Undergraduate experiments with aperiodic gratings based on the Fibonacci sequence

We present a simple diffraction experiment with Fibonacci gratings as a motivational strategy for students of physics and engineering to learn the potential applications of aperiodic systems. The Fraunhofer diffraction patterns were obtained with the standard equipment present in most undergraduate physics labs and compared with that obtained with conventional periodic gratings. It is shown that Fibonacci gratings produce a splitting of the diffraction orders which positions are related to the Golden mean involved in the Fibonacci sequence. A very good accuracy is obtained between experimental and numerical results.