PE-0500 Interference of light
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Keywords:
Fresnel's Mirror
Newton's Rings
Fabry Perot Plate
Optical Resonator
Spatial / Temporal Coherence
Coherence Length
Fresnel's Zone Plate
Diffraction • Interference
Basic experiment
Intended institutions and users:
Physics Laboratory
Engineering department
Electronic department
Biophotonics department
Physics education in Medicine
PE-0500 Interference of light
Interference of light, although very common in almost all fields of optics, is not always easily observed, often overlooked or just neglected. When Isaac Newton did his investigations on optics, he described interference observations in detail. But only Thomas Young was on the right way of interpretation when he stated the general law of constructive and destructive interference of light in 1801 and when he gave the experimental prove of interference of light in 1802. His work had influential consequences in considering light as a wave. On one hand interference is an impressive way to demonstrate the wave character of light, on the other hand, many optical instruments are based on interference, e.g. instruments for exact determination of distances or the wavelength of light, so called interferometers. This experiments provides the famous Fresnel mirror dividing one light beam source into two and superimpose their coherent portions. As a must the Newton’s rings module demonstrates interference caused by thin layers. Further on a Fresnel plate is used to illustrate imaging based on interference and finally, a Fabry Perot plate demonstrates the working principle of an optical cavity.
Datasheet
https://luhs.de/assets/pe-0500.pdf
PE-0500 Interference of light
Interference of light, although very common in almost all fields of optics, is not always easily observed, often overlooked or just neglected. When Isaac Newton did his investigations on optics, he described interference observations in detail. But only Thomas Young was on the right way of interpretation when he stated the general law of constructive and destructive interference of light in 1801 and when he gave the experimental prove of interference of light in 1802. His work had influential consequences in considering light as a wave. On one hand interference is an impressive way to demonstrate the wave character of light, on the other hand, many optical instruments are based on interference, e.g. instruments for exact determination of distances or the wavelength of light, so called interferometers. This experiments provides the famous Fresnel mirror dividing one light beam source into two and superimpose their coherent portions. As a must the Newton’s rings module demonstrates interference caused by thin layers. Further on a Fresnel plate is used to illustrate imaging based on interference and finally, a Fabry Perot plate demonstrates the working principle of an optical cavity.
Datasheet
https://luhs.de/assets/pe-0500.pdf