the wave model of light .....?

Question

how does the wave model of light explain the decrease in intensity of the secondary maxima in a single slit diffraction pattern as you move further away from the central maximum of the pattern??

Answer 1

The strength of the interference pattern intensity falls off as cos(Θ) (or cos²(Θ)) where Θ is the angle off the incidence axis. Itr all gets back to Huygens model of wavefront propagation.

HTH

Doug