In the last 30 years optics has undergone a revivification, driven to a large extent by the application of lasers and computers. The manifestations of what has been a real revolution are evident everywhere from credit-card holograms to high-resolution television. With few exceptions, this technological whirlwind is predicated on advances that are not well understood outside the immediate confines of the discipline. Accordingly, we have begun to create a Modern Optics Teaching Environment (MOTE) where all undergraduates can learn about, and indeed experience, at least the basics of these developments and where physics majors can get a state-of- the-art introduction to contemporary optics. Spectroscopy is the window into the machinery of the atom and is central to the pedagogical development of modern physics and optics. Accordingly, one of the most highly used pieces of equipment in the MOTE is a 1.0 m research-grade monochromator. Studies of sources are conducted using Fabry-Perot and Michelson interferometers. The MOTE focuses on the laser inasmuch as it is one of the premiere and most ubiquitous instruments in the exploration of contemporary physics. Students build gas and dye lasers and study their operating characteristics. Once the fundamentals of radiant energy are familiar, and the laser as a versatile source is mastered, applications to nonlinear optics, holography, spectroscopy, and fiber optics are explored with confidence. Seniors also perform thesis research in laser spectroscopy using a pulsed nitrogen laser and a pumped dye laser.
