9451784 Saulnier This project completes the final phase in a four step plan to upgrade and enhance the laboratory component of the physics major at Gustavus Adolphus College. The project addresses a serious deficiency in the optics curriculum within the physics department. This project will establish a modern optics laboratory course and complete the equipping of a recently constructed teaching laboratory. The aim of the project is to improve the physics curriculum by initiating a laboratory-based course centered on modern optical devices and techniques, with signal detection and processing. The project is significant in that it provides an important next step in an intentional plan to improve the physics program and utilize the interests, commitment, and expertise of new faculty in the department. The project also has the added benefit of encouraging students to pursue graduate study by exposing them to contemporary topics in physics. A variety of experiments will be performed with equipment provided for this project, which include, as major pieces, an optical table and breadboards, a photon-counter and associated detector, an air-cooled Argon ion laser, diode laser heads and controllers, an acousto-optic modulator, and a data acquisition and analysis system. The experiments to be performed include "single photon" diffraction, optical fiber communication, heterodyne and Mach-Zender interferometry, coherent back scattering, diode laser characterization, quasi-elastic light scattering, and optogalvanic spectroscopy. The impact of the project will also be felt in courses such as Life Science Physics, Classical Physics II, and Experimental Modern Laboratory, as well as in faculty-student research. The PI is committed to the successful completion of the project and the department has an outstanding record on previous NSF ILI grants.
