Why the incessant confusion between diffraction and interference?
apopiw83
Answered question
2022-11-04
Answer & Explanation
gortepap6yb
Beginner2022-11-05Added 19 answers
Do you agree that waves diffract more at small openings, especially when the opening is much smaller than the wavelength? That's because the distance between either side of the opening is too small for light to accumulate relative phase between the two points, allowing the light to propagate close to evenly in all directions. This changes once the opening approaches the size of a wavelength or larger. Every possible example of diffraction can be described in terms of interfering wavefronts.
Even looking at your definitions of diffraction and interference (which I think are quite reasonable for qualitative definitions), you can see similarities. Isn't the spreading of light according to your definition of diffraction also the delivery of light energy to different points in space, consistent with your definition of interference?
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