Introduction of Semiconductor Laser Diodes into the Undergraduate Physics Curriculum

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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.