A new teaching resource comprised of raw X-ray diffraction data sets from crystallography experiments has been compiled. The aim of this resource is to provide a tool with which to plug the teaching gap between crystals and chemical structures present at various levels of education, as well as providing examples for early stage researchers and…

Undergraduate physics laboratory exercises are very important in shaping students' attitude to science, especially for future teachers. Recently, it is necessary to look for ways to easily create large quantities of experimental sets, not only for institutional use, but also for sets that can be produced in large quantities and distributed for use…

Owing to the critical role of stereochemistry in biotechnology, medicine, and industry, it must be well represented in undergraduate lab curricula. To achieve these stereochemical laboratory requirements without sacrificing existing lab techniques, we modified two standard laboratory experiments to include chiral GC analysis as follows. (1) The…

Why does a raindrop on a window pane show an image of the environment that is turned upside-down? And why does vision go blurry underwater, but is perfectly clear with diving goggles? Our everyday life is rich in optical phenomena. Unfortunately, these phenomena often play a subordinate role in Optics teaching, compared to ray constructions or…

Students are introduced to the term wavelength in optics at school level. In this paper, we present an inexpensive and simple method to measure the wavelength of the light of a light emitting diode using a light depending resistor. This experimental set-up is developed at Science Laboratory, Nehru Planetarium (Mumbai), India. It is useful as an…

A smartphone is a powerful learning aid in the hands of a large section of students around the world. The camera of the phone can be used for several learning purposes apart from its obvious purpose of photographing. If the focal length of the lens of the camera can be determined, several experiments in optics can be performed with it. In some…

A popular introductory physics laboratory experiment is one focusing on Snell's law. This is straightforward to complete with lasers and prisms, but here we present an alternative version that guides the students through some of the major historical developments, recreating and analyzing significant experiments. The discovery of Snell's law has a…

Refraction is a foundational concept within introductory physics. Physics students need a deep understanding of refraction, including Snell's Law, in order to progress towards more complex optics topics such as lenses and images. Unfortunately, many physics students obtain only a superficial understanding of refraction. Although many students can…

In this article, simple models of optical computing circuits (1 x 4 demultiplexer (DEMUX), 4 x 1 multiplexer (MUX), Boolean logic, and half-adder (HA)) are shown with mechanically controlled plane mirrors. Photographs of the proposed computational circuits are also shown. It is very useful for the school student to understand optical logic and…

We demonstrated that an optimally designed pinhole camera can be used as an astronomical tool to observe the libration and apparent diameter change of the Moon at night. The libration and apparent diameter change of the Moon were observed using a handmade pinhole camera with a diameter of 0.65 mm and a focal length of 400 mm. It was found that the…

Quantum technology is an emerging field of physics and engineering and important applications are expected in quantum computing, quantum sensing, quantum cryptography, quantum simulation, and quantum metrology. Thus the need for education in this field is increasing, while still remaining challenging. While the need for basic education in quantum…

We outline the basic theory behind white light interferometry and the workings of a typical light interferometer microscope. We study WLI images obtained for rough and smooth chrome steel spheres to illustrate the principle that curved rough surfaces can be imaged with such a device as long as the surface roughness is kept within certain limits.

In many introductory physics classes, diffraction of light is introduced first, then more advanced diffraction topics such as x-ray diffraction, Bragg's law, and crystallography are covered. Since using x-rays raises safety concerns and atomic spacing in a crystal is not easy to change, microwaves with macroscopic crystals have been used to study…

Space telescopes are some of the most precise and complicated machines ever built. Not only must they survive the harshness of space travel, but they also need to be incredibly accurate: misalignments by fractions of a millimetre can have huge effects on the quality of the images they capture. In 1990, the Hubble Space Telescope became the first…

Using polymerizable cholesteric liquid crystal (CLC) paints, we prepare circularly polarized freestanding films that enable students to acquire a basic understanding of circular polarization and molecular chirality. The polymerized helical structures of CLC films can exhibit brilliant structural colors by selective reflection of visible light…