9452517 Rice The Physics department at Miami University is committed to providing scholarly experience for students in modern optics, stressing theoretical, experimental, and applied aspects. With the equipment requested in this grant, we wish to extend our capabilities to include nonlinear optical effects and high resolution spectroscopy into our laboratories. In the Optics and Laser Physics course experiments dealing with second-harmonic generation, phase conjugation, image processing, and AM modulation of laser beams are proposed. Also, we wish to obtain low cost laser diodes to develop more atomic spectroscopy labs, with higher resolution than presently available at our facility. With grating feedback to obtain narrow linewidths, these diodes present a low- cost method to investigate hyperfine structure for example. The laboratory experiments resulting from the equipment acquisition proposed herein would provide undergraduates experience with laser and spectroscopic applications, concepts, and techniques in the forefront of research that are utilized in modern optics laboratories across the nation.
