Optics Overload: Websites
Activities & Experiments
Solar Now, Inc. - Instructions for building your own solar pizza box!
Fun Science Gallery - List of simple experiments in optics and microscopy.
Exploratorium's Science Explorer - Simple instructions for how to make a periscope.
Yes Mag - Provides short experiments such as "Lightning in a Pan".
Teach-nology - A great site with lesson plans, hands on activities and tutorials.
Scitoys - Includes instructions for making various optical instruments.
Molecular Expressions - Online activity guide including 26 activities for teachers and parents.
Biomedical Optics
LASIK Eye Surgery - A description of LASIK eye surgery from the US Food and Drug Administration.
Lucid - A Rochester-based company that makes cellular imaging equipment for in-vivo and ex-vivo imaging of cells and tissue.
Color
Hyperphysics Concepts - An online encyclopedia that uses a bubble chart to guide you from topic to topic.
Color Tutorial - Tutorials on color and light.
Color Principles-Hue, Saturation, and Value - A great look at color in terms of brightness, hue and saturation. Different sections can be used for different age audiences.
Dictionaries
The Photonics Dictionary - A dictionary of terms including definitions and some figures.
Melles Griot - Comprehensive list of optics-related words with definitions and images.
Wolfram Dictionary - Great definitions, formulas and diagrams.
Diffraction
Circular Aperture Fraunhofer Diffraction Pattern - Fraunhofer diffraction patterns from circular apertures – very interactive.
Fraunhofer Diffraction of Multiple Slits - Includes many interactive activities.
Melles Griot Optics Guide-Diffraction - Easy-to-understand look at diffraction containing equations and images.
Educator Resources
Science, Optics & You - Science, Optics & You is a standards-based, interdisciplinary curriculum package for elementary students and teachers through which they can explore light, color and optics. Activities are intended to engage students in active investigation of the properties of light beginning with lenses, shadows, prisms and color, leading up to the use of sophisticated instruments that scientists use to help them understand the world.
Scientific Explorations and Adventures - Paul Doherty has created a great site for high school teachers, which includes lesson plans, articles and experiments.
Physical Sciences Resource Center - The American Association of Physics Teachers has compiled a list of useful handbooks and websites for teachers.
Physics Navigation - This site includes relevant links to the web pages of high schools and colleges, physics tutorials and online textbooks.
Micro Worlds - Micro Worlds is an interactive tour of current research in the materials sciences at Berkeley Lab's Advanced Light Source. Includes great information on light and material science and fully developed lesson plans.
Optics and Imaging Educational Links - A great list of optics websites for use in teaching.
Physics 20 - Curriculum guide on light and optics, questions and easy demonstrations.
NASA - Fun experiments from NASA to show optics principles used in fiber optics, prisms, and more.
Light and Matter - An online textbook for teachers and high school students.
Optics Notes - Optics Notes is an index of optics and photonics tutorials, references and resources.
Mirrors and Reflection - Designed by a teacher, this site includes the fundamentals of mirrors and even sample homework.
Teach-nology - A great site with lesson plans, hands on activities and tutorials.
Fiber Optics
Introduction to Fiber Optics - Great introduction to fiber optics.
Basic Principles of Fiber Optics
A Short History of Fiber Optics - A history of fiber optics.
History
A History of Light and Lighting - A look at light through time. Provides brief overview of many topics and a timeline.
Optics Highlights - A quick look at optics from ancient Greece to modern day technology.
A Brief History of Optics - A short look at the history of optics. Includes a timeline.
Holography
Holoworld - A nice look at holography for younger students.
The Holograms - A quick look at holograms in general.
Types of Holograms - Descriptions of different types of holograms.
Hand-drawn Hologram - Describes how to create your own hand-drawn hologram.
Instruments
Celestron Tech Services Support Helpdesk - Great website that explains components of telescopes and how they work.
Light and Optics - Provides instructions on constructing a variety of optical instruments.
Interferometers - Introduction to interferometers.
Anatomy of the Microscope - Fundamentals of microscopy and imaging.
Lasers
How Lasers Work - A good introduction to lasers and how they work.
LASER Tutorial - A nice introductory tutorial to lasers.
More Than 101 Ways to Use a Laser - This site lists 100+ ways to use a laser in a classroom. They range from simple to complex depending on the equipment needed.
FAQ's about Light and Lasers - Provides answers to questions about light and lasers.
LCDs
How LCD's Work - Provides information on LCD displays as seen in calculators, cell phones, and laptops.
Lenses & Refraction
From Lenses to Optical Instruments - A nice site that explains lenses, real and virtual images, focal length, magnification and optical instruments.
The Fresnel Lens - Interesting use of Fresnel lenses in lighthouses.
Lens Concepts - Guide to understanding lenses, refraction, aberrations and lens types.
Total Internal Reflection and Lenses - A look at lenses and refraction.
Ray Optics, Light Reflection - Light and refraction from the point of view of ray optics presenting clear examples.
Light
Discovering Light - A great site which covers a variety of topics including: the physics of light, light in technology, culture and nature. Also includes a list of virtual labs and activities.
All About Light - Website includes classical, relativistic and quantum descriptions of light.
Electromagnetic Spectrum - An overview of different types of electromagnetic waves.
MicroWorlds - MicroWorlds is an interactive tour of current research in the materials sciences at Berkeley Lab's Advanced Light Source. Includes great information on light and material science, along with fully developed lesson plans for teachers.
How Light Works - Covers basics of light; how it moves and can be manipulated. Discusses color, heat, absorption, reflection, refraction, scattering, frequencies and includes a few simple experiments.
Light and Optics - A good introduction that covers the nature of light, the spectrum, lenses, reflection and refraction and answers common questions from kids.
The Science of Light - Teacher Lab - Provides an interactive description of light in color and the laws of light. Includes activities and information for teachers.
Skytopia - This amusing guide lists oddities about color and light. Find trivia on mirrors and light bulbs, and contradictions about perception of color.
Virginia Tech Physics - Light and LASER questions answered by a professor at Virginia Tech.
Mirrors & Reflection
Mirrors and Reflection - Includes fundamental information on mirrors and reflection.
Reflection and Mirrors Tutorial - A useful tutorial on reflection and mirrors.
The Physics Classroom - A high school physics tutorial about reflection and the ray model of light.
Light Reflection-Curved Mirrors - Includes key ideas behind mirrors, in an easy-to-understand outline format.
Mirror and Image - A fun java applet that shows how an image is formed from reflections.
The Reflection and Refraction of Light - Uses geometry to predict reflection from plane and spherical mirrors, and looks at how speed and wavelength vary with different media.
Moiré Patterns
Moiré Demonstrations - Learn more about moiré patterns on this site, which includes printable files for hands-on fun.
Molecular Expressions - Includes many java-based experiments about moiré patterns.
Nature
Atmospheric Optics - Nice look at sunlight, shadows and light in nature. Includes pictures and some background on phenomena including rainbows, water drops in the air, halos, sunsets, crepuscular rays, etc.
Patterns in Nature: Light and Optics - Includes a series of simple experiments that can be completed with the OSA Optics Discovery Kit.
Circles of Light: The Mathematics of Rainbows - How are rainbows formed? Why do they only occur when the sun is behind the observer? If the sun is low on the horizon, at what angle in the sky should we expect to see a rainbow? This site helps to answer these and other questions by examining a mathematical model of light passing through a water droplet.
Optics Basics
Light and Optics - A site on light and optics by the University of Illinois; includes good figures, pictures and explanations.
Properties of Light - Includes images and short blurbs on a variety of optics topics and applications. Some contain links to additional information or java applets.
Optics Societies & Schools
The Optical Society of America
The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
The International Society for Optical Engineering
The Institute of Optics, University of Rochester
The Optical Sciences Center, University of Arizona
The College of Optics and Photonics, University of Central Florida
The Center for Applied Optics, University of Alabama, Huntsville
Center for Imaging Science at Rochester Institute of Technology
Polarization
Polarized Light in Nature and Technology
Polarization - Complete guide to polarization.
The Physics Classroom-Polarization - Physics tutorial on light waves, color and vision.
Polarization Concepts - A guided tour through polarization concepts.
Prisms
Optics of Prisms - A quick look at the optics of prisms.
Scattering
Raman Scattering - A great description of Raman scattering.
Raman Spectroscopy Tutorial - An in-depth look at Raman scattering.
Tutorials
WebTop - Includes 16 interactive and fun units relating to different aspects of optics.
Physics Tutorials - Tutorials on reflection and refraction, interference and diffraction, and some optical instruments.
Color Tutorial - Tutorials on color and light.
Physics Navigation - This site includes relevant links to the web pages of high schools and colleges, physics tutorials and online textbooks.
LASER Tutorial - A nice introductory tutorial to lasers.
Reflection and Mirrors Tutorial - A useful tutorial on reflection and mirrors.
Raman Spectroscopy Tutorial - An in-depth look at Raman scattering.