PHY431-Optics I

Fall 2008

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

Refraction, lenses, mirrors, instruments. Diffraction, interferometry, optical forces.

INSTRUCTORS:

Lectures and Labs: Prof. Brage Golding, 4241 Biomedical & Physical Sciences, Telephone: 884-5654 Email: golding@pa.msu.edu.   Office hours: TBA. Call or email to schedule a personal appointment.

Text:

(Required) Optics, by E. Hecht, 4^th Edition (Addison-Wesley)

Course Structure:

2 lectures per week in room 1420 Biomedical & Physical Sciences. Tuesday and Thursday; 3:00pm - 3:50pm. The schedule of the lectures, which is subject to change, is given here.

One lab of about 3 hours every week starting September 8. See lab syllabus for more details.

Homework assignments and other information can be found on the Announcements page.

Click on Announcements for information on the Midterm Review.

Homepage:

http://www.pa.msu.edu/courses/current/PHY431/

Grading:

Homework:

We will give out homework problems during the semester - 10 in total. There will be credit for the homework - normally problems will be handed out 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 9 September in class.

Midterm Exams:

There will be two midterm exams. The first will be held on Tuesday 7 October for one hour. This exam is closed book. You should bring a calculator. The second is in the form of a special project, to be described in class, due in mid-November.

Final Exam:

The 2 hour final exam will cover everything we have studied. It will be held on Thursday, December 4, 2008, from 3 to 5 pm in BPS 1420. All answers and calculations should be contained on the exam pages handed out at the beginning of the exam. Final grades will be posted on the door of BPS 4241 by 5 pm next Monday.

Optics Lab:

The lab will be run by Prof. Golding, with help from a TA in room 1250 Biomedical & Physical Sciences. There will be a total of 11 labs. See labs syllabus for details. Note: The labs will begin the week of September 8.

Please familiarize yourself with University policies concerning academic integrity; they will be applied throughout the course.

Final Grades:

Grades will be weighted as follows:

	%
Project	15
Midterms	15
Homework	10
Final Exam	20
Laboratory	40
TOTAL	100

The guaranteed scale, which may be lowered 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