Video Demonstrations in Lasers and Optics

Demonstration of multiple beam interference using a plane mirror cavity in transmission with a mirror separation of 3 mm and a diverging incident beam Demonstration of multiple beam interference in reflection using the same cavity ....

Demo of fluorescence induced by a tunable dye laser in a cell of molecular iodine Simultaneous display of the color of the dye laser and the color of the iodine fluorescence as a function of laser tuning...

Demonstration of the excitation of atomic sodium in a heated cell by a tunable dye laser Observation of intense radiation from the sodium vapor when the laser is on resonance with a ground state transition in sodium

Demonstration of the operation of an argon ion laser Demonstration of the broad spectrum from an argon laser using an optical spectrum analyzer Demonstration of single-frequency operation using an intracavity etalon ....

Demonstration of the operation of a cw dye laser pumped by an argon laser Demonstration of the wide tuning capability of the dye laser from green to yellow to red

Demonstration of the operation of an argon ion laser Demonstration of simultaneous multiwavelength operation of an argon laser in the blue-green spectral range

Demonstration of the operation on an argon ion laser Demonstration of the high intensity in the argon laser beam by burning a hole in cardboard with an unfocused laser beam

Demonstration of the intensity and spectrum of a single-frequency laser and a multifrequency laser Demonstration of the effect of back reflection into the laser on the intensity and the spectrum of each laser

Demo of various transverse modes from a laser as a function of cavity alignment Demo of the use of an intra-cavity adjustable aperture to control the number of transverse modes that can oscillate Demo of the frequency spectrum of laser transverse modes

Discussion of laser linewidth Measurement of laser linewidth using an optical spectrum analyzer Measurement of the fundamental laser linewidth using a two-frequency laser showing the intrinsic spectral width to be much less than 30 Hz

Demo of an expanding beam from a laser Demo of spatial filtering of a laser beam Demo of laser-generated speckle patterns on screen Visualization of laser beam propagating in a water tank Visualization of focused laser beam in a water tank ....

Demo of the spectrum of laser light from a He-Ne laser with external mirrors showing multiple frequencies associated with longitudinal modes of the cavity Demo of the polarization of the multiple frequencies being identical ....

Demonstration of light inside laser cavity being much stronger than light leaving the laser Discussion of cavity dumping

Demonstration of the state of polarization of a laser with external mirrors and the amplifier terminated with Brewster windows Demonstration of the state of polarization of a laser with internal mirrors

Demo of light amplification by an optical amplifier, using a He-Ne laser and a He-Ne amplifier tube Demo of 6% amplification per pass Calibration of detector using a fixed loss Measurement of the effect of amplifier fluorescence on detector output

Introduction to lasers Demonstration of a simple laser with internal mirrors Demonstration of a laser with external mirrors, showing the effect of cavity misalignment

Demonstration of single mode propagation in an optical fiber Demonstration of the state of polarization of the light exiting the fiber as a function of stress and bends applied to the fiber

Demo of light transmission through a multimode fiber, showing a variety of transverse modes Demo of the effect of input alignment changes on transverse modes Demo of the effect of fiber bends and stresses on transverse modes ....

Demo of a single mode fiber and light coupling into the fiber Demo of single mode transmission Demo of the effect of stress and bends applied to fiber showing light expelled by fiber Demo of the effect of bends and stress on single mode transmission

Demo of Fresnel diffraction by a circular aperture using a spatially filtered laser source Demo of Fresnel diffraction by circular apertures with different diameters Demo of Fresnel diffraction by a circular aperture as a function of source distance

Demonstration of Fresnel diffraction by a fixed slit Demonstration of Fresnel diffraction by an adjustable slit Observation of the transition from Fresnel to Fraunhofer diffraction using an adjustable slit

Demonstration of Fraunhofer diffraction by fixed crossed multiple slits Demonstration of Fraunhofer diffraction by crossed multiple slits as a function of the relative orientation of the slits

Demonstration of Fraunhofer diffraction by a circular aperture Demonstration of Fraunhofer diffraction by circular apertures with different diameters

Demonstration of Fraunhofer diffraction by a fixed rectangular aperture Demonstration of Fraunhofer diffraction by an adjustable rectangular aperture

Demonstration of Fraunhofer diffraction by a thin wire Demonstration of Fraunhofer diffraction by thin wires with different diameters

Demonstration of Fraunhofer diffraction by a single slit Demonstration of Fraunhofer diffraction by two slits Demonstration of Fraunhofer diffraction by three slits ....

Demonstration of Fraunhofer diffraction by a single slit Demonstration of Fraunhofer diffraction by pairs of 150 μm slits with spacings ranging from 150 μm to 2 mm

Demonstration of Fraunhofer diffraction by a narrow slit Demonstration of Fraunhofer diffraction by an adjustable narrow slit

Demonstration of multiple beam interference in transmission using a cavity with curved mirrors and a single-frequency laser light source ....

Demonstration of the use of a confocal cavity for the spectral analysis of single-frequency laser Demonstration of the use of a confocal cavity for the spectral analysis of multifrequency laser

Demonstration of multiple beam interference using a plane mirror cavity in transmission with mirror separation of 3 mm and collimated incident beam Observation of finesse, free spectral range, and effect of cavity misalignment ....

Demonstration of two-beam interference in a Michelson interferometer with collimated beams Demonstration of fringe contrast with path length difference for a single-frequency laser light source ....

Demonstration of two-beam interference in a Michelson interferometer with collimated beams Demonstration of the effect of path length difference (0-100 cm) on fringe contrast ....

Demonstration of two-beam interference in a Michelson interferometer with collimated beams Determination of the state of polarization in each arm of the interferometer ....

Demonstration of two-beam interference in a Michelson interferometer with collimated beams Effect of intensity difference between interfering beams on fringe contrast

Demonstration of two-beam interference in a Michelson interferometer with collimated beams Effect of vibrations on fringe contrast

Demonstration of constructive and destructive interference in a Michelson interferometer using diverging beams Demonstration of complete destructive interference between the two beams leaving the interferometer for equal path lengths ....

Demo of two-beam interference using diverging beams in a Michelson interferometer Demo of various fringe patterns as a function of the alignment of the interferometer mirrors Change in fringe pattern as a function of path length difference

Demo of two-beam interference using collimated beams in a Michelson interferometer Demo of various fringe patterns as a function of the alignment of the interferometer mirrors Effect of mirror translation on fringe pattern using a piezoelectric driver

Demonstration of the absence of any change in the state of polarization of the reflected and transmitted light at a glass-air boundary below the critical angle ....

Reflection and transmission at a glass-air boundary as a function of angle of incidence (0-90º) for different states of polarization of the incident light Demo of the critical angle ....

Reflection and transmission of light at an air-glass boundary as a function of the angle of incidence (0-90º) for different states of polarization of the incident light Demonstration of Brewster's angle

Propagation of linearly polarized light in a dielectric (Lucite) rod Observation of Rayleigh scattered light within rod Demonstration that the state of polarization of the scattered light is the same as that of the incident light

Need for an optical isolator Demonstration of the performance of an optical isolator using a quarter-wave plate and a linear polarizer

Description of a half-wave plate Use of a half-wave plate to rotate the plane of polarization from zero to ninety degrees with very little loss Demo that there is no change in the state of polarization when propagating along either principal axis...

Demonstration that there is no change in the state of polarization when propagating along either principal axis of the quarter-wave plate

Rotation of the plane of polarization of light using a single linear polarizer Limitation of the single polarizer method Rotation of the plane of polarization using two linear polarizers Effect of polarization rotation on transmitted intensity

Overview of demonstrations in lasers and optics

Demonstration of the change in the state of polarization of light after reflection by two aluminum coated mirrors