Tag der Physik und Astronomie 2026

We have again contributed to the Day of Physics and Astronomy de (Tag der Physik und Astrononmy 2026) of FSU Jena's Physical and astronomical faculty de, and we are happy that we could be part of amazing our guests with science and physics in particular. Both, with our laser chess, laser maze and VR goggles we have been able to engage young and old to playfully experience laser setups and train their imagination when having to think about how the laser beam interacts with its mirrors on the path and where it ends.

Besides this general approach, our Ö-project was represented well with their two newly developed setups for the school student lab ‘LichtLabor’ in Deutsches Optisches Museum. Setup 1 consists of a Mach Zehnder interferometer that is disturbed by neutral density filters or little cut-out objects made of black paper. The visitors could easily access images that they would have obtained with real quantum imaging setups. Different neutral density filters revealed how light transmission of the object influences the visibility of interference.

Setup 2 allows visitors to record a Raman spectrum of an aspirin pill with simple optical components. The setup also is a suitable tool to distinguish between different pain relievers, which will be in the future one of many possible tasks for the students when they visit the LichtLabor. Both setups could be used as introductory experiments for quantum and nonlinear optics as they were developed in cooperation with different NOA projects.