Collaborate Disseminate
The term “adaptive optics” sounds like something that should be really complicated and really expensive. And in general, the ability to control the properties of optical elements is sufficiently difficult …read more Continue reading A Tiny Forest of Resistors Makes for Quick and Dirty Adaptive Optics
Gravity is one of the more obvious forces in the universe, generally regarded as easily noticeable by the way apples fall from trees. However, the underlying mechanisms behind gravity are …read more Continue reading How The LIGO Observatory Detects Gravitational Waves
An interferometer sounds like something complicated, and in a way, it is. But it is also pretty easy to build one with some common materials. [Let’s Innovate] has instructions for how to make an interferometer using a green laser pointer, some mirrors, and a CD case. one of the most …read more
Astronomers watched as gas approached 30 percent the speed of light during the most detailed observation ever made of material orbiting so close to a black hole. Continue reading Astronomers Find Strong Evidence There is a Supermassive Black Hole at the Center of Our Galaxy
Experimenting with optics can be great fun and educational. Trouble is, a lot of optical components are expensive. And other support paraphernalia such as optical benches, breadboards, and rails add to the cost. [Peter Walsh] and his team are working on designing a range of low-cost, easy to build, laser cut optics bench components. These are designed to be built using commonly available materials and tools and can be used as low-cost teaching tools for high-schools, home experimenters and hacker spaces.
They have designed several types of holders for mounting parts such as lasers, lenses, slits, glass slides, cuvettes and …read more
Continue reading Hackaday Prize Entry: Optical Experiments Using Low Cost Lasercut Parts