A mirror that rapidly turns the wavefront of the reflected laser pulse on and off,
characteristic of Thomas Young's classic double-slit experiment.
A famous experiment in 1801 showed that light passing through two thin slits interfered with itself,
forming a characteristic striated pattern on the back wall.
Now, physicists have shown that a similar effect can be produced with two slits in time rather than space:
a single mirror that is rapidly switched on and off causes interference with the laser pulse,
causing it to change colour. .
The results are reported in Nature Physics1 on 3 April. This adds a new twist to the classic double-slit experiment performed by physicist Thomas Young.