Resources for research

 Practical Books (lab skills), References, Online tools

(1) Laboratory Optics: A practical guide to working in an optics lab by Prof. Peter Beyersdorf. http://www.laboratoryoptics.com. This guide covers basic optical alignment, beam characterization, how to use photodiodes, oscilloscopes, balanced detection, lock-in amplifiers, and more. This guide does not have the training needed for working with ultrafast lasers. Please see the second resource below on ultrafast optics.

(2) Ultrafast Lasers and Optics for Experimentalists by Prof. James Pickering. The author's original, non-publisher version of the book is called Ultrafast Optics For Chemists: https://jamesdpickering.com/pdfs/ultrafast_optics_for_chemists_v1-1.pdf

(3) Alignment of Optical Systems Using Lasers - A Guide for the Uninitiated by Dr. David Benton 2021. The author's original, non-publisher version of the book is attached*.   hhttps://www.researchgate.net/publication/354513347_Alignment_of_Optical_Systems_Using_Lasers. A good guide for beginners. 

(3) Basics of Optical Alignment by Dr. Florian Ströhl. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLh5cDpn282vaCtqzjg6laUaR-CtzghltB. A good tutorial videos for beginners. Short tutorial films on YouTube. Films supported by EU's Marie Sktodowska Curie actions for education and postdoctoral training.

(4) Other useful references: 

1. MKS Newport's Resources (technical notes, tutorials, etc): https://www.newport.com/resources

2. Thorlabs' Technical Resources (Insights, Tutorials, App Notes, etc): https://www.thorlabs.com/navigation.cfm?guide_id=2400

3. Edmund Optics' Knowledge Center: https://www.edmundoptics.com/knowledge-center/

4. Appendix - Practical Guide to Optical Alignment by Rainer Heintzmann 2013: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/9783527687732.app2

5. [Book] Building Electro-Optical Systems: Making It all Work, by Philip Hobbs. ISBN: 978-1-119-43906-6; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/book/10.1002/9781119439080 

6. [Book] Building Scientific Apparatus, by John Moore et al. ISBN: 9780511609794. https://archive.org/details/buildingscientificapparatus4theditionmooredaviscoplan/

 Useful Online Calculators, Database, Simulators:

General

• Wolfram Alpha https://www.wolframalpha.com/

• Online Latex & Markdown editors (.md .tex -> mathML) 

https://stackedit.io/app#

https://markdownlivepreview.org/

https://md2mathml.uuuu.site/

• Image to/from Latex online converter https://latexconvert.com/

• Pandoc - a universal document converter online (.md .docx .tex .html .pdf): https://pandoc.org/app/

Optics and Lasers 

• Optics Toolbox by Light Conversion https://toolbox.lightcon.com/ - An all-in-one online calculator for laser and optics

• Ray Optics Simulation: https://phydemo.app/ray-optics/  - Free online ray tracing for geometric optics. Open sourced on GitHub

• KMLabs Photon Unit Calculator https://www.kmlabs.com/en/wavelength-to-photon-energy-calculator

• Octave Photonics' free online software: https://www.octavephotonics.com/nlse -NLSE calculator, EO comb simulator, etc.

• Laser pulse train calculator: https://www.lasercalculator.com/pulse-train-calculator/

• Photon Energy Unit Conversions (ev-nm-THz-fs-cm^-1) https://halas.rice.edu/unit-conversions

• Edmund Optics Knowledge Center Resources / Calculators https://www.edmundoptics.com/knowledge-center/?Query=&CategoryId=&Filters=techTool

• MKS Ophir Calculators https://www.ophiropt.com/en/photonics-calculators

• Gentec-EO calculator https://www.gentec-eo.com/laser-calculators - An online calculator including Gaussian optics

• Laser calculator https://www.lasercalculator.com - A collection of calculators including laser pulses

• APE Calculator  https://www.ape-berlin.de/en/calculator - For nonlinear optics (OPO, CARS, DFG, SFG).

• Refractive index database https://refractiveindex.info

• Wave Quanta's Optics Toolbox https://waveqvanta.com/pages/calculators

• Thin Film Filter Designer (for short-wavelength; ~20-1200eV) https://thin-film-designer.vercel.app/

X-rays 

• CXRO The Center for X-ray Optics calculators for x-rays, Berkeley National Lab: https://henke.lbl.gov/optical_constants

• KMLabs HHG calculator https://www.kmlabs.com/hhg_output

• OCDB (optical constants data base) https://www.ocdb.ptb.de/home

Atoms

• NIST Atomic Spectra Database https://www.nist.gov/pml/atomic-spectra-database

• NIST XCOM Photon Cross Sections Database https://www.nist.gov/pml/xcom-photon-cross-sections-database

Physics Demos

• PhET Wave Interference: https://phet.colorado.edu/en/simulations/wave-interference

Quantum 

• SPDCalc https://spdcalc.org -  Spontaneous parametric down-conversion phase matching condition calculation. Developed by NIST. Open sourced on GitHub.

• PERCEVAL https://perceval.quandela.net/ -  An open source framework for programming photonic quantum computers.

• Virtual Quantum Optics Laboratory https://www.vqol.org/ - Documentation: https://arxiv.org/abs/2105.07300

• Virtual Lab by Quantum Flytrap https://quantumflytrap.com/virtual-lab  - No-code online lab with a real-time simulation of an optical table, supporting up to three entangled particles.

• Yue group's Classical and quantum laser field calculators https://sites.google.com/binghamton.edu/yue/interactive-tools/

• Quantum Components Corp. online tools https://quantum-components.com/shot-noise-calculator - Squeezed Light Visualizer, Shot Noise Calculator, OPO/OPA Squeezing Spectrum Calculator