Light, Vision, and Matter

Undergraduate / Graduate

This integrated lecture-and-lab course provides a novel introduction to matter-radiation interactions, image formation as a photon statistical process and inference problem, both single photon (statistical) and rate equation descriptions of light absorption and emission, (Fermi's) Golden Rule for energy transfer processes, and "applications" in photo-chemistry and photo-physical processes such as photosynthesis and the first steps in vision. The labs involve single molecule/quantum dot detection and lifetime measurements, aspects of "super-resolution" microscopy, quantum interference and fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET); topics that are at the heart of current research in biophysics, cell biology, neuroscience and quantum physics. The course will favor physical and intuitive descriptions of topics complemented by essential mathematics vs. lengthy derivations. The course material is and labs are distinct from the Physical Chemistry sequence (Chem 261-263) and also Experimental Physical Chemistry (Chem 267), yet is complementary.