In explaining diffraction textbooks recognize "a slight bending of the
wave front at the edges". However "at the edges" could mean either
"near the edges" or "as it grazes the edges". "Near the edges" implies
that bodies can attract photons; in fact, that was the essence of
Newton's explanation of diffraction. In Opticks he wrote: "Do not
bodies act upon light at a distance, and by their action bend its rays;
and is not this action strongest at a least distance?".
If said attraction is really the cause of diffraction, as Newton
believed, the theory describing light in terms of a continuous field is
false. Ironically, compelled by observations, the famous defender of
the wave theory of light Fresnel abandoned "as it grazes the edges" and
adopted "near the edges", thereby virtually confirming Newton's idea.
He wrote: "....quelques reflexions et observations nouvelles m'ont fait
douter de l'exactitude d'une hypothese dont j'etais parti pour calculer
mes formules: que le centre d'ondulation de la lumiere reflechie etait
toujours au bord meme du corps, ou, ce qui revient au meme, que la
lumiere inflechie ne pouvait provenir que des rayons qui ont touche sa
surface.....la lumiere inflechie ne provient pas seulement de celle qui
a rase les biseaux, mais encore des rayons qui en sont passes a des
distances sensibles."
Pentcho Valev
pvalev@yahoo.com
