An Interactive Computer Graphics System for the Teaching of Undergraduate Optics

本计画的目的是开发一个互动式电脑绘图系统，应用于物理系与各工程系的高阶光学课程。目前物理系与工程系的学生学习光学的教科书，都是以二维的黑白白色图来说明基本原理，以及在课堂上把图形画在黑板上或用投影仪投影的图片。这些传统的通信方法对于赋予对许多光学现象的全面和直观的理解并不理想。所需要的是一种系统，其中用户（无论是教授讲课还是学生自己工作）可以调用感兴趣的现象，输入他们感兴趣的参数值，然后观看现象的三维动画可视化。我们的项目的目标是开发这样一个系统，我们已经取得了重大进展。我们的系统，我们称之为光学项目（TOP），是用C编程语言编写的，它使用OpenGl和Motif库，分别为图形和用户界面。完成后，TOP将包含八个模块，其中涉及初级/高级光学课程中通常涵盖的八个主题，以及两个额外的模块，其中涵盖了由于时间不足而通常在一学期课程中省略的重要主题。每个模块将包含几个选项，调查不同的现象。TOP将有一个“帮助”屏幕系统，以帮助用户运行可视化，并为他/她提供正在研究的现象的信息。这些帮助屏幕将类似于Mosaic和/或Netscape，因为它们将以HTML编写并包含超文本链接。我们的项目将有一个由六名光学和计算机图形专家组成的顾问委员会，他们将研究这些模块并给我们建议。东南部七所大学的物理系已经同意研究TOP，并考虑将其用于光学课程。

The purpose of our project is to develop an interactive computer graphics system to be used in upper-level optics courses taught in physics departments and various engineering departments.Currently physics and engineering students learn about optics from textbooks which illustrate the basic principles by means of two-dimensional black and white drawings, and from lectures in which figures are drawn on the board or presented on overhead projectors. These traditional methods for communication are less than ideal for imparting a comprehensive and intuitive understanding of many optical phenomena. What is needed is a system in which the user (be it the professor lecturing or students working on their own) can call up the phenomenon of interest, enter the parameter values they are interested in, and then watch a three-dimensional, animated visualization of the phenomena. The goal of our project is to develop such a system, and we have already made significant progress towards it. Our system, which we call The Optics Project (TOP), is written in the C programming language, and it uses the OpenGl and Motif libraries for, respectively, the graphics and the user interface. When completed, TOP will contain eight modules which address eight topics typically covered in a junior/senior optics course and two additional modules which cover important topics which are usually omitted in a one-semester course due to lack of time. Each module will contain several options which investigate different phenomena. TOP will have a system of "help" screens to aid the user run the visualizations and give him/her information on the phenomenon being studied. These help screens will be similar to Mosaic and/or Netscape in that they will be written in HTML and contain hypertext links. Our project will have an advisory board of six optics and computer graphics experts who will look at the modules and give us suggestions. Physics departments from seven universities in the Southeast have agreed to look at TOP and consider it for use in their optics courses.