PHY 332: Waves & Optics

SYLLABUS

Instructor: Professor Richard Wiener

Office:  Strain 109

Phone: 503-352-2143

Email: wiener@pacificu.edu

 

 

“I spent my life to find out what a photon is and I still don’t know it.”

                                                                                    …Einstein

Course Description:  A course on the mathematical description of waves with application to optics. Topics will include wave addition, an introduction to Fourier analysis, laws of geometric optics, image formation, optical systems, interference and diffraction, polarization, lasers, and an introduction to transform optics including holography. The laboratory component will include selected experiments in wave motion, geometric optics, and physical optics. Prerequisites: Phy 204 or 242. Co-requisite: Math 227. 4 hours.

Required Texts:  Optics, 4th Ed., Hecht and An Introduction to Error Analysis: The Study of Uncertainties in Physical Measurements, 2nd Ed., Taylor.  The course will cover selected topics from chapters 2-10 in Hecht.  Selected topics in Taylor will be covered in conjunction with the lab.

Lecture Meeting Times: MWF 9:00-9:50 AM.

 

Lab Meeting Times: Tuesdays 8:00-10:50 AM.

 

Grades:  The instructor will determine the percentage correct for a given assignment.  Each graded activity is weighted and at the end of the course a weighted average will determine a student’s overall percentage on the assigned activities.   A letter grade for the course will then be assigned based on the instructor’s professional judgment of how well a student has mastered the material in the course. 

 

                                    Lab Notebook             17%

                                    Lab Project                  08%

                                    Homework                   20%

                                    Daily Quizzes                05%

                                    Midterm I                     12.5%

                                    Midterm II                    12.5%

                                    Final                            25%

 

See Pacific University Arts & Sciences Course Catalog 2002-2003 page 173 for a definition of letter grades.

 

Exam Dates: Please note that the midterms are on Tuesdays and are 1.5 hours long.  If you have a conflict with any exam date, you must receive instructor approval, in advance, to take the exam at another time.  It is unlikely that the instructor will allow a change in exam time, except for very compelling reasons.

           

Midterm I                     Tuesday October 1, 8:00-9:30 AM

                        Midterm II                    Tuesday November 5, 8:00-9:30 AM

                        Final                             Wednesday, Dec 11, 12:00-2:30 PM

 

Homework:  Homework is due at 5:00 PM on Tuesdays and Fridays every week.  Late homework will receive a substantial reduction in credit and will not be accepted after the instructor has posted the solutions to the assigned problems.  All assigned problems will be graded for completeness.  A sample of the assigned problems will be graded for correctness.

 

Attendance: Attendance is required at all labs sessions.  Unless the instructor has approved a lab absence in advance or there is an extreme emergency, you will not be allowed to make-up a lab.  Although attendance is not required at the lectures, there is a daily quiz on the assigned reading given from 9:00-9:05 AM each lecture meeting.  There is no make-up allowed for missing the daily quizzes.  If the instructor has approved an absence in advance, or in the case of an extreme emergency, a missed quiz will not be averaged into your grade.

 

Instructor’s spacetime coordinates (aka office hours):

Mondays 1:00-2:00 PM, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday 11:00 AM-12:00 PM and by appointment.