| Interference | Diffraction | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Interference is the phenomenon of meeting two waves | Diffraction is the bending of waves around an obstacle. |
| 2 | The fringes may or may not be of the same width | The fringes are always of varying width in diffraction. |
| 3 | Interference is observed due to superposition of two different waves coming from two coherent sources | Diffraction occurs as a result of superposition of the secondary wavelets coming from different parts of the same wavefront. |
| 4 | There is a good contrast between the bright and dark fringes in the interference pattern | The contrast between the bright and dark fringes in the diffraction pattern is comparatively poor. |