After finishing up my masters project for developing plans for a remote controlled laboratory demonstrating the Faraday Effect, its time to shift from plans into developing a prototype. Recent testing of the RCL concept involves identifying instruments capable of measuring a range of brightness from the laser, as well as being capable of providing visual feedback to a remote student so data can be measured remotely. The simple littlebits.cc circuit consists of a simple light sensor (pink), visual data display (green), and a wifi access point called the CloudBit (orange).
The main challenge will be providing mechanical control of a polarizer that students could remotely rotate with simple web tools. Here’s a few photos of the lab components.
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- This solenoid is the type which is most used in UAF Physics labs. With about 10A of current it is capable of rotating the polarization angle of red laser light through flint glass by about 10 degrees.
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- This sturdy power supply tops out at about 12A through the solenoid. It doesn’t complain, but the solenoid starts to get very warm.
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- From littlebits.cc This modular circuit held fast with magnets has four components: the blue power module, the pink light sensor, the green visual display, and the orange wifi access CloudBit
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- This closeup on the light sensor shows the red glow on the circuit’s light sensor. In a dimly lit room, this sensor has a good range of sensitivity to red 650 nm laser light from the 500mA diode source.
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- This forged glass cylinder was crafted specifically for the Faraday Rotation Lab. The glass is doped with lead and is measurably heavy. The cylinder rests inside of the solenoid and is subject to the magnetic field when current is applied. Barely visible in this picture taken in bright sunlight, is the red laser light striking the face of the flint glass.
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- This 500mA diode laser produces a steady 650 nm beam of red light. This is perfect for the Faraday lab because constant brightness is crucial to the experiment.
