Using flatbed scanners in the undergraduate optics laboratory—An example of frugal science

Abstract

This department welcomes brief communications reporting new demonstrations, laboratory equipment, techniques, or materials of interest to teachers of physics. Notes on new applications of older apparatus, measurements supplementing data supplied by manufacturers, information which, while not new, is not generally known, procurement information, and news about apparatus under development may be suitable for publication in this section. Neither the American Journal of Physics nor the Editors assume responsibility for the correctness of the information presented. Manuscripts should be submitted using the web-based system that can be accessed via the American Journal of Physics home page, http://ajp.dickinson.edu and will be forwarded to the ADN editor for consideration.

Frugal Education: What, why, and how?

“…Jackson et al., 2020); repurposing flatbed scanners to affordably image large interference and diffraction patterns in two dimensions (e.g. Koopman & Gopal, 2017); and frugal engineering experiments using remote, low‐cost, open‐source laboratory installations (e.g. Reid et al., 2022).…”

Light interference pattern measurements from automated low-cost Young’s double-slit experiments

“…Because the whole interference pattern is obtained from the data collection system, fittings and comparisons with the theoretical predictions can be easily carried out. Alternative to those expensive kits, low-cost schemes have been proposed to scan diffraction patterns which include, for instance, flatbed scanners [16], XY recorders [17], stepper motors coupled with a screw [18], photodiode coupled with a handsaw blade and an oscilloscope [19], and charge-coupled device detectors [20].…”