Practical Photonics

Learning Outcomes

Subject Specific Intellectual and Research Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• Acquire practical experience of a number of key topics in laser science.

Knowledge and Understanding

Having successfully completed this module, you will be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of:

• Discuss a range of experimental measurement techniques in laser science.

A range of experiments is available to the students, which cover many of the major topics of modern optics. The actual experiments change with developments in the subject area. Typical topics of experiments include: Electro-Optic Effect and Modulation of Laser Light, Fabry-Pérot Interferometer, Optical Transforms and Spatial Filtering, Manipulating Light and Characterisation of Light.

The students will work on each experiment for 4 x 3-hour sessions in the lab and they then spend time at home to analyse their results, understanding the underlying physics and writing up lab reports.

In preparation for the labs, the students will answer a set of problems associated with each practical and hand them in at the beginning of the first lab session. Furthermore, for two main practicals, the students will prepare an annotated bibliography, and the associated summary, outlining the relevant physical mechanisms behind the effects to be studied.

Summative

This is how we’ll formally assess what you have learned in this module.

Referral

This is how we’ll assess you if you don’t meet the criteria to pass this module.

Repeat

An internal repeat is where you take all of your modules again, including any you passed. An external repeat is where you only re-take the modules you failed.