Lab 3 Briefing Materials Available

Lab Safety (PDF File)

Lab 3 - Laser Beam Conditioning (PDF File)

Lab 3 Prep Package Available

Lab 3 Prep Package (PDF File)

In a nutshell:

1. Watch the Feynman videos (link inside package)
2. Read the worksheet section "Optical Physics - Models of Reality"
3. Do the problems under "Fundamental Idea of Optics Image Formation"
4. Demonstrate preparedness at the beginning of Lab 3

Lab 2 Materials Available

"Optical Table Fundamentals and Component Placement"

Lab 2 Materials (PDF File)

I'll try to post the lab materials prior to each class.  These are the slides I brief in the pre-lab session in BioSci 245.

Often they contain exercises and procedures that we'll follow in the lab.   I will have the file up on the lab computer for you to refer to during lab.  If you bring your laptop to lab you could use that.

These can go in your lab notebook as well, and will give you a single place where all your lab material is so you don't have to rely on an internet connection.  If you are printing them out, they'll fit 4 or 6 slides to a page and still be readable.

Lab 2 - Prep Package Available

Lab 2 - Prep Package (PDF File)

Instructions:  download and complete the lab prep package.  You may work in groups.  In fact I prefer that you do as it is more effective.  Print out and include the package and record answers in your lab notebook - that's a best practice.  At the beginning of class for Lab 2 we'll go around the room giving everyone a 30-second chance to demonstrate preparedness.  The way this works is I randomly choose an item from the package and ask you to start talking about your answer.  At the end of 30 seconds I call for a vote from the class:  "Prepared or not prepared?"  Amazingly, everyone can tell within 30 seconds if you done your prep.  I use this technique instead of written work because, first of all, it closely mimics how team-mates in a research lab will evaluate your preparedness, secondly it uses peer pressure instead of a grade which is effective psychology, and thirdly, it is much less work for me.  Plus everyone really gets into yelling "Prepared" (which you will be).

Lab 1 - Intro to 492

Materials presented in class:

     Physics 492 Info (PDF File)

     Lab 1 - Intro to Physics 492 (PDF file)

     Lab 1 - Self Assessment (PDF File)

We're off to a good start, almost too good with 15 students attending the first session.  For those of you who are not yet registered, just a reminder to get that taken care of soonest.  At some point you'll need to do extra paperwork to add, so why wait until then?

Aside from the long intro lecture, the remainder of the course will follow the same general pattern established in the first class.  We'll meet in BioSci 245 for maybe half an hour, forty-five minutes first.  There we'll go over the plan for the day, demonstrate preparedness, have a quick lecture, and do a Quantum Snippet.  The Quantum Snippets are bite-sized pieces of quantum mechanics that prepare us for a theoretical understanding of future lab results.

Our Quantum Snippet today was on the mathematics of QM, introducing the idea of linear vector spaces.  The mathematics of QM is the mathematics of linear vector spaces, very different from the mathematics of classical mechanics and electromagnetism.  I went over a couple of the key aspects of linear vector spaces, which were the closure relations (first 2 properties below).  There are other aspects too, likely very familiar to you.  Here's the whole set:

Quantum Snippet:  Linear Vector Spaces

Let S be a set of things T and let addition and scalar multiplication be defined on S.  Then S is a linear vector space if the following hold:

     For all T1 and T2 in S, T1 + T2 is also an element of S

     For all T1 in S, and scalars a, aT1 is also an element of S

And additionally,

     T1 + T2 = T2 + T1

       (T1 + T2) + T3 = T1 + (T2 + T3)

     T1 + 0 = T1 for some element 0 in S

       There is a -T1 in S for every T1 in S such that T1 + (-T1) = 0

     a(T1 + T2) = aT1 + aT2 

     (a+b)T1 = aT1 + bT1

       (ab)T1 = a(bT1)

     1T1 = T1

This last set of properties should be familiar as the common rules of arithmetic when T are the real numbers and the addition and multiplication operations are the familiar ones.  Since the real numbers are in fact closed under these rules of addition and multiplication, they form a linear vector space.  It is instructive to think about some things that are and are not linear vector spaces.  A good place to start is this page giving examples and exercises.

After the Snippet, which will be a general feature of the first part of class, we went across the way to the lab where Professor Terebey gave a short safety and lab rules briefing.  Then we turned on the laser...

Young's double slit experiment

... which generated this fringe pattern after passing through a double slit on the glass Cornell plate.  These fringes are an example of interference.  Interference will be a strong theme throughout the course.


I took this photo with my cell phone.  Cell phones are great gadgets for recording experiments: setups, data, screenshots, interference patterns, group photos, what-not.  Get in the habit.

A note about class/lab hours.  This is a 3-credit class, which means you are expected to spend 9-12 hours a week in and out of class/lab combined per week.  The formal class hours are just under 3 hours a week, so that means there will be a substantial time commitment outside those hours.  I will generally hold the lab open for an extra hour (or more) and encourage you to use that time.  It will be the most convenient.  I will also hold the lab open by arrangement for a few hours on alternate Fridays, starting October 5.  You will absolutely need to use most of these times to complete your lab work so you should plan to do so.  You will also need a comparable amount of time for lab prep, organizing your lab notebook, doing reading & research, and putting together your final presentation.  Be sure to budget this time.

Just a reminder to be sure to download the Lab 2 prep package (next post) and complete it before we meet again.  We'll do the prepared/not-prepared check where you each get 30 seconds to demonstrate preparedness.

And thanks to those who've already sent me an email.  You've given me a good start on the class email list.

Physics 492 Again!

Physics 492 Advanced Optics Lab is offered again during the Fall 2012 quarter at Cal State LA. We will be meeting at 6:30 PM Mondays and Wednesdays. The class is an opportunity to get some hands-on and in-depth experience with photon-based quantum mechanical systems in a typical optics lab environment. Photons are easily generated, manipulated, and detected with simple apparatus. Among other topics, we will explore the physics of quantum interference and superposition in the two state system as we build various interferometers and poke at them with polarization probes.

I've structured the class so participants can develop important lab skills: lab safety, preparation, experiment planning, design and fabrication of apparatus, equipment handling, working in teams and individually, keeping a notebook, and presenting results. Grades are based in part on preparation, demonstrated lab skills, lab notebook quality, and a 10-minute presentation in lieu of a final exam. Grading thus mimics evaluation that occurs in an academic or industrial lab. There are no graded exams, quizzes or formal lab writeups.

Class will meet twice weekly in a brand new facility with plenty of workspace. Lab will be open after class for individual and team work on projects. Available equipment includes an optical table, laser source, beam expander, lenses, mirrors, ccd detector, desktop PC, beamsplitters, polarizing filters and various opto-mechanical components for locating and positioning optics on the table.

While there are no formal prerequisites, students are typically upper division and masters students familiar with optics at the freshman physics level (simple raytracing), the solution to the free-space wave equation ("e to the i omega t"), and math with 2x2 matrices (linear algebra). If interested in taking the class you should sign up as early as possible as there are a limited number of seats.