An Interactive Computer Graphics System for the Teaching of Undergraduate Optics

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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.