https://doi.org/10.1140/epjp/s13360-024-05689-9
Regular Article
New experiments on knife-edge diffraction
Research School of Physics, Australian National University, 2601, Canberra, ACT, Australia
Received:
2
April
2024
Accepted:
25
September
2024
Published online:
4
October
2024
While the near-field effect from a knife edge has been well studied, the far-field effect has not been investigated yet. This paper presents an experimental study of both the Fresnel and Fraunhofer diffractions from a knife edge and reveals some puzzling features, which cannot be explained by the wave theory of light. By applying diffuse reflection to the infinitesimal structure of knife edge at nanometre scale, the paper can explain qualitatively the diffraction patterns observed in the experiments. It is suggested that manmade nanostructures may be used to study the knife-edge diffraction patterns quantitatively.
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© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Società Italiana di Fisica and Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2024. Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
