Syllabus: Optics I, Phy431, Fall 2006
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: Brage Golding, 4241 Biomedical & Physical Sciences, Telephone: 355-9200 x2204 Email: golding@pa.msu.edu. Office hours: TBA. Call or email to schedule a personal appointment.
Labs: Lisa Lapidus, 4223 Biomedical & Physical Sciences, Telephone: 355-9200 x2211 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 assignments: the best 8 will count at 10 points each towards your final grade. The first homework assignment is due on Tuesday 12 September in class.
Midterm Exams:
There will be two midterm exams. The first is will be held on Tuesday 10 October for one hour. This exam is closed book. You should bring a calculator. The second is in the form of special projects, to be described in class. They will be due in mid-November.
Class Project Description.
Class Project Reports.
Class Project Topics.
Final Exam:
The 2 hour final exam will cover everything we have done, but with a slight emphasis on the last part of the course. Otherwise it will be the same format as the midterm.
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 as they will be applied.
Final Grades:
Grades are based on the following formula:
|
|
% |
|
Project |
15 |
|
Midterm |
15 |
|
Homework |
10 |
|
Final Exam |
20 |
|
Laboratory Total |
40 |
|
TOTAL |
100 |
The guaranteed scale, which 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 |