To account for the diversity of interests in Optics, the required courses have been divided into two catagories (see A and B below).
A. Mandatory Courses
Advanced Optics I (PHYC 463 or ECE 463)
Advanced Optics II (PHYC 554 or ECE 554)
Laser Physics I (PHYC 464 or ECE 464)
Optics Lab (PHYC 476L or 477L)
Electrodynamics (PHYC 511 or ECE 561)
B. Optional Courses
Quantum Mechanics I (PHYC 521)
Microelectronics Processing Lab (ECE 574L)
Nonlinear Optics (PHYC 568 or ECE 568)
condensed
Matter I (PHYC 529) or Physics
of Semiconductors (ECE 572)
Topics in Modern Optics (PHYC 569) or Special Topics (ECE 595)
Laser Physics II (PHYC 564)
Semiconductor Lasers and LEDs (ECE 577)
Quantum Optics (PHYC 566)
Atomic and Molecular Structure (PHYC 531)
Optical Coherence Theory (PHYC 556)
Methods
in Theoretical Physics I (PHYC 466 or Math 466)
Spectroscopy (Chem 566)
Advanced
Techniques in Optical Imaging- (Bio 547)
Biosensors
Fundamentals and
Applications ( ChNe 538)
Introduction to Optoelectronics (ECE 475)
Guided Wave Optics (ECE 564)
Optical Communication Components (ECE 565)
.
:: Requirements (Credit Hours) ::
PLAN
Course
(total)
A
B
Free Electives
Thesis
(599)
Res. Seminar/
Problems
Internship
1
Thesis
24
15
6
3
6
-
-
2A
Course
33
15
9
6
-
3 (2 in optics)
-
2B
Internship
33
15
9
6
-
-
3
12 hours of coursework must be taken at 500 level or higher
students in Plan 1 must submit and defend a thesis
students in Plan 2a must pass an oral exam
students in Plan 2a or 2b can take at most 6 hrs of 400 level courses excl.those that are cross-listed (ECE and Physics)
students
in Plan 2b should take an internship
course (PHYC 559 or ECE 559)
during their internship (industry
or national labs). They are expected
to describe their internship
work by submitting a term paper
and presenting a seminar at
the end of this course. An
evaluation form (Form 2) should
be submitted by the instructor.
:: Oral Exam ::
3 committee members (two from the home department, one from the other department) are selected by the student
test of subjects covered in the core courses (Advanced Optics I and II, Laser I)
each committee member scores the oral exam independently on a scale from 0 to 100.
the passing level is an average score of 60
the scores remain confidential and will not be released to the students
the student has two attempts to pass the exam, the second exam must be taken between 3 and 12 months after the first
a student who passes the PhD comp exam automatically passes the MS exam
the oral exam of the PhD comprehensive exam can be taken as the MS exam (must be announced before the exam)
a student who switches between PhD and MS program has a combined total of two exam attempts.
:: Timeline::
Each incoming student is advised in his/her home department upon arrival.
After the first semester the student files for candidacy and sets up a committee on studies. This committee either administers the oral exam (for plans 2) or serves as thesis committee (for plan 1). The student is allowed to change one member of the committee later.
