Liquid crystal displays as an educational tool to introduce amplitude and phase concepts

Abstract

In this work we show how liquid crystal displays can be a useful tool to introduce amplitude and phase concepts to students. Amplitude and phase play a very important role in the description of wave related phenomena, basic in many fields of Science and Engineering. Phase information is usually less evident than amplitude information since it is not directly related with the strength of the signal or wave. Actually, in this work we focus on a series of interferometric and diffractive experiences where the student can gain a deep insight of the importance of the phase content of a wavefront. The manipulation and/or measurement of the phase content are on the basis of many applications. In this paper we show some of these applications in metrology and in diffractive optics. Furthermore, these experiences are more clearly connected to modern applications and may also be more appealing for the student when using a well known commercial device, the liquid crystal display, in their development.