The program requirements for the PhD in Optical Sciences are listed on the Wyant College of Optical Sciences webpage for prospective PhD students and in our Graduate Handbook.
Admittedly, there's a lot to wade through on those pages, so the requirements that you're likely most interested in hearing about as an incoming or prospective student are listed below. Yes, there's still a lot to read, but it's useful stuff!
Please see our course web page for a list of all of our courses, undergraduate (numbers below 500), graduate (500 and above), and Graduate Distance Learning.
Scroll down further for the courses typically taken by PhD students in their first semester of the program.
See also the recorded presentations from previous recruitment events on the Recruitment page.
Optical Sciences PhD students must satisfy at least 18 credit hours of PhD thesis research, and 45 to 54 credit hours of coursework. A typical course is 3 units, and we are on the semester system. Your PhD research advisor has discretion over the number of credit hours required between 45 and 54. Nearly all research advisors require only 45 credit hours.
The Plan of Study is the official, approved list of the courses that you use to satisfy your credit-hour requirements. Your approved Plan of Study will have:
7 or 8 classes satisfying the PhD Core Curriculum, described in more detail below, totaling 21 or 22 units (credit hours).
2 lab classes are required. Most labs are 1 unit each. There are approximately 12 lab classes to choose from that are offered by the College, as well as other lab courses in other departments.
Up to 6 units (3 per semester) of OPTI 792 can be used to satisfy course requirements during the first year only. OPTI 792 is graded, and counts toward your GPA, so yes you can use lab research during your first year to count towards your course requirements and your GPA!
Up 6 units of non-graded coursework, including pass/fail courses and independent study courses.
With a few exceptions allowed, the remaining units must be elective graduate-level courses in Optics or courses offered in other departments as long as they relate to optics or to topics relevant to your research or intended career. We offer approximately 80 graduate courses each year, so there are many courses to choose from!
Example: A typical PhD student will have 21 units of core courses, and 2 units of labs, and 6 units of OPTI 792 (our research "rotation" course) completed during the first two years, with most of those units completed during year 1. That totals 29 units. If their advisor allows them to graduate with 45 credits on their Plan of Study (also typical), they will need 16 units of elective credits, or equivalently about 5 to 6 additional courses of their choosing during their time in the PhD program.
We define our PhD Core Curriculum in terms of topics, rather than specific courses, that are required of every PhD student. There are a few courses in the core curriculum that are indeed required of all PhD students, with some flexibility in the other courses that satisfy the curriculum. The required topics are
Electromagnetic Waves. This course, OPTI 501, is taken by all PhD students in the Fall semester of Year 1.
Geometrical Optics. This course, OPTI 502, is taken by all PhD students in the Fall semester of Year 1.
Physical Optics. This course, OPTI 505R, is taken by all PhD students in the Spring semester of Year 1.
Optical Physics. Students have the option of taking either (i) the 2-course sequence OPTI 570: Quantum Mechanics in the Fall semester of Year 1, and OPTI 544: Quantum Optics In the Spring of Year 1, or (ii) OPTI 511R: Intro to Optical Physics in the Spring of Year 1. Option (i) is typically taken by students interested in the Optical Physics and Photonics research areas and/or by students who have previously had an introductory course in Quantum Mechanics and who wish to learn more advanced Quantum Mechanics and Quantum Optics. Option (ii) currently also includes an introduction to lasers, so students electing to take OPTI 511R will not need to take the Introduction to Lasers class OPTI 541A.
Solid-State Optics. For this requirement, students will take either OPTI 507 or OPTI 537, usually in the Fall of Year 2.
Introduction to Lasers. This 1-credit course, OPTI 541A, is taken by all PhD students who complete the 2-course sequence OPTI 570: Quantum Mechanics and OPTI 544: Quantum Optics, rather than OPTI 511R: Intro to Optical Physics.
Two courses covering Mathematical and Physical Foundations of optics topics are also required (OPTI 570: Quantum Mechanics satisfies one of the requirements).
For nearly all PhD students, the first semester will consist of the following courses:
Most PhD students will take OPTI 512R instead of OPTI 570 in their first semester. However, students interested in pursuing a PhD in a research area related to Optical Physics will generally take OPTI 570. Many students interested in Photonics (especially quantum information and quantum communications) will also take this course, along with any other students who have previously taken an quantum mechanics course and are interested in learning more about QM and eventually quantum optics. OPTI 570 is not an intro to QM, and an undergrad-level QM course is a prereq for this course. While it is possible to take OPTI 512R and OPTI 570 simultaneously, this would comprise a pretty hefty load for most students.
OPTI 792 (1-3 units): Directed Introductory Graduate Research. OPTI 792 is graded, and counts toward your GPA, so yes you can use lab research during your first year to count towards your course requirements! However, you cannot enroll in OPTI 792 on your own. You and a professor must agree to work together for the semester first, and then you will submit a form to Jini Kandyil who will then enroll you for the course. We recommend that you wait until the start of the Fall semester to talk with professors about research and OPTI 792 options (or start talking with a couple of professors via Zoom over the summer), and then submit the OPTI 792 paperwork once you've decided on the research activities that you will pursue for the semester.
Nearly all PhD students are fully financially supported by the College during their first academic year. While a few new PhD students who know exactly which research group they want to work with might be supported on a Research Assistantship (RA) to work with that group, and a few students with substantial Optics coursework experience may be supported on a Teaching Assistantship (TA), most new PhD students are supported with a combination of scholarships and other stipends that do not require them to hold a TA or RA. Instead, these PhD students concentrate on their first-year core classes and find a research group for their PhD research. To find a research group, students supported on a College scholarship must sign up for OPTI 792, the course that is associated with first-year laboratory research experiences. Some describe OPTI 792 as a research rotation class, with the caveat if the group and research that you're trying out work out great for both you and the professor running the group, it is often a good idea to remain in that group rather than rotate through other groups. It is especially important to settle into a group by the end of the first academic year since that is the most likely way to secure funding for your first summer in the PhD program.
In subsequent years, full-time PhD students who are making satisfactory academic progress are usually supported on RAs. The PhD program does not have a requirement that students serve as a TA at any point during their graduate career. However, a student may occasionally be appointed to a TA position when research funding in their group is tight, or when they would like the experience of helping run a particular course. Most PhD students in a research group are supported in part or in full for the summer months to work on their research, although some PhD students work elsewhere during the summers on research with collaborators or internships.
In addition to courses and research requirements, PhD students must complete 2 College-administered examinations prior to reaching the final PhD Oral Defense of the Dissertation:
The Qualifying Exam is taken at the beginning of the second academic year in the program, in the week before classes start in August. The Qualifying Exam is a uniform, written examination that covers the core course topics Electromagnetic Waves, Geometrical Optics, Physical Optics, and Optical Physics+Lasers. The courses covering these topics are all completed in Year 1. The exam is given in 150-minute sessions on each of two consecutive days. Day one has four questions, one from each of the four tested areas. Day two also has four questions, one from each of the four tested areas. The exam is passed in its entirety by passing each topic independently (the scores from the two questions on each topic are averaged to give a score for that topics). If one and only one topic is failed, the student has a chance to pass that topic and hence the entire exam in a short oral exam on that topic only in the following spring semester. If two or more topics are failed, then the exam must be attempted again the following August.
Once a PhD student passes the Qualifying Exam, the Comprehensive Exam must be completed by the end of the following academic year. This is Year 3 for most PhD students. The Comprehensive Exam consists of a Written portion and an Oral portion. The Written portion is a 5-10 page document discussing a research topic, usually a topic related to the student's PhD research. The document also discusses how the research topic relates to other areas of Optics. The document is guided by and must be approved by a 4-person faculty committee. The Oral portion is a short presentation covering the same material as the Written portion, and is presented to the faculty committee. The committee asks questions about the topic presented, and about how it relates with other topics in Optics. The exam is structured to demonstrate that the student is progressing along in research, communication, and a synthesis of Optics depth and breadth.