Waves and Optics Laboratory
This is a general information page for PHY 300.
The instructors and teaching assistants for PHY 300 Lab can vary every semester. The Department course list has links to PHY 300 syllabi from past semesters. Please see SBU Solar or Brightspace for more information.
Since 2022 the course has been run in the studio format, with labs and collaborative work incorporated with each class. Here is a rough plan for the semester.
| Week # | Topic | Lab | Homework and Reports |
|---|---|---|---|
| Week 1 | Simple Harmonic Oscillator | SHO | - |
| Week 2 | Damping, Driving, Energy | SHO Driven and Damped | - |
| Week 3 | Coupled Oscillators | SHO Coupled, Driven | - |
| Week 4 | Normal Modes | N-coupled Oscillators | - |
| Week 5 | Standing Waves, Fourier Series | Midterm #1, | Report #1 on Coupled Oscillators |
| Week 6 | Travelling Waves | Normal modes and speed of sound | - |
| Week 7 | Maxwell's Equations | - | |
| Break | |
||
| Week 8 | Plane Waves | Start polarization lab | - |
| Week 9 | Refraction and Reflection | Polarization | - |
| Week 10 | Physical Optics | Reflection and Refraction Lab | - |
| Week 11 | Interferometers | Midterm #2 | Report #2 on Polarization |
| Week 12 | Diffraction | Optical Instruments | - |
| Week 13 | Optics I Review | Michelson Interferometer | - |
| Week 14 | Optics II, Review | Diffraction | - |
These manuals are used by some instructors for the laboratory portion of PHY 300, Waves and Optics.
- Lab 1: Resonance
- Lab 2: Coupled Oscillators
- Lab 3: Speed of Sound
- Lab 4: Transmission Lines
- Lab 5: Polarization
- Lab 6: Michelson Interferometer
- Lab 7: Fabry-Perot Interferometer
- Lab 8: Diffraction
- Lab 9: Optical Instruments
Here are some links you may find helpful:
Course websites from recent semesters can be found at Undergrad Courses
MatLab at SBU can be downloaded or used at a SINC Site
Wolfram Mathematica at SBU can be downloaded or used at a SINC Site