The SPIE Student Chapter at the Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT) is spearheading a new outreach project to encourage science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) in grades K-12. This new outreach project is referred to as the Digital Holography Demonstration (DHD). Using a table-top setup, the DHD estimates the both the amplitude and phase of the complex-optical field, and in so doing, illustrates several fundamental optics and photonics principles including diffraction, refraction, and the interference of light. These fundamental optics and photonics principles have direct ties to current technologies being developed in the medical, astronomy, and defense communities (to name a few). This paper celebrates the resourcefulness of the DHD for STEM-based outreach events and provides a parts list, cost breakdown, and brochures, so that future efforts can benefit from its design.

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Douglas E. Thornton, Mark F. Spencer, Barton T. Plimmer, and Davin Mao, "The digital holography demonstration: a table-top setup for STEM-based outreach events," Proc. SPIE 10741, Optics Education and Outreach V, 107410J (Presented at SPIE Optical Engineering + Applications: August 22, 2018; Published: 14 September 2018); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2320380.