The box of a pinhole camera,of length $L$,has a hole of radius $a$. It is assumed that when the hole is illuminated by a parallel beam of light of wavelength $\lambda$,the spread of the spot (obtained on the opposite wall of the camera) is the sum of its geometrical spread and the spread due to diffraction. The spot would then have its minimum size (say $b_{min}$) when

When the frequency of the light used is changed from $4 \times 10^{14} \ s^{-1}$ to $5 \times 10^{14} \ s^{-1}$, the angular width of the principal (central) maximum in a single slit Fraunhofer diffraction pattern changes by $0.6 \ \text{radian}$. What is the width of the slit? (Assume that the experiment is performed in vacuum.)

Answer the following questions:
$(a)$ In a single slit diffraction experiment, the width of the slit is made double the original width. How does this affect the size and intensity of the central diffraction band?
$(b)$ In what way is diffraction from each slit related to the interference pattern in a double-slit experiment?
$(c)$ When a tiny circular obstacle is placed in the path of light from a distant source, a bright spot is seen at the centre of the shadow of the obstacle. Explain why?
$(d)$ Two students are separated by a $7 \; m$ partition wall in a room $10 \; m$ high. If both light and sound waves can bend around obstacles, how is it that the students are unable to see each other even though they can converse easily?
$(e)$ Ray optics is based on the assumption that light travels in a straight line. Diffraction effects (observed when light propagates through small apertures/slits or around small obstacles) disprove this assumption. Yet the ray optics assumption is so commonly used in understanding location and several other properties of images in optical instruments. What is the justification?

When the distance between the slit and the screen is doubled,what happens to the angular separation between the fringes in a slit diffraction experiment?

$A$ parallel beam of monochromatic light falls normally on a single narrow slit. The angular width of the central maximum in the resulting diffraction pattern

$A$ slit of width $a$ is illuminated by white light. For red light $(\lambda = 6500 \; \mathring{A})$,the first minima is obtained at $\theta = 30^\circ$. Then the value of $a$ will be