ATM Something Usefull?

["James Lerch" <jlerch1@tampabay.rr.com>]

Greetings All,

I observed an interesting phenomenon today.  I was tasked with inspecting
and imaging a set of damaged LCD monitors.  So I started to take some images
with a Sony DSC-F707 digital camera.

The interesting bit was the Auto-Focus would snap into place and I would see
incredible interference fringes.  If I moved the camera an inch
Closer/Further away while locking the focus, the interference fringes would
disappear.  Here's an example.

http://lerch.no-ip.com/atm/waves.jpg (118KB)

Obviously I was imaging the interference patterns between the two plates
that sandwich the LCD crystals.  I just found it interesting (and maybe
useful) that the fringes showed so well considering they were invisible to
the naked eye or a slightly defocused camera.

Maybe this might be an idea for someone fringe testing some optics to try.

For what its worth, :)
James Lerch
http://lerch.no-ip.com/atm