Sources and Detectors Lab

2.0 credits

This course is offered in conjunction with OPT 225 (Sources and Detectors) and OPT 223 (Quantum Theory). It provides practical experience in spectroscopic and radiometric measurements. All types of optical sources will be characterized, including mode-locked fiber laser, LEDs, diode lasers, gas discharge tubes, black-body source, and nanocrystal quantum dots. Students will have hands-on experience with cleaving and fusion splicing of optical fibers. Photodetectors for different spectral bands (including single-photon counting detectors) will be used in all labs. Quantum optics part includes photon statistics of laser and pseudo-thermal source and single-photon interference in Young’s double-slit and Mach-Zehnder interferometers.