.



              As I say, this is not a full mathematical answer, just an attempt to give you some intuition about the physics.






              share|cite|improve this answer























                up vote
                8
                down vote










                up vote
                8
                down vote









                For the full math, you can look up 'diffraction' and 'Huygens Principle' but here I will just post a quick observation that is enough to get a good physical intuition.



                Suppose we are considering water waves, and imagine yourself sitting behind the barrier in the 'harbour' (at the lower part of your diagram), watching the waves approaching from 'out at sea' (i.e. the top of your diagram). As the waves reach the 'harbour mouth' (i.e. the small opening in your diagram) the water there is caused to go up and down. So there is this water bobbing up and down in the small opening. Now the surface of the water nearby is going to bob up and down too, isn't it? And the ripples will spread out from there. It doesn't really matter in what direction you consider: the waves will spread out into the 'harbour' because the water at the harbour mouth is moving.



                From this way of thinking, you begin to wonder why the waves out at sea are so straight! Ultimately it is because in that case you have oscillating water all along a long line, and so the water all along that long line is caused to move in synchrony.



                As I say, this is not a full mathematical answer, just an attempt to give you some intuition about the physics.






                share|cite|improve this answer












                For the full math, you can look up 'diffraction' and 'Huygens Principle' but here I will just post a quick observation that is enough to get a good physical intuition.



                Suppose we are considering water waves, and imagine yourself sitting behind the barrier in the 'harbour' (at the lower part of your diagram), watching the waves approaching from 'out at sea' (i.e. the top of your diagram). As the waves reach the 'harbour mouth' (i.e. the small opening in your diagram) the water there is caused to go up and down. So there is this water bobbing up and down in the small opening. Now the surface of the water nearby is going to bob up and down too, isn't it? And the ripples will spread out from there. It doesn't really matter in what direction you consider: the waves will spread out into the 'harbour' because the water at the harbour mouth is moving.



                From this way of thinking, you begin to wonder why the waves out at sea are so straight! Ultimately it is because in that case you have oscillating water all along a long line, and so the water all along that long line is caused to move in synchrony.



                As I say, this is not a full mathematical answer, just an attempt to give you some intuition about the physics.







                share|cite|improve this answer












                share|cite|improve this answer



                share|cite|improve this answer










                answered 9 hours ago









                Andrew Steane

                2,366524




                2,366524






















                    up vote
                    3
                    down vote













                    A quick answer would be that they are not changing direction.
                    Each point in the plane is the source of a single wave. Single waves expand in circles, but as you put many single waves together you sum them and get a plane wave.
                    The aperture if small enough simply blocks the other waves allowing only one to pass and thus it re-takes circular shape.



                    This is a simplification of diffraction and huygens' principle but it might help you get an idea.






                    share|cite|improve this answer

























                      up vote
                      3
                      down vote













                      A quick answer would be that they are not changing direction.
                      Each point in the plane is the source of a single wave. Single waves expand in circles, but as you put many single waves together you sum them and get a plane wave.
                      The aperture if small enough simply blocks the other waves allowing only one to pass and thus it re-takes circular shape.



                      This is a simplification of diffraction and huygens' principle but it might help you get an idea.






                      share|cite|improve this answer























                        up vote
                        3
                        down vote










                        up vote
                        3
                        down vote









                        A quick answer would be that they are not changing direction.
                        Each point in the plane is the source of a single wave. Single waves expand in circles, but as you put many single waves together you sum them and get a plane wave.
                        The aperture if small enough simply blocks the other waves allowing only one to pass and thus it re-takes circular shape.



                        This is a simplification of diffraction and huygens' principle but it might help you get an idea.






                        share|cite|improve this answer












                        A quick answer would be that they are not changing direction.
                        Each point in the plane is the source of a single wave. Single waves expand in circles, but as you put many single waves together you sum them and get a plane wave.
                        The aperture if small enough simply blocks the other waves allowing only one to pass and thus it re-takes circular shape.



                        This is a simplification of diffraction and huygens' principle but it might help you get an idea.







                        share|cite|improve this answer












                        share|cite|improve this answer



                        share|cite|improve this answer










                        answered 9 hours ago









                        JalfredP

                        823310




                        823310






















                            up vote
                            2
                            down vote













                            Your aperture only allows a very short segment of the incoming plane wave to pass through. As the aperture becomes smaller, the segment looks more and more like a point source. A point source emits spherical waves like you show in your lower right figure. (this is almost intuitively obvious because of symmetry--what other shape of wave would a point emit?).



                            This is usually explained more formally via diffraction:



                            https://isaacphysics.org/concepts/cp_diffraction



                            "Diffraction is the spreading out of waves as they pass through an aperture or around objects. ... In an aperture with width smaller than the wavelength, the wave transmitted through the aperture spreads all the way round and behaves like a point source of waves (they spread out below)"






                            share|cite|improve this answer

























                              up vote
                              2
                              down vote













                              Your aperture only allows a very short segment of the incoming plane wave to pass through. As the aperture becomes smaller, the segment looks more and more like a point source. A point source emits spherical waves like you show in your lower right figure. (this is almost intuitively obvious because of symmetry--what other shape of wave would a point emit?).



                              This is usually explained more formally via diffraction:



                              https://isaacphysics.org/concepts/cp_diffraction



                              "Diffraction is the spreading out of waves as they pass through an aperture or around objects. ... In an aperture with width smaller than the wavelength, the wave transmitted through the aperture spreads all the way round and behaves like a point source of waves (they spread out below)"






                              share|cite|improve this answer























                                up vote
                                2
                                down vote










                                up vote
                                2
                                down vote









                                Your aperture only allows a very short segment of the incoming plane wave to pass through. As the aperture becomes smaller, the segment looks more and more like a point source. A point source emits spherical waves like you show in your lower right figure. (this is almost intuitively obvious because of symmetry--what other shape of wave would a point emit?).



                                This is usually explained more formally via diffraction:



                                https://isaacphysics.org/concepts/cp_diffraction



                                "Diffraction is the spreading out of waves as they pass through an aperture or around objects. ... In an aperture with width smaller than the wavelength, the wave transmitted through the aperture spreads all the way round and behaves like a point source of waves (they spread out below)"






                                share|cite|improve this answer












                                Your aperture only allows a very short segment of the incoming plane wave to pass through. As the aperture becomes smaller, the segment looks more and more like a point source. A point source emits spherical waves like you show in your lower right figure. (this is almost intuitively obvious because of symmetry--what other shape of wave would a point emit?).



                                This is usually explained more formally via diffraction:



                                https://isaacphysics.org/concepts/cp_diffraction



                                "Diffraction is the spreading out of waves as they pass through an aperture or around objects. ... In an aperture with width smaller than the wavelength, the wave transmitted through the aperture spreads all the way round and behaves like a point source of waves (they spread out below)"







                                share|cite|improve this answer












                                share|cite|improve this answer



                                share|cite|improve this answer










                                answered 10 hours ago









                                user45664

                                1,0312821




                                1,0312821






















                                    up vote
                                    1
                                    down vote













                                    Tausif commented:




                                    I think OP wants to know why the diffraction occurs and why the waves don't just continue like they pointed out in the diagram.




                                    In any elastic medium, a pressure effect not only leads to material displacement in this direction, but also to lateral displacement. (In an inelastic medium the material gets simply punched out.) So the awaited longitudinal wave is accompanied always by a transversal wave.



                                    This transversal wave spread out in isotropic media as a spherical wave. The obstacle with the slit limiting the isotropy and instead of a spherical wave on get only have of a spherecal wave.






                                    share|cite|improve this answer

























                                      up vote
                                      1
                                      down vote













                                      Tausif commented:




                                      I think OP wants to know why the diffraction occurs and why the waves don't just continue like they pointed out in the diagram.




                                      In any elastic medium, a pressure effect not only leads to material displacement in this direction, but also to lateral displacement. (In an inelastic medium the material gets simply punched out.) So the awaited longitudinal wave is accompanied always by a transversal wave.



                                      This transversal wave spread out in isotropic media as a spherical wave. The obstacle with the slit limiting the isotropy and instead of a spherical wave on get only have of a spherecal wave.






                                      share|cite|improve this answer























                                        up vote
                                        1
                                        down vote










                                        up vote
                                        1
                                        down vote









                                        Tausif commented:




                                        I think OP wants to know why the diffraction occurs and why the waves don't just continue like they pointed out in the diagram.




                                        In any elastic medium, a pressure effect not only leads to material displacement in this direction, but also to lateral displacement. (In an inelastic medium the material gets simply punched out.) So the awaited longitudinal wave is accompanied always by a transversal wave.



                                        This transversal wave spread out in isotropic media as a spherical wave. The obstacle with the slit limiting the isotropy and instead of a spherical wave on get only have of a spherecal wave.






                                        share|cite|improve this answer












                                        Tausif commented:




                                        I think OP wants to know why the diffraction occurs and why the waves don't just continue like they pointed out in the diagram.




                                        In any elastic medium, a pressure effect not only leads to material displacement in this direction, but also to lateral displacement. (In an inelastic medium the material gets simply punched out.) So the awaited longitudinal wave is accompanied always by a transversal wave.



                                        This transversal wave spread out in isotropic media as a spherical wave. The obstacle with the slit limiting the isotropy and instead of a spherical wave on get only have of a spherecal wave.







                                        share|cite|improve this answer












                                        share|cite|improve this answer



                                        share|cite|improve this answer










                                        answered 7 hours ago









                                        HolgerFiedler

                                        3,94031133




                                        3,94031133






















                                            up vote
                                            0
                                            down vote













                                            In the aperture the wave us no longer plane : it us the product of a rect function, which is unity in the aperture and zero outside it, and a plane wave. You can inspect which wave vectors are present by Fourier transforming this product. The result is a convolution of the transform of the rect, the so called sinc function, and the plane wave. The message is that the result is a sum of plane waves of varying direction. For a point aperture all plane waves are present with equal amplitude and phase, that is, a spherical wave. Alas this requires some elementary math to understand.






                                            share|cite|improve this answer

























                                              up vote
                                              0
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                                              In the aperture the wave us no longer plane : it us the product of a rect function, which is unity in the aperture and zero outside it, and a plane wave. You can inspect which wave vectors are present by Fourier transforming this product. The result is a convolution of the transform of the rect, the so called sinc function, and the plane wave. The message is that the result is a sum of plane waves of varying direction. For a point aperture all plane waves are present with equal amplitude and phase, that is, a spherical wave. Alas this requires some elementary math to understand.






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                                                up vote
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                                                In the aperture the wave us no longer plane : it us the product of a rect function, which is unity in the aperture and zero outside it, and a plane wave. You can inspect which wave vectors are present by Fourier transforming this product. The result is a convolution of the transform of the rect, the so called sinc function, and the plane wave. The message is that the result is a sum of plane waves of varying direction. For a point aperture all plane waves are present with equal amplitude and phase, that is, a spherical wave. Alas this requires some elementary math to understand.






                                                share|cite|improve this answer












                                                In the aperture the wave us no longer plane : it us the product of a rect function, which is unity in the aperture and zero outside it, and a plane wave. You can inspect which wave vectors are present by Fourier transforming this product. The result is a convolution of the transform of the rect, the so called sinc function, and the plane wave. The message is that the result is a sum of plane waves of varying direction. For a point aperture all plane waves are present with equal amplitude and phase, that is, a spherical wave. Alas this requires some elementary math to understand.







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                                                answered 9 hours ago









                                                my2cts

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