For
a uniformly illuminated
single slit of width
w, the far-
field amplitude is proportional to
sinu/u, with
u=πwsinϑ/λ. Its
first zeros occur at
sinϑ=±λ/w. If the quoted peak width is the full width between those zeros, the small-
angle geometry gives
Δy≃w2Lλ,w≃Δy2Lλ≃2.3×10−8m.
The
Fraunhofer diffraction approximation is appropriate since
w2/(λL)≪1. If the supplied width instead meant
a half-width or full width at half maximum, its numerical conversion factor would differ; the displayed answer states the
first-zero convention explicitly.