Demonstration of a number of educational experiments on diffraction and interference of light using single-beam setup

Abstract

Optics and photonics have become integral components of undergraduate and postgraduate curricula due to their extensive applications in physics, biology, and engineering, particularly in fields such as sensing and communication. Diffraction and interference phenomena are building blocks for understanding principles of optics and photonics based technologies. As a result, these concepts are taught to students at various educational levels in colleges and universities. However, many students currently face challenges in grasping the fundamental principles of light diffraction and interference. To address this issue, there is a need for an experimental setup that can effectively and visually explain these principles to students. We present a single-beam experimental setup. This setup is well suited for conducting a range of experiments related to the diffraction and interference of light. Through the utilization of this setup, we are able to showcase the experiments involving diffraction patterns produced by circular apertures, knife-edge diffraction, single slit, wire diffraction, as well as intriguing phenomena, such as the Poisson spot and spatial frequency filtering.