Diffraction as scattering under the Born approximation

Abstract: Light diffraction at an aperture is a basic problem that has generated a tremendous amount of interest in optics. Some of the most significant diffraction results are the Fresnel-Kirchhoff and Rayleigh-Sommerfeld formulas. These theories are based on solving the wave equation using Green's theorem and result in slightly different expressions depending on the particular boundary conditions employed. In this paper, we propose another approach for solving the diffraction by a thin screen, which includes apertures, gratings, transparencies etc. We show that, applying the first order Born approximation to 2D objects, we obtain a general diffraction formula, without angular approximations. We discuss several common approximations and place our results in the context of existing theories.