A Lego enthusiast has built a working Michelson interferometer using the children’s construction toys, demonstrating that the pieces have sufficient dimensional accuracy to pull off the experiment.
The builder, Kyra Cole, followed instructions from the myphotonics project to build the essential components, including laser holders and mirror brackets, out of Lego, with non-Lego rubber bands and Technic gears used for fine adjustment.
She then took the experiment further by adding a Raspberry Pi with a camera to automatically analyse the interference patterns, a perfect application of the Pi’s computing power and versatility.
The build serves as an excellent illustration of how precision manufacturing need not be expensive, with Cole saying the entire project was realised with less than $50 in parts.
