Spring 2021
Spring 2021: Optics Lab (PHYC 302L, 476L, & 477L)
Instructor: Victor Acosta, victormarcelacosta@gmail.com
Office: CHTM, Rm 115A (please make an appointment)
Teaching Assistant: Brian Kamer, brkamer@unm.edu
Mode of Instruction: Face to Face. (Except first week Jan 19-22 is remote as per UNM policy).
Class meets:
476L-001/302L-001: Tuesdays, 11:00am - 2:30pm;
477L-001/302L-003: Fridays, 9:00am - 12:30pm;
Email the Instructor if the section you want is full, we should be able to over-ride.
Location:
First 30 minutes of class, if a lecture or mini-talk is scheduled: PAIS 1160.
Remainder of class: PAIS 1417 (lab)
First class Jan 19-22 is remote only. If you are enrolled, check your email before class for the Zoom link. Else email victormarcelacosta@gmail.com for the link.
Textbook: None.
Final exam: Each student delivers an oral presentation (30 min). The times are:
476L-001/302L-001: Tuesday May 11, 11:00am - 2:30pm;
477L-001/302L-003: Friday May 14, 9:00am - 12:30pm;
Notify the instructor ASAP if you have a conflict.
Syllabus: This webpage is your syllabus.
Slides: Intro slides here. Photon statistics talk here.
Class schedules: These spreadsheets contain all deadlines. They may change, so please check frequently.
Difference between 302L and 476/477L: The courses are very similar and they meet jointly as a single class. The primary difference is that 302L students start off with a "warm-up" experiment that is designed for students with little lab or optics experience. Also the 302L course is graded on a slightly different curve than the 476L/477L course. Otherwise the course experience will be very similar. There is no difference between 476L and 477L. Two course numbers are listed so that students may take the course twice during their PhD career should they choose to. Undergraduates may sign up for any course, provided they have the prerequisites. Graduate students should sign up for 476L or 477L. If the class number/section you want is full, please add yourself to the waitlist, sign up for the next best class, and email the Instructor with your conflict and student ID. We will do our best to accommodate your first choice, but we cannot have more than 7 students in the lab at any time due to COVID safety.
Overview: Experimental Optics Lab is organized around three modules that are expected to last about 4 weeks each. The modules are more complicated than lower-division undergraduate labs. You will find less specific instruction; independent problem-solving is expected. The goal is to provide an environment in which to develop laboratory skills. For COVID safety reasons, students will work by themselves on each experiment. However, you are encouraged to get help from the Instructor and TA regularly. Experiments will be rotated at the conclusion of each module. Students are required to complete the following, in order, before May 10:
-2 standard modules from the list below
-One final project module.
Laser Safety:
Please read this Laser Safety Training document before operating lasers.
Standard Modules:
1) Wavemeter. Instructions. Shared with Senior Lab. Data collection/analysis hint.
2) Laser Velocimetry. Instructions. Shared with Senior Lab. Theory hint.
3) Saturated Absorption spectroscopy. Instructions. Shared with Senior Lab. Pre-lab questions.
4) Mode-locked laser. Instructions. Pre-lab question
5) Nonlinear Optics. Instructions. For intro to NLO, see text by Boyd. link1. link2. **not yet available due to move
6) Diffraction of Single Photons. Instructions. Shared with Senior Lab. Photon # calc. Hints and Pre-lab questions.
7) Fourier Optics. Instructions.
8) Fiber Optics. Instructions. 302L only. Corrigendum.
9) Polarization. Instructions. 302L only. Corrigendum
302L students: You must choose either 8) Fiber Optics or 9) Polarization as your 1st module. After that, all experiments are available.
476/477L students: Do not choose the Polarization or Fiber experiments as a standard module. All others are available.
Final Project Module: Students will choose any of the above experiments or any of the other equipment available in the optics labs or purchase/build custom hardware on P&A budget (provided it is not too expensive) :
1) Develop and test their own hypothesis that is different from the standard lab module. Meet with instructor in early March to discuss and submit a 1-page proposal due before Spring Break. Proposals are pass/fail, but the instructor will provide feedback. The quality of your scientific question and experimental plan are part of your final project grade. Students are encouraged to automate the experiment and acquire data using LabView when possible.
2) Present findings in 30 min oral presentation (in place of written final exam).
Grading: Students will be graded on:
-participation (including electronic lab notebook and mini-talks), 15%.
-standard module writeups, 25% x 2.
-final project, including oral presentation, 35%.
Each module will be graded on the quality of the work and the clarity and professionalism of the writeup/oral presentation. Late assignments will be marked down one full letter grade for each week late. The instructor and TA will often be working directly with the students and will have plenty of opportunity to assess your progress. Be sure to engage them in discussion and ask plenty of questions. Students are expected to attend each lab session unless excused by the instructor. Participation is important and unexcused absences will affect the first component of grading.
Lab Notebook: You should plan to bring a laptop to each class if possible. On every module, each student will be responsible for maintaining a detailed electronic notebook file. We will use Google Docs to record all information; this will make writeups easier and allow for easy collaboration amongst teams. Relevant information should be recorded as the experiment progresses. A useful description (if somewhat outdated) of the lab notebook procedure can be found here. The instructor and TA will periodically look through the lab notebooks unannounced to check that you are making an effort to take notes. This is a case where style is less important and we encourage you to use shorthand, photos, screenshots, etc. to make the note-taking process less time consuming. Please create and share your Google doc with victormarcelacosta@gmail.com and TA at the beginning of every module.
Writeups: Developing technical writing skills is an important component of this course. An accomplished scientist must be adept at properly explaining and documenting his/her work following established conventions.
For the standard modules, each student is responsible for producing their own report no later than 2 weeks after the completion of the module. The writeup should follow the format of a formal technical document that you would see in a physics journal such as Physical Review Letters. There should be an abstract that concisely summarizes what you have done. An Introduction orients the reader to the work with background material. There should be a section that clearly describes the experiment with diagrams and details. This is followed by sections for Results (graphs and/or tables are almost mandatory), Analysis/Discussion, and a short Conclusion. References are listed last.
The Results section is among the most important sections. It is a good idea to discuss with the instructor and TA what your plots might look like before you acquire data. This will allow you to acquire data in a comprehensive way so that, when you've rendered the final figures, the reader can easily visualize your results. Analysis should follow rigorous statistical methods for parameter and uncertainty estimation.
Use a template from a research journal of your choice (eg. APS, OSA). OSA templates can be found here. Search online or simply look in the hallways of our physics building for plenty of examples. There is no page requirement, but be sure to write clearly and concisely. The 2-week deadline is in place for two reasons: i) it's best to work on the report while details are fresh in your mind and ii) you should begin organizing your ideas and thoughts for the writeup while the experiment is in progress.
To create the writeups, students may use latex, Google docs, Word, or any other standard processor. In my research, I personally prefer using a cloud-sharing processor such as google docs or Overleaf (for latex).
Mini-talks: Students will be assigned a topic and will deliver a 15-20 minute talk on this topic at the beginning of class. Each student will give one talk during the semester. These are not graded, but attendance is included in your participation grade, so ask questions and do your best when it is your turn. The instructor will give the first mini-talk and give out pointers.
Final oral presentation: Each student will deliver an oral presentation during our final exam timeslot. Presentations will cover the work done on the final projects. They should be 30 minutes in length, and there will be an additional 10 min for Q/A. The format of the talk should follow that of a standard research talk at, for example, APS March Meeting.
MODIFICATIONS in case of long quarantine or other closures:
1. At-home experiment + oral presentation (take measurements yourself, option to work remotely with partner)