I Understanding Diffraction Condition in Kittle's Intro to Solid State Physics

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The discussion focuses on the confusion surrounding the phase difference angles for incident and diffracted waves in Kittle's Introduction to Solid State Physics. It highlights that the phase difference for the incident wave is positive, while the diffracted wave's phase difference is negative due to the direction of the wave vectors. The user references a figure to explain that the phase advances for the incident wave, and upon reflection, the sign must be inverted for the diffracted wave. This inversion is necessary to accurately calculate the total phase difference resulting from reflection. Understanding this concept is crucial for grasping the diffraction condition in solid-state physics.
Mart1234
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Diffraction Condition derivation in Kittle's Introduction to Solid State Physics
I am going over the diffraction condition section in Kittle's Introduction to Solid State Physics physics and I am having a hard time understanding why the phase difference angle for the incident wave is positive while the phase angle difference for the diffracted wave is negative. Thank you for the help.

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Mart1234 said:
TL;DR Summary: Diffraction Condition derivation in Kittle's Introduction to Solid State Physics

I am having a hard time understanding why the phase difference angle for the incident wave is positive while the phase angle difference for the diffracted wave is negativeiy
I see in the figure attached that
\mathbf{k}\cdot \mathbf{r}>0.....(1)
The phase of upside or outside wave advances until reflection.
\mathbf{k'}\cdot \mathbf{r}<0.....(2)
The phase of upside or outside wave advance after reflection also so sign must be inverted for addition to (1) to give the full phase difference by reflection.
 
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I am currently reading Kittel's Introduction to Solid State Physics and am confused by the terminology regarding phonons. On page 99 (8th ed.), regarding Eq. 27, Kittel writes: "The energy of an elastic mode of angular frequency ## \omega ## is ## \epsilon = (n + 1/2)\hbar\omega ## when the mode is excited to quantum number ## n ##; that is, when the mode is occupied by ## n ## phonons. This definition implies that: The mode (the harmonic oscillator) is the entity that possesses the wave...

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