4-8-98
Relevant sections in the book : 27.7 - 27.9
We've talked about what happens when light encounters a single slit (diffraction) and what happens when light hits a double slit (interference); what happens when light encounters an entire array of identical, equally-spaced slits? Such an array is known as a diffraction grating. The name is a bit misleading, because the structure in the pattern observed is dominated by interference effects.
With a double slit, the interference pattern is made up of wide peaks where constructive interference takes place. As more slits are added, the peaks in the pattern become sharper and narrower. With a large number of slits, the peaks are very sharp. The positions of the peaks, which come from the constructive interference between light coming from each slit, are found at the same angles as the peaks for the double slit; only the sharpness is affected.
Why is the pattern much sharper? In the double slit, between each peak of constructive interference is a single location where destructive interference takes place. Between the central peak (m = 0) and the next one (m = 1), there is a place where one wave travels 1/2 a wavelength further than the other, and that's where destructive interference takes place. For three slits, however, there are two places where destructive interference takes place. One is located at the point where the path lengths differ by 1/3 of a wavelength, while the other is at the place where the path lengths differ by 2/3 of a wavelength. For 4 slits, there are three places, for 5 slits there are four places, etc. Completely constructive interference, however, takes place only when the path lengths differ by an integral number of wavelengths. For a diffraction grating, then, with a large number of slits, the pattern is sharp because of all the destructive interference taking place between the bright peaks where constructive interference takes place.
Diffraction gratings, like prisms, disperse white light into individual colors. If the grating spacing (d, the distance between slits) is known and careful measurements are made of the angles at which light of a particular color occurs in the interference pattern, the wavelength of the light can be calculated.
Things that look a lot like diffraction gratings, orderly arrays of equally-spaced objects, are found in nature; these are crystals. Many solid materials (salt, diamond, graphite, metals, etc.) have a crystal structure, in which the atoms are arranged in a repeating, orderly, 3-dimensional pattern. This is a lot like a diffraction grating, only a three-dimensional grating. Atoms in a typical solid are separated by an angstrom or a few angstroms; 
. This is much smaller than the wavelength of visible light, but x-rays have wavelengths of about this size. X-rays interact with crystals, then, in a way very similar to the way light interacts with a grating.
X-ray diffraction is a very powerful tool used to study crystal structure. By examining the x-ray diffraction pattern, the type of crystal structure (i.e., the pattern in which the atoms are arranged) can be identified, and the spacing between atoms can be determined.
The two diagrams below can help to understand how x-ray diffraction works. Each represents atoms arranged in a particular crystal structure.
You can think of the diffraction pattern like this. When x-rays come in at a particular angle, they reflect off the different planes of atoms as if they were plane mirrors. However, for a particular set of planes, the reflected waves interfere with each other. A reflected x-ray signal is only observed if the conditions are right for constructive interference. If d is the distance between planes, reflected x-rays are only observed under these conditions:
That's known as Bragg's law. The important thing to notice is that the angles at which you see reflected x-rays are related to the spacing between planes of atoms. By measuring the angles at which you see reflected x-rays, you can deduce the spacing between planes and determine the structure of the crystal.