OPTICAL DIFFRACTION FROM A 2-DIMENSIONAL ARRAY OF SPHERES

A helium-neon laser has been used to produce diffraction from a monolayer of 2.68--diam polymer spheres. Diffraction patterns characteristic of single crystals, polycrystals, crystal aggregates, and gases or liquids have been obtained, and can be directly correlated with the microscopic structure of the monolayer. Experimental verification is reported for the prediction by Bienenstock and Bagley that small-angle scattering from small crystallites becomes negligible when the crystallites are brought together in a density packed structure. © 1969, American Association of Physics Teachers. All rights reserved.