Syllabus: Optics I, Phy431, Fall 2005
3 credits (2 hr lecture, 3 hr lab)
Prerequisites:
PHY 183A or PHY 184 or PHY 184B or PHY 234B or PHY 294H
PHY 192
PHY 215 or PHY 215B
Completion of Tier I writing requirement. Alias: PHY 331
Lenses, aberrations, apertures, and stops. Diffraction, interferometry, spectroscopy, fiber optics.
INSTRUCTORS:
Lectures: Simon Billinge, room 4268 Biomedical & Physical Sciences, Telephone: 355 9200x2202 Email: billinge@pa.msu.edu. Office hours: TBA. Call or email to schedule a personal appointment.
Labs: Lisa Lapidus, room 4223 Biomedical & Physical Sciences, Telephone: 355 9200x2211 Email: lapidus@pa.msu.edu. See labs syllabus for more details.
Text:
(Required) Optics, by E. Hecht, 4th Edition (Addison-Wesley)
Course Structure:
2 lectures per week in room 1420 Biomedical & Physical Sciences. Tuesday and Thursday; 3:00pm - 3:50pm. One lab. of about 3 hours every week starting September 20. The schedule of the lectures is here.
Homepage:
http://www.pa.msu.edu/courses/current/PHY431/
Grading:
We will give out homework problems during the semester - 10 in total. There will be credit for the homework - normally problems should be handed on a Tuesday - problem sets will be available at least a week before they are due. There will be 10 homeworks altogether of which the best 8 will count at 10 points each towards your final grade. The first homework assignment is due on Tuesday 14 September in class.
Midterm Exams:
There will be two midterm exams, on Thursday 7 October and on Thursday 18 November. The exams are closed book. You should bring a calculator. An equation sheet will be provided with the exam.
Final Exam:
The 2 hour final exam will cover everything we have done, but with a slight emphasis on the last third of the course. Otherwise it will be the same format as the midterms.
Optics Lab:
The lab. will
be run by Lisa Lapidus, with help from TA's, in room 1250 Biomedical &
Physical Sciences. The final grade on this course will be 40% on the lab. and
60% on the class. The first lab. will be on September 19. There will be
a total of 11 labs. See labs syllabus
for details.
  
Please familiarize yourself with University policies concerning academic
integrity www.vps.msu.edu/SpLife/rule32.htm
as they will be applied. 
Final Grades:
Grades are based on the following formula:
| 
   
  | 
  
   %  | 
 
| 
   First Midterm  | 
  
   15  | 
 
| 
   Second Midterm  | 
  
   15  | 
 
| 
   Homework  | 
  
   10  | 
 
| 
   Final Exam  | 
  
   20  | 
 
| 
   Laboratory Total  | 
  
   40  | 
 
| 
   TOTAL  | 
  
   100  | 
 
The guaranteed scale may be lowered in your favor but not raised is:
| 
   Total point percentage  | 
  
   
 Final grade 
  | 
 
| 
   >93%  | 
  
   4.0  | 
 
| 
   88%-93%  | 
  
   3.5  | 
 
| 
   83%-88%  | 
  
   3.0  | 
 
| 
   78%-83%  | 
  
   2.5  | 
 
| 
   73%-78%  | 
  
   2.0  | 
 
| 
   68%-73%  | 
  
   1.5  | 
 
| 
   60%-68%  | 
  
   1.0  | 
 
| 
   <50%  | 
  
   0.0  |