Introduction of Semiconductor Laser Diodes into the Undergraduate Physics Curriculum

将半导体激光二极管引入本科物理课程

• 批准号: 9451178
• 负责人: Theodore Hodapp
• 金额: $ 1.54万
• 依托单位: Hamline University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 1994
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 1994-08-15 至 1997-05-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=9451178&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Introduction; Semiconductor; Laser; Diodes; into

9451178 Hodapp Over the past decade, solid-state laser diodes have made inroads into a wide range of commercial electronics and industrial applications. These inexpensive, monochromatic, wavelength tunable, intense light sources are useful not only in CD players but in a number of applications including atomic spectroscopy and laser- cooling. This project will explore the physics of laser diodes and their application to atomic spectroscopy as well as introduce first-year physics students to concepts of laser spectroscopy and a portion of the advanced physics curriculum. The project will construct a pair of optical workstations suitable for measuring characteristics of laser diodes as well as for using the light to perform absorption and saturated absorption spectroscopy on atomic rubidium. These experiments have been designed with an open-ended quality to them to allow students to explore the physics, rather than to just execute a standard cookbook type of lab. As a portion of this laboratory, upper-division students will be required to present their findings to small groups of students in first-year physics laboratories. In this way students will not only learn the concepts more clearly (by having to present them), but the project will provide an exciting introduction to physics not traditionally seen in the first-year laboratory. These upper-division laboratories are required of all physics majors and constitute a significant step forward pedagogically, as it requires students to develop their own experiments (within the context of the lab), make their own predictions, and truly discover their own education.

在过去的十年中，固态激光二极管已经在广泛的商业电子和工业应用中取得了进展。这些廉价的、单色的、波长可调的强光源不仅在CD播放机中有用，而且在包括原子光谱和激光冷却在内的许多应用中也很有用。该项目将探索激光二极管的物理特性及其在原子光谱学中的应用，并向一年级物理专业的学生介绍激光光谱学的概念和部分高级物理课程。该项目将建设一对光学工作站，用于测量激光二极管的特性，并利用光对原子铷进行吸收和饱和吸收光谱。这些实验的设计具有开放式的特点，使学生能够探索物理，而不仅仅是执行标准的烹饪书类型的实验。作为这个实验的一部分，高年级学生将被要求向一年级物理实验室的一小群学生展示他们的发现。通过这种方式，学生不仅可以更清楚地学习概念（通过展示它们），而且该项目将提供一个令人兴奋的物理介绍，这是传统上在一年级实验室中看不到的。这些高级实验室是所有物理专业的必修课程，在教学上是一个重要的进步，因为它要求学生在实验室的背景下进行自己的实验，做出自己的预测，真正发现自己的教育。