I’m currently teaching our sophomore-level modern physics class, which is titled something like “Relativity, Quantum Mechanics, and Their Applications.” We’ve finished with the basics of Special Relativity and abstract quantum theory, and have entered the mad sprint through applications (Union is on a trimester calendar, so classes end next week)– three classes on atoms and molecules, three on solid state physics, two on nuclear and particle physics.
I’ve taught this before, so I have a rough idea of what I want to do in the remaining classes– Wednesday is a lecture on semiconductor quantum dots and superconductivity (two separate topics), Friday is Rutherford scattering and nuclear structure, Monday is radioactivity and maybe a bit of the quark model.
That leaves two classes, the last two classes of the term. I have a couple of possible lectures from previous iterations of the course, but I’m curious about what other people think. This may be too arcane to be a good audience-participation thread, but it’s worth a shot, so: If you were teaching this course, what would you do with the last two classes?
Suggested topics:
- Should be able to be plausibly described as applications of either quantum mechanics or relativity, or both.
- Should be the sort of thing that can be described at the sophomore level with minimal lying-to-children.
- Should be topics that I could learn at the necessary level from readily available resources (textbooks, web sites, etc.), if I don’t already know them.
- Should be really cool in that things-that-make-you-say “whoa” kind of way that nifty QM applications have.
Suggested topics need not be able to generate homework problems at the sophomore level– I’ve already got plenty of those sorts of topics, and these lectures will be too close to the final for them to really work on problem-solving. The goal here is to close the course with a couple of gosh-wow lectures that will leave them convinced that modern physics is just the coolest thing ever, and they’d really like to major in it.
As I said, I already have notes for a couple of closing lectures from previous iterations of the class (I won’t reveal the topics here), but I’m open to suggestions. I won’t promise to actually teach a class based on any of the suggestions, but I will do a blog post containing what I would’ve said if I had. So, suggestions?
1. Bose-Einstein condensate and atomic cooling
2. Quantum Zeno effect
3. Quantum vortices
4. Bohm-Aharonov effect
5. Berry phase ?
6. Quantum Hall effect ?
(Potential) Applications of Quantum Chaos.
Hey, I just took a very simliar class four years ago as a second-year undergrad. Putting my student hat back on for a second (and pulling out my copy of Tipler and Llewellyn’s Modern Physics), I wish that class had covered Solid State. You seem to have touched on that a bit, so that may be okay.
But really, NMR. And save a full lecture for that laser spectroscopy stuff you’re working on. I would have killed to have professors devote more time to stuff they were actively working on.
I’ll second Quantum Hall Effect.
Jeebus: (Potential) Applications of Quantum Chaos.
Such as what? I don’t really understand what classical chaos is good for…
But really, NMR.
We did a lab on ESR, which is the same basic physics, so that’s covered.
And save a full lecture for that laser spectroscopy stuff you’re working on. I would have killed to have professors devote more time to stuff they were actively working on.
I cheated there, and got a bunch of them to come to my colloquium a couple of weeks ago…
I’ll second Quantum Hall Effect.
I’ll look into that a little more. I haven’t explained the regular Hall Effect, but that might be a way to go.
i don’t rember the name of it, but the effect that you can build “polarizers” for electrons out of magnets and is what makes hdds work.
undulators on beam lines
i second nmr
bragg defraction of x-rays in monocrometers
how tranistors work
how they do all the high energy partical classification
I’d second the Aharonov-Bohm effect, and probably go a bit into SQUID measurements etc?
Also what about STMs ? You can discuss that with just a little Quantum Mechanics under your belt, and depending on how much time you have you can discuss Atomic Force Microscopy and perhaps go into some Near field techniques?
The Quantum Hall effect seems interesting as well, though I wonder how much detail you can go into and whether you can afford to discuss low dimensional systems in such a short time.
You can do nifty secure communication stuff with classical chaos, as I remember. Something about paired chaotic oscillators as modulators.
(I never said anything about making a good lab demo, nor do I have any tie in to quantum chaos.)
Anything & everything to bolt down the neatsy-keen theory & equations to their real-world experiences. You’re trying to hook the uncommitted, here. One item that seems to qualify is the need for relativistic corrections to have GPS signals give correct results. A good exposition appeared in Physics Today in May of ’02. See also: http://www.aip.org/pt/vol-55/iss-5/p41.shtml
Particle physics makes some people go “oooo.” I would recommend a study of how exotic particles muons and pions actually make it to our detectors here on earth, even though their lifetimes are really small.
Acceleration radiation from the vacuum – or the Unruh effect (quantum extension of Rindler radiation).
Segways into Hawking radiation, and hence the information paradox and holography.
I enjoyed the michelson morley experiment in my modern physics class- It clearly demonstrates that there is no ‘ether’ and that the speed of light in a vaccuum really is a constant.
I’ll second Berry Phase + Aharanov Bohm effect. Or probably Quantum Interrogation 🙂
Something that shows Quantum effects at the macro level like von Klitzing and Josephson effects (i.e. quantum Hall effects) giving the most accurate measurements of h-bar and electron charge from junky samples would have been things I would have liked to have seen when I was a student.
Phonons, i.e. quantization in a totally different realm.
If there is some way to actually demonstrate these… maybe get a squid device?
Why didn’t I think about it before??
Superfluidity of liquid helium!
You can make a demonstration in the classroom.
Electron microscopes? Quantum computers? I agree with the solid state suggestions. QM pretty much made our current solid state technology possible. If can find one, you can show the students what a vacuum-tube radio or TV looks like. Not exactly iPod-sized.
Quantum cryptography is always good. And coming from a materials background, there’s quite a few nifty things in the discussion of solid state lasers – distributed Bragg reflectors, whispering gallery modes, and that sort of thing.
I’m trying to think back to when I took that class (yes, at Union – about 7 years ago). I see from previous comments that you’ve given a colloquium recently, otherwise I would suggest that you talk about you’re own research (not that I know in what that is beyond the comments in this thread). Along similar lines, have you ever thought of getting Alpher to guest lecture on the Big Bang? Looking back, I’m disappointed I never heard him talk about his stuff.
Colst: Along similar lines, have you ever thought of getting Alpher to guest lecture on the Big Bang? Looking back, I’m disappointed I never heard him talk about his stuff.
Alas, Ralph moved to Florida a year or two ago. He used to have the office next to mine, and I’ve got a stack of his books from when he cleared out, but he isn’t around to give talks any more.
As for the other suggestions, I’ll look into the Aharanov-Bohm and Quantum Hall Effect. The problem with those is that I don’t really understand either of them well enough to teach about them…
On the solid state side, we talked about band structure, and how diodes and transistors work. I’m doing a bit on superconductivity today, which means pulling out the Meissner Effect demo, and probably breaking stuff with liquid nitrogen, just because it’s fun…
“He used to have the office next to mine”
Ralph Alpher was at Union?? I remember the flap when the Bell Labs guys won the Nobel without Alpher getting any credit. When did he leave GE for Union? Was that just an honorary gig, or did he teach, too?
Ralph Alpher was at Union?? I remember the flap when the Bell Labs guys won the Nobel without Alpher getting any credit. When did he leave GE for Union? Was that just an honorary gig, or did he teach, too?
It was pretty much an honoary thing– he was listed as a “distinguished research professor” (now “distinguished research professor emeritus.” I don’t know that he did any teaching.
He’s pretty bitter about the Nobel snub. He was treated pretty shabbily all the way around by those guys– there’s a story that I heard that he was sent one of the microwave background papers to referee, and pointed out that he had figured this out in 1947, and they hadn’t cited him, only to have them pull the paper from that journal, and re-submit it to a different journal, again without a citation. That’s second-hand, though– the whole subject is pretty painful, and he doesn’t talk much about it.
(He’s got some entertaining Gamow stories, though…)