Differentiate between interference of light and diffraction of light.

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Differences between interference of light and diffraction of light:

	Interference	Diffraction
1.	Interference fringes have equal width.	Diffraction bands have unequal width. (width of secondary maxima decreases with increase in order)
2.	Interference is due to the superposition of two waves originating from two coherent sources.	It is due to the superposition of secondary wavelets originating from different parts of single slit.
3.	Intensity of all bright fringes is equal and intensity of dark fringes is zero.	Intensity of central maximum is highest, Intensity of secondary maxima decreases with increase in order.
4.	At an angle of λ/a, maximum intensity for two narrow slits separated by a distance 'a' is found.	At an angle of λ/a, the first minimum of the diffraction pattern occurs for a single slit of width a.
5.	In an interference pattern there is a good contrast between dark and bright fringes.	In a diffraction pattern the contrast between the bright band and dark band is comparatively lesser.

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Differentiate between interference of light and diffraction of light.

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