  Many concepts of physical optics can be visually illustrated on a relatively
simple optical setup in a table-top format, not requiring any very specific
equipment. Diffraction, interferences, speckle, image formation, Fourier
optics, strioscopy are among the many themes to be shown using the
demonstration system described here. This short letter describes how to
reproduce the setup and prepare the samples. It also gives a brief description
of the experiments that can be performed to illustrate the main concepts of
physical optics (except coherence). Its content should be of interest to the
teachers and students at high school and early years of university.
