Diffraction gratingpattern

The author and artist, Lillie Marshall, is a National Board Certified Teacher of English who has been a public school educator since 2003, and an experienced Reiki practitioner since 2018. All art on this site is original and hand-drawn by Lillie. She launched DrawingsOf.com Educational Cartoons in 2020, building upon the success of her other sites, AroundTheWorldL.com (established 2009), TeachingTraveling.com (founded 2010), and ReikiColors.com. Subscribe to Lillie’s monthly newsletter, and follow @WorldLillie on social media to stay connected!

You might need to put on your glasses for today’s entry into our list of commonly misspelled words, because it’s time for a lesson on “lens or lense!” Which is the correct spelling for the word that means “a curved piece of glass that focuses light or vision” — why is this word written incorrectly so often? Let’s find out.

What isgratingelement

There are typically two different types of diffraction grating – the ruled grating and the holographic grating. A ruled grating is produced by a ruling engine that cuts grooves into the coating on the grating substrate (typically glass coated with a thin reflective layer) using a diamond tipped tool. A holographic grating is produced using a photolithographic technique and can have either a sinusoidal or blazed profile.

In the “lens or lense” quandary, there’s a simple answer: The spelling “lense” is incorrect, and should never be used. Throw it in the trash along with “recieve.” It is a figment of the imagination and doesn’t exist!

Diffraction by gratingexperiment

In addition to plane gratings, Spectrum Scientific is one of the few companies that designs and manufactures blazed aberration corrected, flat field imaging gratings optimized for the UV and visible wavelengths.

Diffraction by gratingexamples

To learn more about gratings, please visit our technical notes detailing the different types of diffraction grating or download our Introduction to Diffraction Gratings.

Now you know: In the debate about how to write the word for the glass that a camera uses to take in a picture is “lens,” not “lense.” The correct spelling for the plural of “lens” is “lenses.” English has many sneaky “E” placements, as we saw with “Sence vs. Since!”

Diffraction by gratingequation

A blazed holographic grating has had the sinusoidal profile transformed into a ‘saw tooth’ profile. This saw tooth profile increases the efficiency of the diffraction grating over the wavelength region of interest without increasing the stray light. Spectrum Scientific uses a proprietary blazing technique which creates a blazed grating that demonstrates considerably lower stray light with equivalent or better efficiency when compared to ion-etched gratings. Currently this technique is limited to a blaze region of 200-300mm.

Why is the word “lens” so often misspelled? We can blame the fact that the correct spelling of its plural is “lenses” — with an “e” before the “s.”

First, some background. My name is Ms. Marshall, and I’ve been an English teacher for nearly twenty years. I’m also an artist, so every illustration on this site is hand-drawn with love – including the recent “Skiddish vs. Skittish” tutorial. On to today’s lesson!

Hi, I'm Lillie Marshall, the creator of DrawingsOf.com, and I'm happy you're here to learn with my colorful, educational art. I hand-draw every cartoon on this site, and the free lessons here are lovingly created from my two decades of experience as a teacher. Long live joyful learning![Learn More...]

Diffraction gratingPDF

Because people know that’s how you spell it when there are two of them (for example, “contact lenses“), they assume you can just take off the “s” and get “lense” for the singular word (like: “contact lense”). Nope – that’s incorrect.

Free English Lessons:Figurative Language Examples Homophones: Examples and ListLiterary Devices and TermsHard Words to Spell

A diffraction grating is an optical element that diffracts energy into its constituent wavelengths. The groove density, depth and profile dictate the spectral range, efficiency, resolution and performance of the diffraction grating.

Diffraction gratingformula

Sinusoidal groove profiles are the most common groove shape for holographic gratings where the grooves are symmetrical and therefore have no blaze direction. A sinusoidal grating offers a wider spectral coverage compared to a blazed grating but usually has lower efficiency.

The correct spelling for the piece of glass in your spectacles is: “lens” with no “e” at the end. (Just as the word “truely” shouldn’t have an “e.”) One way to remember this is that writing the word with four letters, “L-e-n-s,” makes it look like a face wearing glasses with lenses, as you can see in my illustration, below! (Sorry — it’s a little weird-looking, but hopefully will help the rule stick in your mind.)

Country * Select a country…Åland IslandsAfghanistanAlbaniaAlgeriaAmerican SamoaAndorraAngolaAnguillaAntarcticaAntigua and BarbudaArgentinaArmeniaArubaAustraliaAustriaAzerbaijanBahamasBahrainBangladeshBarbadosBelarusBelauBelgiumBelizeBeninBermudaBhutanBoliviaBonaire, Saint Eustatius and SabaBosnia and HerzegovinaBotswanaBouvet IslandBrazilBritish Indian Ocean TerritoryBritish Virgin IslandsBruneiBulgariaBurkina FasoBurundiCambodiaCameroonCanadaCape VerdeCayman IslandsCentral African RepublicChadChileChinaChristmas IslandCocos (Keeling) IslandsColombiaComorosCongo (Brazzaville)Congo (Kinshasa)Cook IslandsCosta RicaCroatiaCubaCuraçaoCyprusCzech RepublicDenmarkDjiboutiDominicaDominican RepublicEcuadorEgyptEl SalvadorEquatorial GuineaEritreaEstoniaEthiopiaFalkland IslandsFaroe IslandsFijiFinlandFranceFrench GuianaFrench PolynesiaFrench Southern TerritoriesGabonGambiaGeorgiaGermanyGhanaGibraltarGreeceGreenlandGrenadaGuadeloupeGuamGuatemalaGuernseyGuineaGuinea-BissauGuyanaHaitiHeard Island and McDonald IslandsHondurasHong KongHungaryIcelandIndiaIndonesiaIranIraqIrelandIsle of ManIsraelItalyIvory CoastJamaicaJapanJerseyJordanKazakhstanKenyaKiribatiKuwaitKyrgyzstanLaosLatviaLebanonLesothoLiberiaLibyaLiechtensteinLithuaniaLuxembourgMacao S.A.R., ChinaMacedoniaMadagascarMalawiMalaysiaMaldivesMaliMaltaMarshall IslandsMartiniqueMauritaniaMauritiusMayotteMexicoMicronesiaMoldovaMonacoMongoliaMontenegroMontserratMoroccoMozambiqueMyanmarNamibiaNauruNepalNetherlandsNew CaledoniaNew ZealandNicaraguaNigerNigeriaNiueNorfolk IslandNorth KoreaNorthern Mariana IslandsNorwayOmanPakistanPalestinian TerritoryPanamaPapua New GuineaParaguayPeruPhilippinesPitcairnPolandPortugalPuerto RicoQatarReunionRomaniaRussiaRwandaSão Tomé and PríncipeSaint BarthélemySaint HelenaSaint Kitts and NevisSaint LuciaSaint Martin (Dutch part)Saint Martin (French part)Saint Pierre and MiquelonSaint Vincent and the GrenadinesSamoaSan MarinoSaudi ArabiaSenegalSerbiaSeychellesSierra LeoneSingaporeSlovakiaSloveniaSolomon IslandsSomaliaSouth AfricaSouth Georgia/Sandwich IslandsSouth KoreaSouth SudanSpainSri LankaSudanSurinameSvalbard and Jan MayenSwazilandSwedenSwitzerlandSyriaTaiwanTajikistanTanzaniaThailandTimor-LesteTogoTokelauTongaTrinidad and TobagoTunisiaTurkeyTurkmenistanTurks and Caicos IslandsTuvaluUgandaUkraineUnited Arab EmiratesUnited Kingdom (UK)United States (US)United States (US) Minor Outlying IslandsUnited States (US) Virgin IslandsUruguayUzbekistanVanuatuVaticanVenezuelaVietnamWallis and FutunaWestern SaharaYemenZambiaZimbabwe