What it shows:  A room-size laser interferometer with audio signal output. A standing wave is produced whenever a wave is reflected back on itself. A resonant cavity requires a second reflection so that the twice reflected wave has the opportunity to be in phase with the original wave. Here, laser light is reflected from a half-silvered mirror (mounted on a wall) so as to return to the laser and be reflected again by the laser. Movement of the wall by half a wavelength is sufficient to change the cavity formed between laser mirror and wall mirror from one resonant...

What it shows:

A device to measure distances to an accuracy of fractions of the wavelength of light, it also provided the critical experiment for the non-existence of the ether and for the constancy of the speed of light in all inertial frames.

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What it shows

Waves reflecting from two surfaces can interfere constructively and destructively. In this case it is light waves that are being reflected from the front and rear surfaces of thin soap or oil films. The interference produces a pattern of beautiful colors in white light, or dark and light bands in monochromatic light.

What it shows:

Waves reflecting from two surfaces can interfere constructively and destructively. In this case it is light waves that are being reflected at glass/air and air/glass interfaces. The interference produces a concentric ring pattern of rainbow colors in white light, or dark and light rings in monochromatic light.

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In quantum mechanics, it is possible for a particle to tunnel through a potential barrier because its wave function has a small but finite value in the classically forbidden region. Here we use FTIR as an optical analog of this quantum mechanical phenomenon.

How it works:

A 45°-90° prism will deflect a beam of light by total internal reflection. When two such prisms are sandwiched back-to-back and pressed together, the air-glass interface can be made to vanish and the beam then propagates onward undisturbed. This transition, from...

What it Shows

A beam of laser light can be trapped inside a stream of water by suffering total internal reflection—the aquatic equivalent of a fiber optic cable.

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Light is transmitted by a bundle of optical fibers and/or a coiled length of plastic rod, regardless of the twists and turns in the path it must negotiate. Total internal reflection keeps the light confined.

How it works:

A HeNe laser is used as the source of light. The bundle of optical fibers consists of a very large (but unknown) number of individual glass fibers measuring 0.05 mm (0.002") in diameter. About 30 cm of the bundle is exposed at the end while the rest of the length is protected by a rubber sheath....

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A simple qualitative demonstration of total internal reflection using a laser beam.

How it works:

Using a fish tank suitably doped with a scattering agent (see Setting it Up), a ray of light...

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As a simulation of atmospheric refraction, this demonstration shows the gradual and continuous bending of light due to a gradient in the optical density of the medium. In this case the variable refracting medium is a tank of sugar water with a vertical gradient in the concentration of sugar and a HeNe laser provides the light beam. It can be used as a model of mirage formation (except that the direction of increasing refractive index is in the opposite direction) or even as a representation of the refraction of seismic waves through the Earth's...

Optical technique that allows us to see small changes in the refractivity of air and other transparent media.

What it Shows

Refraction due to inhomogeneity in air is made visible by our single-mirror schlieren optics setup. The...

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There are various types of mirages possible, the details depending on whether the hot air is above or below the cool air and how sharp the transition is from cool to warm. This demonstration simulates what happens when a dark asphalt road gets much hotter than the air around it--the air next to it becomes hotter than the higher air and light traveling through this temperature gradient is bent so much that it appears reflected. The shimmering water on a road's surface or the blue oasis in the desert are natural examples of blue skylight being...

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A beam of light is distorted due to turbulent convection currents in air. This is a model of atmospheric distortion that affects seeing conditions in ground based optical and infrared astronomy.

How it works:

Turbulent air is provided by an electric stove ring, that heats the air above it as the warm earth dues to air sitting above it. The turbulent currents set up alter the refractive index of the air in a disordered and rapidly changing way. Light from a point source passing through these conditions is blurred...

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A beam of white light incident on a giant raindrop (simulated by a water-filled round flask) produces a full rainbow of colors. As with real rainbows, one can also see that the light intensity inside the rainbow is much greater than outside the rainbow.

How it works:

A Florence (round-bottomed) flask is completely filled with water and sealed with a rubber stopper. A Beseler slide projector ¹ serves as the sunlight. The light incident on the giant raindrop is refracted, reflected, and refracted once more, back in the direction of the...

What it shows:
A mechanical analogy of a wave front consisting of two wheels linked by an axle. It simulates refraction by rolling across a boundary between two surfaces having different rolling friction and thus...