Supplemental Resources
Useful Websites and Links with Helpful Learning Materials
Below you will find some links that we find useful when we are teaching. You might also find them useful. Have an idea on how to improve the kit or do something different with it? Then send an email over to physelegjm@gmail.com and provide the suggestion. We will provide you credit here.
PVCDROM - PV Education - A website with tons of information about solar cells. This material works well at the college level and even graduate level. However, there might be some good information for K12.
SPIE - The International Society for Optics and Photonics - The agency responsible for funding this project!! Thank you SPIE!
AmpSpeakerSuggestion_Rev1.pdfAt the left you can find a simple block diagram/schematic that you can implement. Joshua Hancox at Waldron School District suggested this as a way of turning the optical communicator into a whole class demonstration. The block diagram shows a small audio amplifier module that can be purchased from a supplier like this. The digram (at left) further shows how you would connect the kit components to the audio amplifier so that you can generate a loud enough audio signal so the whole class can hear it. Speaker Out would go to a speaker, such as this. If you wanted, you could get an even "larger" amplifier and "larger" speaker to generate even louder playback. Here "larger" means more power rating. You would not want to send more power to the speaker than it can handle! Also, I would recommend a separate power supply for your audio amplifier.
Powerpoint Lecture Download
Hover your mouse over the image at the right and click the "open in new tab" icon that appears in the upper right of the image. This will load the power point in a new browser tab where you have the option of downloading a new copy.
Exploring Optics teacher presentation2.pptx
First Generation Files for 3D Printing
This section provides the files for 3D printing the laser photodiode holder. The original print was done on a Monoprice IIIP Mini V2 3D printer. The original design file was created in Autodesk TinkerCAD. The settings used for the print are:
Layer Height - 0.15 mm
Wall Thickness - 1.05 mm
Wall Line Count - 3
Top/Bottom Thickness - 0.72 mm
Top/Bottom Layers - 5
Infill Density - 25% Grid
Printing Temperature - 195 C, Bed Temperature 50 C
Print Speed - 50 mm/s
Generate Support Everywhere with 50 degree overhang angle, Raft Type Adhesion
Note that the print settings above were not fine tuned. They work for the printer used. Settings likely can be further tuned for better quality prints. A heated bed is not necessary.
Gcode Files - Single Holder Array