Course Schedule

Here is an outline of the expected structure of the course. This is the first time that I have taught the course for many years so this is going to be only a rough guide. It is likely to be fairly accurate at first and to get steadily less and less tied to reality the further out into the future you go. I hope to revise this from time to time as reality becomes clearer.

Note the following abbreviations.

Week: Topics Readings Laboratory
0: 8/29 Classical Physics of Small Objects    

1:
9/1-5

Review waves and meet the blackbody

HRW 16,17, 35, & 36. ER 1

Blackbody 1
2:
9/8-12

Light as wave and particle

HRW 38 §§1-5
ER 2

Blackbody 2
3:
9/15-19

deBroglie and Uncertainty

HRW 38 §6
ER3

Photoelectric
4:
9/22-26

Rutherford to Bohr

ER 4
Mostly §§1-8

Hydrogen Spectrum
5:
9/29-10/3

Schrödinger's Equations, free particles and
the infinite square well

HRW 38.7 & 39
ER 5		 Mid-term Exam I
6:
10/6-10

Quantum Ideas: Eigenvalues and Eigenvectors

   Bragg Scattering
(μWave)
7:
10/13-15

Barriers and barrier penetration

 ER 6 §§1-6 Possible numeric lab
Fall Break 10/14-19
8:
10/20-24		 Finite square well and simple harmonic osc. ER 6 §§7-9 X-Rays
9:
10/27-31		 3D Schrödinger, rigid rotor and 3D sq. well. ER 7 spots Electron Diffraction
10:
11/3-7		 Spinless Hydrogen atom ER 7 rest Possible new lab
11:
11/10-14

Spin!

 ER 8 Mid-Term Exam II
12:
11/17-21

More spin, ang. mom. addition, the dance!!

   Interferometer
Thanksgiving 11/24-28
13:
12/1-5		 Multi-electron atoms, Pauli principle ER 9 Single-Photon
14:
12/8-12		 Cool modern quantum stuff??
EPR paradox, quantum communication?		    
12/18
Final Exam Thursday 9:00-12:00

Physics 290