 Missing diffraction order

A missing diffraction order occurs when a principal maximum of an array factor coincides with a zero of the individual aperture's diffraction envelope. For identical slits of width $a$ and centre spacing $D$, order $m$ has $\sin {\theta }_m=m\lambda /D$. It is missing if $ma/D$ is a nonzero integer. This is cancellation of field contributions, not loss of the incident wavelength or a failure of the grating equation.