Diffraction of a Gaussian laser beam through a single slit, and a variety of other apertures. 1D and 2D diffraction patterns are observed and modeled. The transition from the Fresnel regime to the Fraunhofer regime is studied both computationally and experimentally. The connection between Fraunhofer diffraction and spatial Fourier transforms is developed. Fast Fourier Transforms are used to efficiently calculate 2D diffraction patterns. For this lab for Questions 10 and 12, you will need the fft_helpers.nb file. Question 14 refers to this notebook.
Please read through the lab guide, provide a short paragraph about the main goals of the experiment, and then complete the indicated prelab questions from the lab guide:
Questions 2-4 on pages 5-6