OXP-10 Interference  

Topics

Spatial / Temporal Coherence
Coherence Length
Diffraction
Optical Resonator
Constructive / Destructive Interference


Examples of Investigation and Measurement

Fresnel mirror, plates and lenses
While making two beams out of one, these optical elements cause interference by overlapping both beams spatially. The resulting interference patterns are linear or circular stripes.

Thin layer interference: Newton rings
Light reflected on thin layers shows interference caused by super position of rays reflected by the front and the end surface of the layer. This effect can be demonstrated and quantitatively investigated on a set-up proposed by Newton, generating Newton rings.

Fresnel plate
Inserting a Fresnel plate in a light beam causes interference of the diffracted rays and generates several focal points corresponding to the different orders of diffraction.

Fabry Perot resonator
Mode selection based on interference is demonstrated by a laser beam passing a pair of parallel mirror plates, a Fabry Perot resonator. By slightly detuning the parallelism several longitudinal modes can be adjusted and observed as parallel stripes.
 
 


Required Equipment

Cat. No.     Qty.     Description
02.0500      1        Profile rail, 500 mm
02.1022      1        Screen holder, carrier 25
02.1602      1        Optical screen, 80x65, scale
02.2126      2        Mounting plate, click 25, carrier 20
02.2132      2        Mounting plate, click 30, carrier 20
02.6106      1        Adjustment holder, 4 axes, carrier 20
04.0060      1        Plano convex lens f=40 mm, 25.4, click 30
04.0074      1        Biconcave lens f=-20, 10, click 30
04.0622      1        Half wedge plate, click 25
04.0624      1        Half lens f=100 mm, click 25
04.0626      1        Fresnel plate, click 25
04.0634      1        Fabry Perot insert
05.0030      1        High brightness LED lamp, white
05.0224      1        DIMO 532 (green), HC
07.0206      1        Active power supply LDD-05
09.1746      1        Beam expander magnification 6x
09.2010      1        Fresnel mirror assembly
09.2060      1        Newton rings assembly