Re: Course Suggestions, if you please...

[Ivan Rouse <irouse@LASIERRA.EDU>]

At 09:49 AM 6/18/02 -0400, you wrote:

> I've jsut drawn up my teaching load for next fall, and I'm hoping that I can
> draw on your experience.  The course is Applications of Modern Physics at
> the undergraduate level, and I've been given a somewhat free reign in what I
> do.
>
> As I understand the current incarnation, we're breaking the class into two
> parts, the first half is an astrophysics concentration, and the second half
> is optics.  What I would like is some suggestions as to what you might cover
> in the optics half, what book you would use, and what labs would go well
> with the subject.
>
> This is my first attempt at this sort of class (having done intro physics,
> and some upper level mechanics and thermo), and I'm trying to get a good
> grip on the topic.  Right now, I've just got this vague idea for holography,
> wave packets, and Fourier decomposition.  I'd like to get some more ideas,
> though...

Greetings Gordon:
I do have a question or two about the course.  Is this the only Modern
Physics course where they will hear about quantum mechanics etc or is it a
course that comes after a traditional Modern Physics course?  If it is the
first then some of the topics you choose may need a significant amount of
preparatory theory.

(1) One suggestion would be to do some spectroscopy.
        We recently purchased a miniature Ocean Optics
(www.oceanoptics.com) spectrometer that uses a USB cable and optical fibers
to connect to the computer and light sources.  I can send any interested
parties a WORD document with with a brief description and an image of the
spectrometer.  These spectrometers are about the size of a pack of
cigarettes!  They give a live display of the spectra and have neat spectral
collection options.  They can be purchased with a variety of options and
can cover the uv up through the ir in wavelength.  They use a 2048 element
ccd array as the detector.  We have done a few experiments with it and have
a list of ideas to try.  (a) study a variety of the commonly available
light sources including led's, halogen lights, fluorescents, GE Reveal
bulbs (very interesting), lasers including laser pointers.  There is a lot
of good physics lurking in these light sources.  One good experiment would
be to get spectra of commonly available BLACK BODIES such as incandescents
etc and then fit the blackbody spectral shape to the data to determine the
temperature.  Also you could measure the voltage vs current to determine
the temperature and then compare.  A colleague of mine this year did the
classic experiment comparing the spectra of HYDROGEN & DEUTERIUM.  He could
easily see the effect and calculate appropriate results by fitting an
appropriate curve to the lineshape.  Simpler experiments would be to look
at the BALMER SERIES and compare with theory.  This same colleague has used
the spectrometer to do a section in General Physics on COLOR MIXING.  We
have tried without success (yet) to use the spectrometer with a telescope
to get SPECTRA OF STARS but plan to try again this summer with a bigger
telescope.  This summer we plan to see if we
(2) You could do some x-ray diffraction experiments if you can stretch
optics that far.
        We use a Tel-Atomic xray machine that works very nicely for a
variety of xray diffraction experiments.

(3) You could do electron diffraction experiments with one of the available
electron diffraction tubes.

(4) I have made holograms with students and it is great fun but can be a
bit challenging.

(5) For the wave packets, and Fourier decomposition I would strongly
suggest using one of the excellent mathematical packages such as
Mathcad.  You can do some neat things in this area.  For the fourier
applications how about recording a digital image and then doing some
fourier signal processing on it to remove high or low frequencies
etc.  Mathcad can import images into a matrix where you have access to each
pixel for processing.  I have played with images in Mathcad but still want
to to the fourier processing of an image.

(6) If students haven't recorded interference or diffraction patterns and
matched the theory to them this would be a good experiment.  On a related
topic if they haven't had the chance to do some sophisticated experiments
with a variety of interferometers that would be useful.  We do a neat
experiment where the students use a gas cell in one arm of the spectrometer
to measure very precisely the index of refraction of a gas.

Well I have rambled on too long but have fun.  If we can be of further
assistance please let us know.


> Thanks for the help!
>
> -------------------------------------------
> Dr. Gordon P. Smith
> Visiting Professor of Physics and Astronomy
> Appalachian State University
> Boone, NC 28608
>
>
>
> ---
> Incoming mail is certified Virus Free.
> Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
> Version: 6.0.368 / Virus Database: 204 - Release Date: 5/29/02

Ivan Rouse, Physics Professor
Physics Department, La Sierra University
4700 Pierce St., Riverside, CA 92515
email: irouse@lasierra.edu
phone: 909-785-2137, FAX 909-785-2215