External Resources - Instructor Manual
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This manual is designed to help instructors effectively use the open-educational book “ECE 5143: Intro to Optics and Photonics” in active learning environments. The goal of the course is to engage senior undergraduate and 1st-year graduate students in higher-order thinking activities during class, leveraging pre-class video content to maximize in-class learning outcomes.
Below is a list of guidelines to facilitate the adoption of this OER book:
Instructor Preparation
- Review Pre-Class Material:
- Ensure students have access to pre-class videos and any accompanying materials.
- Identify key points and potential areas of confusion.
- Prepare In-Class Activities:
- Design 2-4 problems/activities that build on the video content.
- Include a mix of individual, pair, and group activities.
- Include problem-based learning, concept application activities, think-pair-share, peer teaching, and role play/simulation
- Design 2-4 problems/activities that build on the video content.
- Plan for Assessment:
- Develop quick formative assessments (e.g., quizzes, polls) to check students’ understanding.
- Quizzes: Use short quizzes at the start of each class to reinforce key concepts.
- Polls: Conduct live polls using tools like Kahoot! or Mentimeter to gauge student understanding.
- Develop summative assessments to dissect students' understanding
- Projects: Assign 2-4 individual/group projects where students apply concepts to a comprehensive problem or application-based problem
- Exams: Include both conceptual and application-based questions.
- Develop quick formative assessments (e.g., quizzes, polls) to check students’ understanding.
- Providing Feedback
- Offer immediate feedback during class activities.
- Use peer feedback during group discussions and projects.
- When it is possible, provide feedback within a week window.
Student Preparation
1. Students are required to watch instructional videos before coming to class. These videos introduce key concepts, allowing class time to be used for:
- Problem-solving exercises
- Group discussions
- Hands-on activities
2. Complete any required pre-class quizzes or reading assignments.
3. Submit a 1-page hand-written summary of the class notes taken while watching the class video.
4. Come prepared with questions.
Suggested Course Schedule
Class no. |
Module |
Lecture Topic |
1 |
Geometrical/Ray Optics |
Postulates and Rules in Ray Optics |
2 |
Mirrors |
|
3 |
Planar Boundaries, External and internal refraction, Total internal reflection |
|
4 |
Spherical Boundaries and Lenses |
|
5 |
Matrix Optics and 4f imaging system |
|
6 |
Wave Optics |
Postulates of Wave Optics, Monochromatic Waves, Helmholtz equation |
7 |
Elementary Waves: plane, spherical and paraboloidal waves |
|
8 |
Relation ray-wave optics, interference of two waves, interferometers |
|
9 |
Young experiment |
|
10 |
Beam Optics |
Gaussian beam: features and mathematical description |
11 |
Properties of Gaussian beams |
|
12 |
Propagation of Gaussian beams through optical systems |
|
13 |
Fourier Optics |
Space vs Fourier Domains, Principle of Fourier Optics, Linear Systems and Shift-invariant Systems |
14 |
Impulse response and Transfer function in free propagation |
|
15 |
Fresnel and Fraunhofer diffraction patterns |
|
16 |
Lenses, Optical Fourier Transforms, 4f imaging system and spatial filtering |
|
17 |
Electromagnetics (EM) Optics |
Maxwell equations, Boundaries Conditions, Poynting theorem, EM waves in a dielectric medium |
18 |
Monochromatic EM waves, absorption and dispersion |
|
19 |
Polarization Optics |
Poincare sphere – linear, circular and elliptical polarization; Natural light; Polarizers and Malus’ law |
20 |
Birefringent Crystals, Retarders, Stokes formalism |
|
21 |
Jones formalism, Polarization by reflection, Brewster angle |
Note that other sequences are also possible. For example, some instructors may prefer the following sequence:
- Module 1: Geometrical/Ray Optics
- Module 2: Wave Optics
- Module 3: Electromagnetics (EM) Optics
- Module 4: Polarization Optics
- Module 5: Gaussian Optics
- Module 6: Fourier Optics