Related papers: A modern Fizeau experiment for education and outre…
In 1849, Hippolyte Fizeau determined the speed of light in a famous experiment. The idea was to measure the time taken for a pulse of light to travel between an intense light source and a mirror about 8 km away. A rotating cogwheel with 720…
This paper presents the outcome of an experiment based on an improved version of Fizeau's coupled-slotted-discs that tests the fundamental postulates of Special Relativity for the one-way speed of light propagation. According to our…
In this paper, we demonstrate a low-cost method to measure the speed of light. It uses instruments which are readily available in any undergraduate laboratory in a developing country and some components which are inexpensive. The method is…
In this paper, we introduce two simple and inexpensive versions of the well-known Foucault method for measuring the speed of light. In a footprint of just 20 cm by 270 cm with readily available laboratory items and a webcam, we obtained…
The isotropy of the speed of light - the fundamental postulate of Special Relativity (SR) constrains conceptions of time, space and the existence of a preferred cosmological reference frame. Consequently, this phenomenon has been subject to…
We describe a simple realization of Fizeau's "aether-drag" experiment. Using an inexpensive setup, we measure the phase shift induced by moving water in a laser interferometer and find good agreement with the relativistic prediction or, in…
A laser diffraction experiment was conducted to study light propagation in air. The experiment is easy to reproduce and it is based on simple optical principles. Two optical sensors (segmented photo-diodes) are used for measuring the…
A small tabletop experiment for a direct measurement of the speed of light to an accuracy of few percent is described. The experiment is accessible to a wide spectrum of undergraduate students, in particular to students not majoring in…
As one of the most influential experiments on the development of modern macroscopic theory from Newtonian mechanics to Einstein's special theory of relativity, the phenomenon of light dragging in a moving medium has been discussed and…
We present a detailed analysis of the end-user performance of the metrological signal at 1542 nm disseminated by the French national fibre network Refimeve, about 1000 km from the source. By the mean of a local ultrastable laser at 729 nm…
In July 5th 2014 an occultation of Mars by the Moon was visible in South America. Citizen scientists and professional astronomers in Colombia, Venezuela and Chile performed a set of simple observations of the phenomenon aimed to measure the…
Fizeau experiment, inspiring Einstein's special theory of relativity, reveals a small dragging effect of light inside a moving medium. Dispersion can enhance such light drag according to Lorentz's predication. Here we experimentally…
A recent laser interferometry experiment [Phys. Rev. Lett., Vol. 88, 10401 (2002)] registered a non-detection of a frequency shift that amounts to a fractional change in the speed of light $\delta c/c \approx (4.8\pm5.3)\times10^{-12}$. We…
The OPERA experiment reported recently a puzzling result. The time of flight of a neutrino beam between the CERN and the Gran Sasso Laboratory has been measured to be slightly shorter than expected. More precisely, an early arrival time of…
The time delay of light as it passes by a massive object, first calculated by Shapiro in 1964, is a hallmark of the curvature of space-time. To date, all measurements of the Shapiro time delay have been made over solar-system distance…
The Fresnel-Fizeau effect is a special relativistic effect that makes the speed of light dependent on the velocity of a transparent, moving medium. We present a theoretical formalism for discussing propagation of electromagnetic signals…
Interferometric wavelength meters have attained frequency resolutions down to the MHz range. In particular, Fizeau interferometers, which have no moving parts, are becoming a popular tool for laser characterization and stabilization. In…
This paper describes a new class of experiments that use dispersion in optical fibers to convert the gravitational frequency shift of light into a measurable phase shift or time delay. Two conceptual models are explored. In the first model,…
This paper discusses the physics, engineering and mission architecture relating to a gram-sized interstellar probe propelled by a laser beam. The objectives are to design a fly-by mission to Alpha Centauri with a total mission duration of…
The neutrino speed measurement experiments are the continuations of the classic light speed measurement experiments have been done in range of the solar planet system (Ole Roemer, 1676), in star system (James Braidely, 1728) and, at last,…