The effect of the formation of a minimum in the center of the shadow from a narrow screen is discussed in the paper. Experiment confirms the p phase shift between the edge wave components. In this study it was found that the amplitude of the edge wave was inversely proportional to the diffraction angle for light diffraction by a thin rectilinear screen. It is shown that the edge wave had a phase advance of 0.69 πp on the illuminated side and a phase delay of 0.31 π with respect to the incident wave on the shadow side.
1. O. Fresnel, Selected Works in Optics [translated from the French by G.S. Landsberg], Moscow (1955).
2. A. Sommerfeld, Optics [in Russian, Inostrannaya Literatura, Moscow (1953)].
3. A. Rubinowicz, Nature, No. 180, 160 (1957).
4. S. Banerju, Phil. Mag., No. 37, 162 (1919).
5. G.S. Landsberg, Optics (Nauka, Moscow, 1976).
6. M. Born and E. Wolf, Principles of Optics (Pergamon, New York, 1959).