tlkh/pen-spring-diffraction

Jupyter Notebook breaking down the Physics of Diffraction

Pen Spring Diffraction

This is a Jupyter Notebook that illustrates the following concepts based on an experiment:

1. Single slit diffraction
2. Diffraction by a pen spring (or any regular helix)

To view the demo notebook with the values filled in: https://github.com/tlkh/pen-spring-diffraction/blob/master/diffraction-answer.ipynb

If you would like to use this notebook interactively, clone this repository and run: https://github.com/tlkh/pen-spring-diffraction/blob/master/diffraction-answer.ipynb

If you have no idea how to go about doing the above, try https://notebooks.azure.com/

1. Go to: https://notebooks.azure.com/tlkh-sutd/libraries/pen-spring-diffraction
2. Log in using your Microsoft account (Office 365 enterprise login also works)
3. Click Clone to duplicate the note into your own library
4. Click on diffraction.ipynb and press Run

The apparatus for the experiment is extremely simple:

• 3D-printed holder for a generic Chinese laser pointer
• typical pen spring
• a surface to shine your pattern on!

This experiment is significant because it is through studying the diffraction pattern of DNA (which heavily resembles what we see from the pen spring) that we conclude DNA has the shape of a regular helix.

SUTD Physics II 1D Project - Teaching Resource for EM