The approach is systematic, unified, and easy to grasp. The course begins with the basic physical concepts of wave interference, diffraction at an aperture, and the generic interferometer. All the optical methods used in experimental mechanics, starting with Newton s rings and ending with phase-stepping speckle methods, are shown to be applications and adaptions of these few basic phenomena.
Some demonstrations illustrate the concepts and the techniques.
The lectures will be tied to specific page references in the textbook, which will be provided to participants as part of the registration fee. Optical Methods of Engineering Analysis , G. Cloud, Cambridge University Press, softbound, 1998. The topics are divided into 10 segments, each of which require less than one hour. The content will be adjusted somewhat according to the interests of the participants. Gary L. Cloud is Professor of Mechanics in the Department of Materials Science and Mechanics at Michigan State University.