Past exam of the physics course of the year 1 of the natural sciences course of the University of Cambridge / 2024 / Paper 1 / Section A / 4 / Solution

The slit spacing is $d=(600\times 10^3{)}^{-1}\mathrm{m}=1.6667\mu \mathrm{m}$. At normal incidence, the diffraction grating maxima satisfy $d\sin {\theta }_m=m\lambda$. ThereforeThe third order would require $\sin {\theta }_3=3\lambda /d=1.1394>1$, so it cannot propagate. At fixed order and spacing, a longer wavelength requires larger $|\theta |$. Green light has a larger first-order diffraction angle than blue light.