Waves and Optics
Instructor: Peter Love
KINSC
Link 105
795-6505 (office)
Course
Requirements:
Three one-hour class meetings and a one-hour recitation
period per week. Class periods
will usually be devoted to lecture and discussion. Evaluation will be based on two exams, a final, and weekly
problem sets. The accompanying laboratory, Physics 211, consists of experiments
in the areas of electronics, waves and optics. Although it need not be taken concurrently with Physics 213,
all physics majors are required to complete the laboratory.
Location and times:
Lecture: MWF 11:30 – 12:30 in L205. Attendance and participation are expected. Lecture will begin promptly at 11:35; please be on time.
Recitation: TBA. Attendance and participation are expected.
Office hours: L105 WThF 2-5pm, or by appointment
Laboratory: (Physics 211) Th 1:15 - 4:00 p.m. in KINSC
H206. 1st meeting will be this
Thursday. Please arrive prepared
(including having answered pre-lab questions) to do the 1st experiment (DC
Circuits) at that time. Please
bring a notebook (any bound or spiral notebook or looseleaf notebook dedicated
to the lab). Contact Walter Smith
(wsmith@haverford.edu, X1332), or Scott (sshelley@haverford.edu, x1310)
beforehand if you have questions
Exam schedule:
Exam #1 given out Friday, Oct 5th
Exam #2 given out Friday, November 9th
Final exam (self scheduled) covers all the material with some extra emphasis on the material covered after exam #2.
No extensions on exams or variances on exam dates are permitted without a Deans excuse
Course
Description:
The second year of the physics curriculum focuses on the physics of waves, introducing classical waves and optics in the first semester and matter waves (quantum mechanics) in the second. Physics 213 introduces oscillations and waves in mechanical, electronic, and optical systems. The course also presents the relevant mathematical methods, including complex variables, Fourier analysis and the eigenvalue problem. Topics include: free and driven oscillations, resonance, superposition, coupled oscillators and normal modes, traveling waves, Maxwell's equations and electromagnetic waves, interference, diffraction and Fourier optics.
Oscillations and waves are ubiquitous in modern Physics. In this course we will study many mechanical systems described by Newtonian mechanics. Beginning with one oscillator, we will move to complicated systems of many oscillators, before considering wave motions. Beyond Newton, the two revolutions of the past century, quantum mechanics and relativity, both rely on wave phenomena. Electromagnetic waves propagate at the speed of light, and relativity replaces instant Newtonian action-at-a-distance with influences propagating at the speed of light, as waves. Quantum mechanics replaces Newtonian trajectories with wave functions describing quantum objects, sometimes waves, sometimes particles.
The mathematical description of waves requires one to think in terms of time-varying functions defined over one or more dimensions of space. For example, one might describe a water wave by a function h(x,y,t) representing the height of the water surface as a function of position on that surface, i.e. x and y, and as a function of time, t. The behavior and analysis of such functions and the wave equations they satisfy are necessarily more complicated than the trajectories, x(t), and static fields, e.g. E(x,y,z), that you studied in 1st year physics. The payoffs for your extra effort are the novelty and interest of wave behavior, the power and usefulness of the mathematics you will learn in order to investigate it and most importantly, the wealth of applications in physics and nature more broadly. Mastering this subject will be interesting and very useful to you in all the other math and science courses you will take.
Assignments
and Tests:
Written work will be due each Monday in class. There will also be assigned readings to prepare you for class discussion. It is essential for your understanding that you stay ahead of class in your readings. Some assignments will include so-called individual problems. It is expected that you work on these problems without collaborating with other students. You may ask questions of the instructor concerning these problems, and any information given to you in response will also be sent to the rest of the class via email.
There will be two time-limited, take-home exams and a self-scheduled, cumulative final. The schedule below gives coverage and dates. Exams will cover both concepts and problem solving. Time pressure in exam settings, while not the goal of the instructor, is not entirely avoidable. You should prepare to be able to work efficiently on the material covered and avoid poor time management choices during the exams.
Recitation:
Attendance is expected. The purpose of the recitation is to answer questions which you feel aren't appropriate for class, and to work additional problems. We will not discuss the problem set problems during recitation; see me in office hours (or by appointment) for questions about these problems.
Grading procedures:
Course grade -- will be computed using the following weighting:
Written exercises 35% (Note the very high weighting assigned.)
Tests 30% (2 @ 15%)
Final exam 30%
Class participation 5%
A separate grade is given for Physics 211a, the associated laboratory.
Exams: Credit will be given for displaying understanding and for correct execution of problem solutions. Partial completion of a problem will receive credit. Clear explanations of your work are required.
Late
policy -- You may have two ``free
extensions'' of one week during the course of the semester. If you are taking a free extension please simply hand in a
sheet of paper with your name and a note that you are taking a free extension.
Please save them for when most needed, and remember that you do not have to
take your extensions.
No
other extensions will be granted, except for significant illness, serious
family matters, etc.; in such cases, a Deans excuse is required.
Readings:
Texts:
Waves and Oscillations: The Fundamentals of Quantum Mechanics, by W. F. Smith. This is a work in progress, based on feedback from previous students in this class.
A. P. French, Vibrations and Waves (Norton, 1971). Because the first several chapters of the above are a revised version of this classic text, and because I will be assigning exercises from it, you are required to purchase this text.
Other
useful sources on reserve in Science Library:
H. J. Pain, The Physics of Vibrations and Waves, 5th ed. (Wiley, 1999).
Pain is one of the few authors to cover all the correct material for this course at the correct level with emphasis on phenomena and applications. Although you may find the treatment very dry and overly formal, this is an excellent reference work.
Howard Georgi, The Physics of Waves (Prentice-Hall, 1993) [elegant and theoretical]
Grant R. Fowles, Introduction to Modern Optics 2nd ed. (Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1975). [best treatment of optics available at the level of this course]
Thomas D. Rossing and Neville H. Fletcher, Principles of Vibration and Sound (Springer-Verlag, 1995) [excellent on sound, music and musical instruments]
K. U. Ingard, Fundamentals of Waves and Oscillations (Cambridge University Press, 1988) [not that useful, but it does have some computer program listings]
Eugene Hecht, Optics , 3rd ed. (Addison-Wesley, 1998) [the bible of optics texts]
K. D. Mšller, Optics (University Science Books, 1988)
E. G. Steward, Fourier Optics: An Introduction (Wiley, 1983) [complete coverage of
Fourier aspects of optics]
S. G. Lipson and H. Lipson, Optical Physics, 3rd ed. (Cambridge University Press, 1995) [good if you like very succinct treatments]
Honor Code Issues:
The important guiding principle of academic honesty is that you must never represent the work of another as your own. The following guidelines should govern your behavior in the course; please request clarification if you find yourself in any doubtful situations.
You may seek assistance for the Instructor or work together with other students (except on individual problems) in doing the weekly assigned exercises and in preparing for class discussions. If working with other students in the course avoid situations in which you are either contributing too much or too little to the collaborative effort. (Neither results in optimal learning, but are not violations of the honor code.) While working together is permitted and even expected and therefore does not need to be acknowledged, merely copying the work of another student without indicating that you have done so is clearly a representation of his or her work as your own and so is a violation of the code.
The exams must be entirely your own work. You must also follow all procedures and respect time limits without deviation.
Accommodations:
Students
who think they may need accommodations in this course because of the impact of
a disability are encouraged to meet with me privately early in the semester.
Students should also contact Rick Webb, Coordinator, Office of Disabilities
Services (rwebb@haverford.edu,
610-896-1290) to verify their eligibility for reasonable accommodations as soon
as possible. Early contact will help to avoid unnecessary inconvenience and
delays.