Coat.exe is a very small, simple utility that can be useful for calculating the length of wire necessary for evaporating a specific thickness on your specimen.
A screen shot with the default parameters is shown here:
(https://smf.probesoftware.com/oldpics/i61.tinypic.com/rkvs7n.jpg)
The other feature in this app is a simple model for calculating the interference colors that produce birefringence as seen here, might be useful for teaching?
(https://smf.probesoftware.com/oldpics/i60.tinypic.com/2z52dxy.jpg)
Some of you may have already seen the birefringence simulation in the Coat.exe application that comes with CalcZAF:
(https://smf.probesoftware.com/gallery/395_03_12_24_9_37_01.png)
Maybe you've also seen the recent Veritasium video on YouTube where Derek explains the rainbow effect in detail. Let's just say I learned something!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=24GfgNtnjXc&ab_channel=Veritasium
But something caught my eye part way through the video where he mentions "supernummerary" rainbows, as shown here:
(https://smf.probesoftware.com/gallery/395_03_12_24_9_53_06.png)
A supernumerary rainbow is created by multiple internal reflections inside a raindrop. While the birefringence effect is created by just a single internal reflection inside the thin section.
See this time stamp for more details:
https://youtu.be/24GfgNtnjXc?t=1240
But they do appear to be somewhat similar. What do you all think?