Young's double-slit experiment is commonly used in undergraduate physics laboratory to show the wave nature of light. As an alternative to expensive commercial kits, here we present an automated, low-cost light intensity measurement setup that allows real-time visualization of the interference pattern. The light intensity is measured by a light dependent resistor placed on the head of a dot matrix printer. The head motion is controlled by an Arduino which also collects the data and send them to a computer. The interference pattern obtained by the setup is in agreement with a model that includes the degree of the coherence of the light source and the effective size related to the light collecting area of the resistor. The apparatus allows quantitative data analysis from the measured light patterns and is suitable to be used in undergraduate physics laboratories.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.