what makes it possible to do in a desktop lab course combination of a large number of different innovations. The first is that we know how to make extremely stiff/rigid/strong/flat/thermally stable tables (https://www.thorlabs.com/navigation.cfm?guide_id=41) which can optionally be placed on active vibration-cancelling struts (https://www.thorlabs.com/newgrouppage9.cfm?objectgroup_id=10...). The second is using cage systems for mounting things with everything lined up parallel and centered (https://www.thorlabs.com/navigation.cfm?guide_id=2255). The third is precise kinematic mounts which make real-time angle tuning a lot easier/more reliable (https://www.thorlabs.com/thorproduct.cfm?partnumber=KM100#ad...). The fourth is now we have powerful lasers and LEDs that make generating lots of light all pointing in the right direection easier (https://www.thorlabs.com/thorproduct.cfm?partnumber=CPS532-C...). The fifth is that high quality standardized optical parts (mirrors, lenses, etc) are easily available from a wide range of vendors (https://www.thorlabs.com/newgrouppage9.cfm?objectgroup_id=10...).
There are a number of other innovations in material science. but I'd recommend taking a look at Thorlab's Michelson-Morley educational kit. For $3K you get basically everything you need to carry out the experiment: https://www.thorlabs.com/thorproduct.cfm?partnumber=EDU-MINT... plus a nice manual https://www.thorlabs.com/drawings/5d9e11209b7d4536-820A3379-... that walks you through physical setup and theory behind the experiment (which among other things helped lead to special relativity).
if you want more like this, see https://www.thorlabs.com/newgrouppage9.cfm?objectgroup_id=11... which is a hardware kit that accompanies an actual optical lab class. The course is online: https://www.thorlabs.com/drawings/5d9e11209b7d4536-820A3379-... and gives a fairly straightforward introduction to optics. With this, you can easily build a microscope from components or any number of other nifty optical systems.
Non-optics people (IE, programmers, etc) with enough time and money can learn how to do real-world optical experiments in their garage (this applies to astronomy too). For example after a significant time/money investment, have started building my own microscopes which use real-time object detection to track tardigrades to do behavior analysis (lest anybody feel imposter syndrome, trust me it took a ton of time and money and even then I'm not quite at the level of a good grad student).
It's not my favorite but you can also read https://www.amazon.com/Perfectionists-Precision-Engineers-Cr...
If you want to truly go down the rabbit hole, https://pearl-hifi.com/06_Lit_Archive/15_Mfrs_Publications/M...
Simon Winchester wrote an enjoyable book about the history of precision that starts with Wilkinson’s boring of steam cylinders to improve upon the efficiency of the first steam engines and rifles, through engineering history to ASML’s nano-level IC fab machines.
In America, it's called The Perfectionists: How Precision Engineers Created the Modern World. Elsewhere, the title of the same book is Exactly.
https://www.amazon.com/Perfectionists-Precision-Engineers-Cr...
Also, three surfaces that can be ground truely flat is also vital.
i can highly recommend the youtube series "machine thinking" if you have interest in this[0], aswell as the book "the perfectionist"
[0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNRnrn5DE58 [1] https://www.amazon.com/dp/0062652559
https://www.amazon.com/Perfectionists-Precision-Engineers-Cr...