David Van Baak (B.S. Calvin College, 1973; M.A. 1975, Ph.D. 1979, Harvard University) is Professor of Physics at Calvin College. He has been teaching, and developing the advanced lab, at Calvin College since 1980. Two career-long interests of his, in optics and instrumentation, are united in tabletop visible-light interferometry. His first interferometer experience came with a PSSC device during high school in 1969, and he has used various interferometers in learning, teaching, and research ever since then. His recent acquaintance with interferometry came in designing an educational system with TeachSpin. That led me to consider various interferometer topologies, and a wide variety of possible applications of interferometry. Can an interferometer solve a teaching, or measurement, problem for you?
Professor David A. Van Baak, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Calvin College, 3201 Burton Street SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49546. Email: dvanbaak@calvin.edu. Telephone: 616-526-6275
Interferometry has been a very direct illustration of the wave nature of light for over a century, but with the invention of the laser, and the addition of quantitative electronic detection, it has become a wonderfully versatile and sensitive measurement technique. This workshop will teach by participation that interferometers are not just instruments to use, but are also systems that can be built, aligned, and fully understood.
The workshop will use the versatile apparatus offered by TeachSpin to illustrate several distinct topologies of interferometers (Michelson, Sagnac, and Mach-Zehnder). The emphasis will include not only the theory and use, but also the full assembly and alignment of these interferometers. Then there are a host of applications of the amazing sensitivity of interferometers, and some of these will be chosen to match participants' interests. Among other accomplishments, we'll detect nanometer displacements in real time, and also learn how to keep track of ‘fringe count’ during bi-directional motion.
Interferometry exercises the visual and tactile imaginations of its practitioners to a remarkable degree. Participants need to bring an appetite for hands-on tabletop optics, and a lab notebook. Those who wish may bring an oscilloscope with which they're familiar.