This PDF file contains the front matter associated with SPIE Proceedings Volume 11143, including the Title Page, Copyright information, Table of Contents, Author and Conference Committee lists.

The Max Planck School of Photonics (MPSP) provides and coordinates an integrated program for the photonics education of graduate and doctoral students in a network of excellence of German universities and research institutions. Students can choose to start the program with a qualification phase to obtain a photonics Master’s degree from one of three teaching universities in Erlangen, Jena or Karlsruhe. The subsequent PhD-phase lasts three years and the research work is conducted under the supervision of one out of 45 Fellows of the MPSP. Students already holding a qualifying Master’s degree can apply to directly enter the PhD-phase of the program. Apart from an excellent network of renowned scientists and research institutions, the MPSP offers generous financial support and a supporting curriculum to foster interactions between the different photonics disciplines, to strengthen the research network and to advance personal and professional skills. Maintaining and supporting active interactions of the MPSP research network at all levels is challenging and will be backed up by employing digital learning tools and platforms. Here, we will present our recent findings on chances and opportunities provided by the MPSP’s educative approach.

Funding opportunities in science are essential to the research and development ecosystem. Numerous and competitive, the vast majority focus on scientific accomplishment. While the advancement of science remains a top priority, some funding agencies started to reshape their programs to include strict training requirements, from training plans included in proposals to regular evaluations of training progress. At the centre of this change is the recognition of the universities and colleges educational mission through research, and the need for a highly qualified workforce serving industry, science, and research. It is this need for applied research training, expressed by the Canadian aerospace community, that led to the creation of the Canadian Space Agency’s FAST (Flights and Fieldwork for the Advancement of Science and Technology) funding activity in 2011. Among the three main objectives of the 2017 opportunity, two target training the next and current generations of scientists and engineers for space-related areas in Canada by (1) developing and maintaining a critical mass of researchers, and (2) increasing the level of student employability by exposing them to practical experiences. In this paper, we report about the context behind CSA FAST’s creation, the funding opportunity model, and the impact of the funding activity. Concrete results are also shown for the HiCIBaS project, funded by CSA FAST 2015, an ambitious balloon-borne mission with an optical payload for wavefront sensing and exoplanet imaging that was led by 5 graduate students as part of their master’s program, and that culminated with a stratospheric balloon flight in August 2018.

The National Science Foundation (NSF) is committed to creating an educated and skilled workforce in optics and photonics at all levels from K-12 students to Associate Degrees and PhDs through a variety of decentralized funding opportunities as described in this paper and associated presentation. NSF has special funding mechanisms for teachers through the Research Experiences for Teachers (RET) program and for undergraduate students through the Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program. NSF reaches out to community colleges to support a variety of associate-level programs for technicians through its Advanced Technology Education (ATE) program. Lastly through multi-institutional and multidisciplinary ten-year investments via the Engineering Research Centers (ERC) program, NSF is preparing a cadre of next-generation optics and photonics engineers and scientists with the technical knowledge and entrepreneurial skills to address critical global challenges and to succeed in a competitive and interconnected world.

The authors explain a developed concept for research-oriented education in optics and photonics. It is presented which goals are to be achieved, which strategies have been developed and how these can be implemented in a blended learning scenario. The goal of our education is the best possible qualification of the students on the basis of a strong scientific and research-oriented education, which also includes the acquisition of important interdisciplinary competences. All phases of a research process are to be mapped in the learning process and offer students an insight into current research topics in optics and photonics.

This paper discusses a publication-driven, education-by-research model of engaging undergraduate students in Photonics/Optics/Physics research by requiring that all activities lead to journal publication within a year. It is based on a non-traditional university-industry collaboration arrangement that has the following unique features.

First, it utilizes offshore-based alumni (in the USA) who are active in science and technology research as mentors for the students (in the Philippines) in conjunction with the university professor advisers. We adopt inexpensive online collaboration technologies to support their virtual presence.

Second, our research topic “fuses” uniquely two separate courses of study, namely: (i) the traditional Special Relativity in Physics and (ii) the fast emerging Photonic Integrated Circuits (PICs), into an innovative research area we have called “Special-Relativity-on-a-Chip”. It has the flavor of physics education combined with a taste of the latest in PICs technology. It enhances the textbook understanding of Physics/Engineering while providing potential publication opportunities.

Third, the research activities are focused mainly on modelling, simulations and design. These activities strengthen students’ learning since they concentrate on and master specific mathematical/Physics/programming skills. The goal of the project is to publish 5 journal papers, and so far, (i) 3 journal papers have been published, (ii) 1 international conference paper has been accepted for oral presentation, and (iii) 3 national conference papers have been submitted for publication.

An innovative undergraduate level Nanofabrication course with a focus on photonics is proposed. This course challenges the definition of what constitutes an undergraduate class in a research-intensive university. Namely, instructor and teaching assistants (TAs) propose a moderately challenging graduate-level research project that has not been previously published; challenge the Team, consisting of the students, with the TAs and instructor, to research during the class, as a Team; have the Team collaborate on writing a research paper with the goal of submitting it to an archival journal. Through this process, students learn the course content and experience how research is conducted.

Traditional physics or engineering education mainly describes the photonics phenomenon through complex mathematical formula and calculations, or with diagram to explain the phenomenon. The photonics phenomenon is usually not easy to imagine. Many physical models are relatively complicated for many students. We want to provide a selfdeveloped interactive photonics program by LabVIEW, and demonstrate in the lecture. Students can also download these programs, and observe the simulator by changing the physical parameters. We demonstrate two topics in the university lecture. The first is the phenomenon of polarization, by using software to present the relationship of polarization and Poincare Sphere. Another is diffraction and its application the laser dots projector system. Finally, through the teaching analysis questionnaire, we quantify the degree of understanding of students. This result can be used as the reference for direction of improvement.

Since Stanley, the self-driven Stanford car equipped with five SICK LIDAR sensors won the 2005 DARPA Challenge, the race to developing and deploying fully autonomous, self-driving vehicles has come to a full swing. By now, it has engulfed all major automotive companies and suppliers, major trucking and taxi companies, not to mention companies like Google (Waymo), Apple and Tesla. With the notable exception of the Tesla self-driving cars, a LIDAR (Light, Detection and Ranging) unit is a key component of the suit of sensors that allow autonomous vehicles to see and navigate the world. The market space for lidar units is by now downright crowded, with a number of companies and their respective technologies jockeying for long-run leading positions in the field. Major lidar technologies for autonomous driving include mechanical scanning (spinning) lidar, MEMS micro-mirror lidar, optical-phased array lidar, flash lidar, frequencymodulated continuous-wave (FMCW) lidar and others. A major technical specification of any lidar is the operating wavelength. Many existing systems use 905 nm diode lasers, a wavelength compatible with CMOS-technology detectors. But other wavelengths (like 850 nm, 940 nm and 1550 nm) are also investigated and, in the long run, the telecom nearinfrared range (1550 nm) is expected to experience significant growth because it offers a larger detecting distance range (200-300 meters) within eye safety laser power limits while also offering potential better performance in bad weather conditions. This paper discusses the above-mentioned technical (optics and photonics) aspects of the most common lidar technologies, with the educational focus of identifying opportunities for employing such discussions in introducing optics to broader engineering audiences, drawing in part on experiences and examples from Kettering University.

At Ghent University, we have built a course curriculum on integrated photonics, and in particular silicon photonics, based on interactive Jupyter Notebooks. This has been used in short workshops, specialization courses at PhD level, as well as the M.Sc. Photonics Engineering program at Ghent University and the Free University of Brussels. The course material teaches the concepts of on-chip waveguides, basic building blocks, circuits, the design process, fabrication and measurements. The Jupyter notebook environment provides an interface where static didactic content (text, figures, movies, formulas) is mixed with Python code that the user can modify and execute, and interactive plots and widgets to explore the effect of changes in circuits or components. The Python environment supplies a host of scientific and engineering libraries, while the photonic capabilities are based on IPKISS, a commercial design framework for photonic integrated circuits by Luceda Photonics. The IPKISS framework allows scripting of layout and simulation directly from the Jupyter notebooks, so the teaching modules contain live circuit simulation, as well as integration with electromagnetic solvers. Because this is a complete design framework, students can also use it to tape out a small chip design which is fabricated through a rapid prototyping service and then measured, allowing the students to validate the actual performance of their design against the original simulation. The scripting in Jupyter notebooks also provides a self-documenting design flow, and the use of an established design tool guarantees that the acquired skills can be transferred to larger, real-world design projects.

We present an interactive simulation software to help to teach and learn the holography concept. The education interface was developed in the Java platform. The Holographic Interface is a computer assisted learning that can be used in classrooms or for distance education. The binary holograms are numerically generated and reconstructed in the virtual optical laboratory. Several procedures are shown. The interface has been implemented with di↵erent options such as addition, subtraction, multiplexing and some properties of holography. Moreover, the software was designed to simultaneously visualize the 2D object, the generated hologram and the recovered image. We have taken into account the students’ suggestions in this version in Java.

The purpose of this paper is to give an outline of my approach on how to teach optical imaging and aberrations based on my teaching experience. Teaching of optical imaging starts with Gaussian imaging, which determines the location and size of the image in terms of the location and size of the object. Diffraction of the light leaving its exit pupil determines the actual image. Quality of the image is determined by the aberrations of the system. Hence, their knowledge and understanding about how they degrade the image by way of the aberrated PSF and OTF of the system must be an integral part of an optical imaging course. We discuss the teaching flow, including the calculation of aberrations, how to make interesting numerical problems for homework that are interesting and relevant, and when to use commercial software.

The Abbe School of Photonics (ASP) provides photonics education of graduate and doctoral students at the Friedrich Schiller University in Jena, Germany. The main instrument for training students in optical sciences is a Master’s degree program, which is open to international students, research-oriented and supported by German photonics industry. In this context, a conceptually new open lab Makerspace for photonics was established to support both the internal students in the realization of innovative and creative processes, as well as to build a strong and curious community of like-minded people from outside of the university. The photonics Makerspace provides all tools and materials needed to setup state-of-the-art optical instruments. Furthermore, it provides technical mentoring, open workshops and lectures. Partners from the photonics industry corroborate the process of making by well-established open innovation schemes and are integrated into the Makerspace with hackathon and innovation camp formats where the Makerspace users work on industry challenges. Finished and ongoing projects are transformed into freely accessible, open source hardware while a commercial exploitation of the projects is supported. Out of the broad topical spectrum of ongoing projects, two quite advanced examples are a low-cost smartphone-based 3D-scanner with a cloud-based, free software and a high-resolution microscope built of 3D-printed modules. For these projects, apart from hardware and software, also workshops and lectures are available. Other examples include a drone for medical applications in search and rescue, a smartphone-based lithography setup, a Raman-spectrometer, a camera array for meteorite detection, and many more. All activities of the Makerspace are scientifically investigated with special attention on the interaction between open innovation approaches and the Maker scene. Here, we will share our insights into potentials and opportunities offered by this novel educative approach.

The reflectance spectra of solid and liquids can be complicated since they depend not only on absorption, but also on the refraction, reflection, and scattering of light, all of which are wavelength dependent. The physical form and morphological effects associated with solid and liquid samples are thus known to affect their reflectance spectra in a non-linear fashion, particularly in the infrared. Measuring the optical constants n(ν) and k(ν) represents an alternative approach, allowing one to model these many effects and thus requiring fewer laboratory measurements. In this paper an overview is presented of the protocols used to measure the n/k optical constants, particularly for liquids. For the liquids, a multiple path length measurements approach is employed, and in this paper we demonstrate the method to determine the complex optical constants n(ν) and k(ν) of squalene. The resultant calculated spectra of 1 μm and 100 μm thick layers of squalene on an aluminum substrate as derived from the experimental n(ν) and k(ν) values are shown to demonstrate such effects. The public availability of the n(ν)/k(ν) data as well as solids hemispherical reflectance data are also discussed.

An engaging teaching method provides an equal learning opportunity for students on the often-arduous concepts in optoelectronics, which enhances involvement of minorities during a lecture session. Experiment-oriented instruction of topics combined with a dynamic and dialogue-based delivery of the lectures has showed increased participation from the class. Such experiments must be designed based on commonly used optoelectronic devices i.e. LEDs, to provoke interest among the learners. Furthermore, the students have to investigate non-trivial characteristics of such devices, e.g. measuring emission spectrum with a hand-held spectrometer, in groups of two-three. These would ensure a balanced learning opportunity among all the students.

A need exists to diversify the optometry field in the United States. Males reflect 50.4 percent of the profession and approximately 97% of optometrist professionals are White and Asian1. This paper will describe Imhotep Academy’s program model, implementation efforts, and preliminary findings of the “Imhotep Academy: Optics of the Eye” session designed to promote optics content, optometry careers, engagement with diverse professionals within the field, and optics hands-on experiences to ethnically and racially diverse middle school students. The paper will analyze students’ awareness and knowledge of optics, science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields, their proficiencies, and innovations in the optometry field that impact personal health outcomes as well as parent data. Lastly, the paper will provide findings related to students’ self-reported 21st-century learning skills, future STEM engagement in school, and career aspirations. Informal science outreach programs have been found to develop students' awareness and knowledge of STEM careers.

Publisher’s Note: This paper, originally published on July 2, 2019, was retracted from the SPIE Digital Library on April 22, 2021, due to similarities between specific portions of the text of the paper to the following publication: S. K. Vargas and P. Hanstedt, "Exploring Alternative in the Teaching of Lab Report Writing: Deepening Student Learning Through a Portfolio Approach," Double Helix Vol. 2 (2014). doi: 10.37514/DBH-J.2014.2.1.07

Huygens-Fresnel diffraction integral is the foundation for optical science and engineering since 1817, including the mathematical improvements. This integral propagates Huygens’ individual secondary wavelets unperturbed through each other. Huygens postulated this Non-Interaction of Waves (NIW) in his 1690 book, Treatise on Light. Quantum Electrodynamics also indicates NIW since the computed photon-photon interaction cross-section is immeasurably small. The linear sum of complex amplitudes does not represent an observable phenomenon. Fringes represent the energy absorbed by a detector as the square modulus of the sum of amplitude stimulation experienced by it. The detectors’ intrinsic properties determine the observable fringes. Due to our neglect of Huygens’ NIW, we are carrying on erroneous interpretations for several major optical phenomena. Our proposed experiment-guided curriculum will rectify the confusions. The new book will be developed using the currently published reference book, “Causal Physics; Photon by Non-Interaction of Waves”, Taylor and Francis, 2014 [1].

Traditional electronic communications curriculum spends large amount of time to cover the electronic circuits for communications. Since highly integrated circuits for communications are now available, in many cases a blockdiagram level analysis is sufficient. On the other hand, fiber optics for communications has been used not only for long haul transmission of information, but also local area networks and computer networks. To stay relevant and keep up with industry trends without adding new courses, we revised existing two-semester electronic communications curriculum by replacing some circuit details with topics on optical fiber communications fundamentals and wavelength division multiplexing techniques. Since optical fiber communications itself can be a course of one or two semesters, we are not intending to cover the topic in all aspects. Instead, our goal is to introduce the highlights of the major topics necessary for students to understand basics of optical fiber communications. To make the topic transition logically we introduced the light source in fiber optics topic, after establishing the modulation/demodulation concept, as an alternative carrier signal for modulation process. We then introduced optical fibers as transmission channel for modulated optical carriers, followed by other components (optical sources, detectors, and etc.). Wavelength division multiplexing had also been introduced as one of the major multiplexing techniques, after introducing the time division multiplexing and frequency division multiplexing concepts, for both long haul and high speed Ethernet applications. Through the midterm/final examinations students demonstrated similar level of understanding of the traditional materials as before. At the same time their basic knowledge on optical fiber communications were established.

This paper presents an intermediate-level undergraduate course on the physical principles of biomedical optics and imaging. Through in-class labs, Mathematica simulations, field trips, and group presentations, students learn about fundamental imaging concepts in optical microscopes. After developing an understanding of the role of the Fourier transform in image formation, the course shifts to non-optical imaging, including x-ray computed tomography, ultrasound, and magnetic resonance imaging. The significance of this course is its handson nature, and this paper offers examples of laboratory exercises and simulations to promote active learning in the classroom.

Although the Quantum Harmonic Oscillator (QHO) is examined with differing levels of rigor in physics and quantum optics, experiments exploring the QHO have not found broad use in classroom demonstration or laboratory instruction. We present a QHO exercise that is rock solid, inexpensive and easily implemented. The QHO system studied is the sulfur anion (S₂)^-, an activator found in over a dozen minerals worldwide. A violet laser illuminates the sample immersed in liquid nitrogen and spectra containing lines evenly spaced in energy are collected. The energy spacing and effective spring constant for the electronic ground state QHO levels are determined. A close examination of the energy difference between consecutive levels reveals anharmonicity in the ground state potential.

In this work, we describe the use of a virtual learning environment that we have developed. The software is programmed in LabView code and it is devised to teach polarization concepts to students in Optics courses at the university, either at the degree or master levels. In order to consolidate the knowledge previously explained in theoretical and experimental courses, the applet tries to foster the interaction of students with different virtual environments, each one training one particular polarization feature or method. In particular, the following concepts are included in the applet: ellipse of polarization, Poincaré sphere, Stokes vectors, Mueller matrix transformations, and polarization dependence with light wavelength after material interaction. What is more, we perform a set of targeted questions to students, into a problem-solving approach. It consists of a series of brief questions that students must solve and answer, helped by the visual information they can found into the applet. In this way, some theoretical concepts related to polarization are thought and reviewed by students from a different perspective from that given in the theoretical classes at the classroom.

There is large industry demand for qualified engineers and technicians in photonics advanced manufacturing. Current workforce training methods require expensive state-of-the-art laboratory equipment, as well as commercial licenses for photonic design software, which can be prohibitively costly for many universities. Virtual laboratories and Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) can help fill this training gap by providing a scalable approach to photonics workforce education for an international audience. In this project, AIM Photonics Academy—the education initiative of AIM Photonics, a Manufacturing USA Institute—is creating a virtual laboratory to enable self-directed learning for the emerging photonics workforce. Students learn photonic device and circuit modeling in a 3D online virtual lab environment with interactive simulations of micron-scale photonic visualizations. An intuitive interface highlights the most critical device design parameters and their optimal operational settings for applications in Datacom, wireless communication, sensing, and imaging. Simulations include silicon waveguide propagation and loss, radial waveguide bends, and directional couplers for photonic integrated circuits (PICs). In spring of 2019, AIM Academy has integrated these simulations into an online course focused on PIC-chip design, with a fundamentals course expected in fall of 2019. Additionally, these online tools will be used in a blended learning curriculum in 2020 to train engineers and technicians in semiconductor design, testing and packaging for photonics applications. Following online module completion, students can take blended learning on-site workshops at affiliated university laboratories to capitalize on their simulated training with hands-on experiments in chip design, packaging, and optical or electrical testing.

Silicon-based photonics is mobilizing into a manufacturing industry with specialized integrated circuit design requirements for applications in low power cloud computing, high speed wireless, smart sensing, and augmented imaging. The AIM Photonics Manufacturing USA Institute, which operates the world’s most advanced 300mm semiconductor research fab, has co-developed a Process Design Kit (PDK) in fabless circuit design for these expanding digital and analog applications; however, there currently isn’t available an in-depth curriculum to train engineers (academia, industry) in the AIM PDK process and Electronic Photonic Design Automation (EPDA) software. AIM Photonics Academy, an education initiative of AIM Photonics based at MIT, has collaborated with faculty to create three online MOOC edX courses that (1) introduce integrated photonics devices, and applications performance needs and metrics; and (2) train into the AIM PDK and specialized EPDA tools in a six week design project to lay out an application-specific photonic transceiver. The courses are structured around asynchronous video lectures and exploratory design problems that involve Python and Matlab-based first-principles calculations (systems modeling) or advanced EPDA tools (circuit design and layout). The online MOOC courses can optionally form a tandem blended learning component with two AIM Photonics Academy on-site training programs: the annual AIM Summer Academy one-week intensive program (held every July at MIT), or a photonic integrated circuit testing workshop (the first workshop is planned for fall 2019). These courses are a cornerstone effort at AIM to found and support a specialized cohort community of future integrated photonics designers.

We present the design and use of myDALITE, a web-based learning platform that provides students with asynchronous peer instruction that can be used in- and out-of-class. Supporting active learning pedagogy, myDALITE engages students in 1) written explanation (rationales for their answers); 2) comparison of these rationales to those of peers; and 3) reflection on the quality of the rationales. Furthermore, myDALITE assignments provide teachers with the opportunity to see what their students are thinking, before and/or after classroom instruction.

Aiming to solve the contradiction between the problem-based teaching and limited class hours in engineering courses, an instructional design of Optical System Design course using informatization teaching resources is introduced in this paper. By using a massive open online course(MOOC) and other informatization teaching method, students can learn the basic knowledge and methods after class by themselves, while the class hours can be mainly used to face-to-face problem-discussing between teachers and students as well as among students themselves. In this way, the class is extended profitably. The students’ potential were well stimulated. With the application of informatization methods, the problem-based teaching and learning can be carried out more efficiently.

Light emitting diodes and semiconductor lasers belong to almost any curriculum in the field of physics, optics or photonics programs at universities. The physics concepts are usually introduced in Bachelor programs, but a real deep understanding which is also based on laboratory experiments is seldomly acquired before studying in Master programs. Here we present some laboratory experiments for students of a photonics Master program at our University of Applied Sciences. Students are required to study the transitions from LEDs to semiconductor lasers in a four step investigation. First they record the diode characteristic of output power versus current. This helps to identify the pure LED regime, the transition region and the pure laser regime of the devices. Second they study the spatial characteristics of the commercial LED / laser devices with or without additional lenses. Third, laser dimensions are measured with microscopy and fourth the changes of the emissions spectra while increasing the injection current from LED to laser are measured with high accuracy using a Fourier Transform Infrared spectrometer. Here we present and discuss exemplary results of the first two steps and briefly mention the subsequent ones.

We will discuss laboratory experiments in silicon-photonics developed for senior and graduate level students. The learning objectives for this laboratory includes basic microfabrication techniques in cleanroom, understanding design and process flow, fabrication and testing of silicon waveguides and Mach-Zehnder interferometers on a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafer. We will also discuss a typical team project outcomes and examples of experimental work and report by student group. Additionally, we will comment on student’s learning and skill set acquired through this introductory hands-on project-based silicon photonics class.

In Brazil, we’ve perceived that there is resistance to the learning of Optics by students who are not from the area of physics. The traditional way of teaching optics requires a prior knowledge of calculus that is not easy to students of the natural sciences. In order to solve this problem, we have developed an experimental optics discipline for undergraduate students in nature sciences: Concepts in Experimental Optics (Conceitos de Óptica Experimental, EACH-USP). This course is divided into three parts: (I) The Origin of Light, (II) The Path of Light and (III) The Light Destination. In the first part, we work with light emission spectra, continuum and ray spectra, using spectral lamps and everyday lamps. The second part presents the concepts and applications of Geometrical Optics and Wave Optics, including Geometrical Theory of Diffraction. The third part is about the absorption of light by matter with application in light detectors and photosynthesis. In the first lesson, we introduce the subject of human vision functioning, for interpretation of colors. The human vision is resumed in the third part. In Geometrical Optics we use images from works by artists such as René Magritte and M. C. Escher to encourage discussion about imaging. The emphasis of the discipline is to understand natural phenomena with as few calculations as possible and to encourage the demonstrations that can be made with everyday objects. We have taught this subject twice, 2017 and 2018, totaling 27 approved students with an average grade of approximately 87%.

Visible and near-infrared spectroscopy is growing at a very fast in many areas, including forestry, medical, agriculture, defense, homeland security and food safety. Raman spectroscopy is also experiencing strong growth, because of its high sensitivity in detection of atmospheric molecules, bomb detection, and early detection of cancer. These growing applications have resulted in increased spectrometer sales, and increased demand for technical talent. This technical talent growth includes a higher demand for photonics/laser technicians in the field of spectroscopy. To help better prepare graduates of the laser and photonics technology program, Central Carolina Community College, funded by the NSF ATE LASER-TEC grant, developed a module on “Advanced Spectroscopy” for inclusion in the “Laser Applications II” course, to complement the existing “Basic Spectroscopy” module. The “Advanced Spectroscopy” module’s focus is Raman Spectroscopy. Due to the high cost of Raman spectrometers, the module lab did not include a hands-on portion. Recently, Wasatch Photonics has developed a Raman spectrometer for educational lab use. Students learn from handson assembly, alignment and calibration about the internal working of the spectrometer. During the spectrometer lab, students may also use different gratings and light sources. During this session, LASER-TEC Co-PI Gary Beasley, Central Carolina CC, and Chrys Panayiotou, LASER-TEC PI will demo the spectrometer. A copy of the presentation will be shared with all participants.

The basic concepts of theoretical and experimental optics have remained largely unchanged since the 1890s. With the exception of the existence of the ethereal medium, interpretations and explanations of classical optical phenomena contained in introductory optics textbooks of the late 1800s and early 1900s are essentially modern, and textbooks from this era can provide a valuable source of teaching and learning material which can be adapted for modern coursework free of fear of copyright infringement. In surveying a number of such textbooks, a trove of interesting “chiefly by the lantern” experiments which would prove useful to any student of today have been found. This talk will describe a selected few such experiments which can be done without significant materials cost, perhaps involving minerals such as mica, tourmaline, and selenite.

An optical setup was devised for the Electrical engineering undergraduate course “Photonic devices” where students were introduced to a simple visible diode laser based method of measuring the refractive indices of liquid samples in a transparent quartz cuvette placed on a computer-controlled rotating stage. When setting the cuvette at a small angle with respect to the incident laser beam, the light transmission through the cuvette results in a small mm-scale deflection of the laser path. The evaluation of the sample’s refractive index hinges on measuring the beam displacement. Moreover, by positioning the cuvette at normal incidence and recording the optical power after passing through various liquid samples (e.g. distilled water, maple syrup) and comparing with a reference (empty cuvette), students learn to estimate the attenuation coefficients of the substances by taking into account the contribution of the multiple Fresnel reflections. Finally, the same optical setup is also used by students to perform the “knife-edge” technique for the characterization of the beam profile emitted by the visible diode laser used in the setup. The proposed setup was implemented in the fall 2018 where undergraduate students were able to practice optical alignment and implement the concepts of material refractive indices and attenuation, as well as revisit the Gaussian beam theory taught in-class.

With the coming of quantum information and associated technologies, there is increasing need to prepare students on the fundamentals of quantum physics. Fundamental physical principles can be hidden by the mathematical formalism of quantum mechanics. Thus it is necessary to expose students to experiments that illustrate fundamentals. Quantum optics experiments based on the generation of twin photons via spontaneous parametric down-conversion have many advantages, such as being simple, reliable, and of reasonable cost. These types of experiments are ideal for the advanced laboratory in the physics curriculum. At Colgate University we offer them as a laboratory package that is associated with our upper-level undergraduate course on quantum mechanics. In this article we present our latest approaches. Among them is a new layout for the experiments to provide a more intuitive physical picture.

A modular laboratory curriculum with exercises for students and lesson plans for teachers is presented. Fundamentals of basic integrated photonic (IP) devices can be taught, first as a lecture-in-the-lab followed by “hands-on” laboratory measurements. This comprehensive curriculum utilizes data collected from the “AIM Photonics Institute PIC education chip” that was designed specifically for the purpose of education, and was fabricated at AIM SUNY Poly. Training using this modular curriculum will be performed through the AIM Photonics Academy network in New York (NY) and Massachusetts (MA), either as a full semester course or as a condensed boot-camp. A synergistic development and delivery of this curriculum will coherently leverage multiple resources across the network and can serve as a model for education and workforce development in other Manufacturing USA institutes, as well as for overseas partners.

The Air Force Research Laboratory’s Laser Division faces the unique challenge of explaining intricate technical problems in its research portfolio to a varied audience, ranging from upper military leadership in control of program funding to young elementary students involved in STEM outreach activities. A team of Lieutenants from Kirtland Air Force Base developed an innovative solution to this challenge with a series of tabletop demos used to visually illustrate some of the key technical challenges and fundamental science the lab is working on. The negative effects of vibration on a laser system is a visually apparent problem and thus jitter was the focus of our first demo. The demo uses a Line-of-Sight Stabilization system to stabilize a vibrating laser beam. This paper will discuss the system design, implementation of the control loop, presentation techniques, and opportunities for expansion. This demo boasts a unique ability to speak to all ages, making it easier to explain key concepts to military leadership at the Pentagon as well as expose students across the USA to STEM challenges. This system is also one of a two-part set. The other, focusing on Adaptive Optics, is discussed in a sister paper.

Community outreach events conducted by collaborating optical societies in Southeast Michigan shaped our perception of local science education needs and caused us to explore whether discarded consumer electronics might be utilized for low-cost and hands-on STEM activities. We found that point-and-shoot cameras are widely available and excellent sources for optical and electromechanical components. Moreover, the process of disassembly along with the exploration and use of recovered components was a flexible platform for learning activities. In this exploratory case study, elementary school students disassembled cameras, harvested lenses, motors, and other functional mechanisms then reused these components to build something new. The activity encouraged a process of inquiry, independent exploration and tinkering, and deserves further investigation as an educational tool for the introduction of STEM topics. Our approach, safety precautions, and tips for disassembling cameras are discussed.

The Air Force Research Laboratory’s Laser Division faces the unique challenge of explaining the intricate technical problems in its research portfolio to a varied audience that includes upper military leadership who control program funding all the way to students of all levels as part of STEM outreach activities. An innovative solution to this challenge was developed by a team of junior scientists and engineers in the form of a series of table top demos used to visually illustrate some of the key technical challenges and fundamental science the lab is working on. One of the most challenging problems facing our team is the degrading optical effect caused by turbulence. Modern laser weapons systems utilize Adaptive Optics (AO) to correct for many of these effects and thus our team set out to showcase an AO system approachable to the public. This paper highlights how we use a commercial product as the center of our demo, lessons we have learned while showcasing this demo and a few expansion possibilities. This system boasts a unique ability to speak to all ages and thus has been used to explain key concepts to military leadership at the Pentagon as well as expose elementary students across the USA to STEM challenges. This system is one of a two-part set. The other, focusing on Line-of-Sight Stabilization, is discussed in a sister paper.

The US Air Force (USAF) conducts research involving the sensing and compensation of atmospheric turbulence, which acts to blur images and make laser-beam propagation more challenging. As such, USAF scientists and engineers (S and Es) often face the challenging task of explaining this research to audiences without relevant technical expertise. These audiences vary widely all the way from upper military leadership down to K-12 students as part of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) outreach activities. Previously, a team of USAF S and Es developed a table-top setup for the demonstration of digital-holography (DH) technology. This technology enables the measurement of the complex-optical field, which in turn enables a plethora of applications that involve imaging and wavefront sensing. Therefore, in this paper we extend this table-top setup to illustrate both the effects of atmospheric turbulence on the imaging and wavefront sensing process and the digital-signal processing required to estimate and mitigate these effects. The enhanced demonstration provides a visual-learning aid to help explain the complicated concepts associated with imaging through atmospheric turbulence. Specifically, we show that we can introduce aberrations into the DH system and use digital-image correction to refocus the resultant blurry images. This paper discusses the overall system design, improvements, and lessons learned.

As the applications of photonics technology continue to expand into an ever-growing number of advanced manufacturing applications including laser materials processing, additive manufacturing, 3D sensing, medical devices, photonic integrated circuits and consumer products, science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) programs often struggle to prepare graduates with the critical thinking and problem solving skills needed to keep pace with this rapidly changing technology. In this paper, we describe how Springfield Technical Community College (STCC), in partnership with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) AIM Photonics Academy, the New England Board of Higher Education (NEBHE), and the National Science Foundation Advanced Technological Education (NSF-ATE) Regional Center for Next Generation Manufacturing (RCNGM) are addressing this struggle through a three-year NSF-ATE project entitled “Problem-based Learning in Advanced Photonics Manufacturing (APM-PBL).” In this project, we are creating eight multimedia problem-based learning (PBL) “Challenges” focused on authentic real-world problems in advanced photonics manufacturing in collaboration with photonics industry and research university partners. Training in the use of these Challenges and ongoing support will be provided for 24 high school and college STEM educators from throughout New England. These PBL Challenges will be made available online at no cost to high school and college STEM educators and will add to a growing online library of 20+ PBL Challenges created in three previous NSF-ATE grants awarded to NEBHE.

Over the past five years, Switzerland has undergone major changes in the field of photonics. Thanks to a well-positioned photonics industry and dedicated professional associations, new milestones were set in the area of training and further education, but also in research and development.

The main reason for the shortage of skilled workers in Switzerland was identified as the lack of education for qualified photonics engineers at bachelor and master level. Some years ago, the majority of the Swiss photonics companies syndicated under the patronage of Swissmem as its Photonics Division. In 2015 the members defined their requirements for young skilled workers and prepared a position paper "Bachelor in Photonics" in which Universities of Applied Sciences (UAS) were specifically asked to offer application-oriented bachelor programs.

The NTB with its long tradition in photonics R&D decided to go for such a program. A team developed a curriculum for a photonics profile and implemented it as part of the “Bachelor in Systems Engineering”. In autumn 2018 the first bachelor students graduated in photonics and were ready for an industrial career. The next step on the education roadmap in Switzerland was a specific profile in photonics as part of a nationwide Master Program in Engineering (MSE) for bachelor graduates of UAS. Here again the momentum came from the Swiss photonics industry. The planning and implementation of this unique master program is currently underway and is scheduled to start in September 2020.

Although demand for photonic technology is rapidly growing, there is a shortage of qualified workers to fill the industrial positions being created. At present, most photonics programs are available only at the graduate level; of the few undergraduate programs that exist, most are four-year engineering degrees. There is an unmet need for programs that can rapidly prepare students with minimal preparation to work as technicians in the optics and photonics industry. We report on a collaboration among Stonehill College, Bridgewater State University, and AIM Photonics Academy of MIT to create a unique photonics technician training and certification program that could serve as a template for other colleges or for other educational and manufacturing partnerships. This program, prepared with input from industry, consists of a mix of online, classroom, and lab courses (including both real-world and virtual experiments), with emphasis on hands-on experiences and apprenticeships with local companies. It is designed to rapidly develop practical skills in students who either have no prior technical background or who desire to quickly move into photonics from another technical area. The curriculum development model is modular, easily adapted across manufacturing sectors, focusing on skills sought by industry partners, with mechanisms in place for periodic feedback from employers. A clearinghouse for instructional materials will be created to house course outlines, syllabi, and teaching strategies for use by other institutions. Additionally, the curriculum will be sustained by making it “stackable” with other modules, training programs, and certifications aimed at other manufacturing specializations.

The UNESCO International Day of Light, 16 May, serves to highlight the critical and diverse roles that light plays in our daily lives. Light has specific meaning to each local community, and finding that which has the greatest impact can be challenging. In the proper context, local festivals serve as a fertile ground for light appreciation, bringing together diverse local groups. We provide the devices for exploration of colorimetry, imaging, and color matching demonstrations at an otherwise social local festival. Methods of assembly and planning for the multi-day display are outlined.

We present our twenty years of experience in the live broadcasting of astronomical events, with the main focus on total lunar eclipses. Our efforts were motivated by the great impact and high number of viewers of these events. Visitors from over a hundred countries watched our live broadcasts. Our viewer record was set on July 27, 2018, with the live transmission of the total lunar eclipse from the Feldberg, the highest mountain in the Black Forest, attracting nearly half a million viewers in five hours.

An especially challenging activity was the live observing of the Mercury transit on 9 May 2016, which we presented as ‘live astronomy’ with hands-on telescope. The main goal of this event was to awake our students enthusiasm for optics and astronomy.

Furthermore, we report on our experiences with the photography of optical phenomena such as polar lights and green flash.

Mirages, rainbows, halos, glories, and coronas are well-known atmospheric optics phenomena that can be used as examples when teaching the well-understood underlying optical principles of refraction, reflection, dispersion, diffraction, and scattering. These beautiful natural phenomena can generate interest when used for teaching optics because they usually are easily observable with the naked eye. The invention of Si-sensor-based digital photography, however, also offers easy investigations in spectral regions adjacent to the visible range. We report and discuss observations of natural phenomena with a modified DSLR camera operating in the near infrared spectral range above 800 nm. This investigation may be particularly useful in photonics education, as the discussion of photon detectors in certain wavelength ranges can be combined with atmospheric optics, which always attracts interest in students.

Solar eclipses are magnificent natural phenomena during which the sun is obscured by the moon. Besides the unique opportunity of studying the solar corona and immediate vicinity of the sun, an eclipse also leads to a darkened daytime sky with sunset colors and many other fascinating phenomena. Here we focus on how the daytime horizontal visual range changed during the duration of the solar eclipse of 21 August 2017, observed from Rexburg, Idaho, USA. Close to totality the eastern horizon for a short time period showed the contours of the Grand Teton Mountains from distances between about 80 km to 90 km. We show and discuss photographic images that show the visual range during totality being significantly extended beyond the visual range in most of the partial phase before and after totality, which was below 80 km when the mountains could not be seen by the naked eye. This phenomenon of an extended visual range can be explained in terms of a simple model for the daytime visual range. This model, which will be explained in this presentation, nicely reproduces the observations and also predicts other phenomena; for example, it predicts that similar phenomena may be observed if part of the line of sight close to the observer is in deep shade of a thick cloud cover. The presentation will tie these observations and their explanation to the teaching of optical scattering and atmospheric optics.

In this paper we report on our continuous efforts to apply optics and photonics in art. This results in interdisciplinary projects which sometimes lead to concrete art installations. We presented some of these projects at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris, at the opening ceremony of the International Year of Light and the inaugural ceremony of the International Day of Light. Some newer projects, such as “A Maze: Ingenious Pipes” and “The Power of Your Eyes,” are also presented in this paper.

At the end of 2017, Universite Laval's SPIE Student Chapter set out to imagine a large-scale outreach initiative that would be artistic in its form, while being educational in its mission. With UNESCO's First International Day of Light (IDL) acting as a catalyst, The Optical Terrace (La Terrasse Optique, in French) came to life. The first edition of The Optical Terrace was a standalone platform made of three separate 8-ft wooden cubic structures where people could learn about light phenomena through interactive experiments. This project originated from dedicated volunteer work of a multidisciplinary group of students in physics and architecture. Project funding was made possible through financial support from professional societies (SPIE and OSA) and through partnerships with local optics and photonics companies.

In this paper, we present The Optical Terrace as an original example of a large-scale outreach project, educational for both children and adults. It is a student initiative with a long-term high impact potential which, however, does not require continual in-person involvement. By installing the structure in popular and touristic locations within the city, this out-of-the-box initiative is a creative means for teaching the general public about the importance of optics and photonics. Based on the success and lessons learned from the first edition, a new and improved design was designed and built in time for IDL 2019.

The global optics, photonics, and imaging industry is growing, but a worldwide shortage of optics technicians exists. Engineers are being called upon to do the work of optics technicians. This paper describes how Monroe Community College, the United States’ only community college awarding associate degrees in precision optics, is educating diverse optics and photonics technicians.

As announced the other day, the 2018 Nobel Prize in Physics was given for the development of optical tweezers and ultrashort pulse lasers. Optical technology is constantly advancing and penetrating into various industrial fields. Recently, the power of fiber lasers is remarkably increasing, and therefore, it becomes a promising processing tool for metalworking and its marketing value is also increasing. In addition, now we already have many processes that cannot be done without laser, and this trend will continue in the future. However, we often hear from potential users of optical technology who work at machining, "I understand the importance of optical technology, but I am hesitating to introduce because I do not know how to use". This is the same from the actual feeling as an optical researcher of me, and I feel the lack of optical engineers who realize new technological ideas. In other words, the current state of the industry is in short supply of optical engineers. As a factor of short supply of optical engineers, mostly optical education is often in charge of the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Faculty of Engineering at Japanese universities, and therefore, most of the students that have learnt optics are employed as electrical/electronic engineers after graduation. Meanwhile, it is also true that efforts to resolve at various universities have begun. While introducing our optical education (student experiment: Control of polarization state), we will examine optical education at university and its role for the optical industry.

Most Optics and Photonics hubs face the same challenges, especially in a very competitive, near-zero unemployment rates economy: not enough trained personnel at all levels (from technicians to Ph.D. candidates), entering the workforce. To reverse this trend, it is imperative that the Industry and Educational institutions team up towards better identifying the needs of the industry, both in terms of number of graduates and of their skillsets.

The first driver of a healthy workforce is the number of graduates in related programs. Encouraging teenagers to pursue science and engineering studies is beneficial to our industry in the long term. The second driver is highly-qualified personnel. Over the years, we have identified key skills for our industry and how they can be acquired either within standard cursi or through participation and organization of extracurricular activities.

We will present two examples on how our company collaborates with educational institutions located near our headquarters to answers the challenges mentioned above. With the Photonics Games, we helped develop an optics challenge for high school students. On top of raising interest for our field, an added benefit of this event is that the student organizers acquire project-management skills that complement their studies. At the “Challenge Techno”, some of our employees share their personal experience and show how careers in Optics and Photonics can lead down varied paths, even when all starting as technicians.

These examples show that both academia and the industry can contribute to nurture and support tomorrow’s workforce.

This contribution describes a solution leading to a higher quality of university study due to the student integration into the activities of the company that creates at the university laboratory. The main benefit is the fact that there is a personal union between people teaching in the laboratory and company employees. This union leads to close cooperation among professors and future engineers both in laboratories during the solution of measurements tasks in optical communications and fiber sensors applications and sw projects and practice during the solution of complicated commissions. These students are obtaining knowledge and skills that is impossible for them to obtain during a typical university study. At the same time, the respect of professors and other teaching people is rising in students because they can see them working. The company is then able to employ the best students as future employees.

In today’s fast-paced world, efficient industrial workplace training has economic implications in any technology firm. Employees are required to learn technical skills and acquire proficiency quickly, regardless of the extent of prior experience. In this paper, we outline a methodology to train technical staff, which could include engineers, technicians, and/or operators, on vector network analysis in the context of photonics companies involved in the characterization of optoelectronic devices, particularly photonic integrated circuits. The acquired skills span electronic, microwave, and optical domains, but assume only basic prior electrical knowledge and no microwave or optics background. Focusing on on-wafer S-parameter characterization of optoelectronic components or modules, we first describe training in various laboratory tasks, including instrument calibration, device handling, probing, optical waveguide alignment, and taking measurements. Then, we elaborate on some relevant skills for processing and analyzing measured data. We identify relevant theory where appropriate, in a way suited for industry needs as opposed to academic settings. In this manner, staff learn sufficiently to be able to level their skills swiftly to get the job done. Much of the pedagogical details stem from our own industrial experiences as a photonic wafer manufacturing company, where we have trained team members of various technical backgrounds. The pedagogy can be applied to other technical areas, and it is hoped that the ideas in this paper will be of value to both nascent and established organizations.

As U.S. manufacturing works to overcome a technical skills gap, apprenticeship is gaining favor as a post-secondary educational path. Registered apprenticeship is a structured program that requires on the job training of an employee, accompanied by related instruction, and a progressive wage scale as the apprentice progresses through the program. This presentation describes how the Occupation Title for a Precision Optics Manufacturing Technician was defined for the industry, and approved by the US Department of Labor (USDOL). The occupation was later deemed apprenticeable by the DOL, and the apprenticeship was designed and registered with NY State. The program entails a three year (6,000 hour) rotation through every department of an optics manufacturing firm, with defined outcomes regarding hours of experience and competencies gained. In this program, structured, hands on technical training is combined with theoretical class room learning to develop highly skilled manufacturing technicians. This presentation will explain many of the details surrounding registered apprenticeship, including adjustments and results encountered during the first three years of the Optimax program.

Project-Based Learning (PBL) is an effective way to develop students' engineering practice skills. In order to cultivate the engineering personnel to meet the needs of society through school-enterprise cooperation, School of Optics and Photonics, Beijing Institute of Technology constructed a school-enterprise cooperation platform by utilizing the in-school resources, in which the in-school instructor is the leader and enterprise tutor is the link. Applying the PBL concept, the training mode for cultivating the engineering practical ability of professional degree master has been designed and investigated. The initial trial teaching and platform operation attempt was jointly carried out by School of Optics and Photonics with Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Intelligent Robots and Systems (BAICIRS) of Beijing Institute of Technology, which verified the feasibility of the teaching model and provided the future teaching research direction and platform construction. There are important reference values for conclusions.

Optics and light-based technology are becoming more and more important as a cross-field of new science and engineering, and the scope of optics education should be extended. Since 2018, in Zhejiang University a new wave of general education reform has started, and our course Light-based Science and Technologies and Human Civilization has become a common core course. In the last 3 years our students mainly come from science and engineering, only a few students come from social science. From now on we will offer this course to multidisciplinary students, especially the students of politics, economics, law and arts. In this paper we present our learning organization, especially the group discussion in multidisciplinary students. The students from different specialties are divided into one group. The discussion topics are about research methodology, famous arguments in optics history, optics in daily life and imagination of the future.

Biological research is complex these days because of technological challenges associated with biophotonics and advanced light microscopic methods. Core labs with appropriate advanced optical technological tools along with proper education and training can be an integral part and play a vital role in achieving complex biomedical research objectives. Advanced light microscopy tools can meet all specific needs but are so complex to learn with regard to obtaining optimal imaging datasets. Therefore, a solid educational and training program are essential. Based on researcher’s specific needs, there can be two major types of training and education, a general training for all the researchers and a specific individualized training for researchers who want to explore complex experiments.

In 2008, Université Laval launched the first and only graduate programs in biophotonics in Canada. This initiative is dedicated to the training of a new generation of highly qualified researchers at the interface of life sciences and optics. It also stemmed from the strong expertise of the University in optics/photonics, its major investments in state-of-the art biophotonics infrastructure and technologies, and its desire to promote multidisciplinary training of graduate students. The programs are hosted by the Faculty of Science and Engineering in collaboration with the Faculty of Medicine, regrouping professors from 3 Faculties and 10 departments at Université Laval. The biophotonics graduate programs offer students from a wide variety of scientific backgrounds the opportunity to train in highly skilled research teams on projects that bridge the gap between traditional research fields. They benefit from transdisciplinary training opportunities in the fields of physics, chemistry, biology, biochemistry, neurosciences, medicine, engineering and ethics.

Advanced professional courses (APCs) in the senior year will lay the foundation for further graduate study. Meanwhile, they are summaries and applications of the learnt fundamental professional courses (FPCs). Thus APCs form a connecting link between the preceding and the following studies. For example, Principles and Design of Optoelectronic Instruments (PDOI) is a lecture-based APC aiming at familiarizing students with the operating principles and basic design methods of commonly used optoelectronic instruments. Students will be able to describe the operating procedure of the instruments, distinguish the structure and function of each part, and present preliminary results of both overall design and parameter design. Problem-based approach with the following implementation is a good choice for such APCs. An assignment of system design is announced as the problem at the beginning of the semester. Students are asked to (1) describe the basic working principle, (2) do the overall design and draw the schematic diagram of the system, (3) do the module devision as well as the budget, and (4) finally analyze a critical parameter of the system. Then during the explanation of corresponding chapters, four times of in-class practices are arranged to help the students finish the assignment question-by-question with the help of textbook, internet and the teacher. Compared with straightforward explanation of the chapters and leaving the assignment as a homework at last, the proposed problem-based approach helps improving the motivation and achievement of the students.

Computer Aided Optical System Design is an engineering practice course for undergraduate students in College of Optical Science and Engineering, Zhejiang University. When the students have just completed Applied Optics course in spring-summer semester, they will take the practice course in a short semester in summer vocation. This is a projectbased practice course, including optical software developing and lens design. The teaching idea is not only to improve the students’ engineering skills but also to connect different knowledge they have studied, to build a comprehensive knowledge structure, and to develop the team spirit, organizational capability, leadership and communication skills. This course is designed as an engineering project with a contract between the teacher group and every design group of 3 students. In this paper we describe the course program and how to provide a chance to combine different knowledge into a project. In every student group, developing ray trace software of good reliability is the teamwork, and each student will design a photographic lens independently. The lens with the best optical performance will be selected as the team’s result, and be drawn into a system diagram and part drawings. The whole process is both competitive and cooperative, and gives the students the experiences of programmers and lens designers. Most of the students appreciated the practice course and named it as “the most memorable short semester”.

The growth of the global photonics market and technology investment creates a need for skilled professionals with multidisciplinary knowledge. The development of a successful multidisciplinary training for these professionals requires special attention to the implemented educational approaches. Current methods of multidisciplinary teaching and learning include tutoring by a team of experts of different backgrounds and development of projects among multidisciplinary teams of students. In these cases, a detailed feedback is needed from students and teachers in order to improve the course and keep a consistent alignment among the learning outcomes, teaching strategy, and evaluation methods. In this study, we describe the implementation of a method based on continuous improvement of multidisciplinary outreach activities and undergraduate programs. We illustrate the results of this implementation by showing samples of the feedback we received from students and teachers. The overall quality of the teaching and the content of the subject matter was perceived as good by students. Teachers’ evaluation showed students’ knowledge and behavior was satisfactory and the learning outcomes were achieved. Based on this, we believe our educational approach could improve the development and implementation of multidisciplinary activities.

Radiometry is formally defined as the science of characterizing or measuring how much electromagnetic energy is present at, or associated with, some location or direction in space. It involves the measurement and quantification of optical flux. It has evolved separately in the fields of physics, illumination or vision, and engineering, and as a result a host of terms are used to describe various radiometric concepts. Over the years there have been various texts on the subject to help demystify some of these concepts with less emphasis on “practical" radiometry (i.e., meaning laboratory examples). At the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), an entire course has been devoted to the subject along with a dozen or so hands-on laboratory exercises. This paper will discuss our approach to the dissemination of “practical" radiometry through exercises that talk about construction of radiometers, inverse square law, radiometric and spectral calibration (of a spectrometer), diffraction gratings, blackbodies and sources, spectral transmission and reflectance measurements, detector spectral responsivity measurements, transfer calibration, and more.

Light emitting diodes (LEDs) can be used also as a light-receiving element which is less likely to be saturated than photodiodes. The author has actually employed LEDs for the purpose of receiving optical signals in a science demonstration experiment set of optical communication for educational purposes in various ages. In some cases, LEDs as a light-receiving element can realize better quality of reproduced sounds transmitted in the demonstration experiment set via optical transmission, as compared to the case where a normal photodiode is employed as a light-receiving element. Furthermore, by using LEDs both for a light source and a light-receiving component, relationships among color of light (wavelengths or frequencies) and their energies as well as bandgap energies of semiconductor materials can be explained in such demonstration. In this paper, some exemplary data of output voltage characteristics obtained from an LED employed as a light-receiving element, as well as typical demonstration sets for educational purposes, are explained.

The entire field of optics and photonics is vast, encompassing a wide range of technologies and affecting an even larger range of industries. The niche needed by the lighting industry is illumination optics, and in particular, illumination optics for solid-state devices. Optics for this industry have unique requirements that go beyond the basic achievement of a specific intensity distribution, as they are also often required to homogenize the variable spectral properties of the LEDs and provide a desired luminous appearance. Additionally, they need to fit within specific packaging constraints driven by all types of factors including the overall product aesthetic, manufacturing methods and cost. The styles of optics used to meet these requirements vary widely and are limited only by physics and the imagination of the designer. Instilling the right set of skills in students to succeed in this industry is therefore the challenge. Methods employed to date include a mix of the following: 1. fundamentals of photometry, reflection and refraction, 2. LED properties and package styles, 3. material properties including light scattering, 4. photometric labs, 5. reflector and refractor design development and simulation in software, and 6. optical design prototyping. Illumination optics are used in a wide range of industries including architecture, roadways, entertainment, automotive, aerospace, marine, medical, and consumer products. While this curriculum is focused on the narrow field of illumination, the skills are applicable to a much broader range of non-imaging applications including UV irradiation for disinfection and curing, IR sensors, light pipes, CPV, and daylighting.

Reflective writing is often used to promote self-regulated learning amongst students. While its benefits are well documented, there is a need for research on the impact of reflective writing in engineering education (Clark and Dickerson, 2019). We describe the implementation and examine the impact of two types of reflective writing exercises⎯an exam wrapper and self-evaluation⎯in an introductory photonics course.

Traditional lectures do hardly satisfy or benefit all of graduate students because of their diversity background, which might lead to inactive in the class, especially when the courses are professionally concentrated. Jigsaw cooperative learning (JCL), a student-centered learning method which engages all students and is beneficial in facilitating relationship-building, might be an alternative solution. A trial was made in an optical course “Optical Interferometric Measurement (OIM)”. However, the first trial we made is hardly counted as success. After thorough analysis on all factors that might cause the frustration, a new course plan is formed detailed. In this paper, we would like share our trials made in the course, both the unsuccessful one and the one work in progress.

Utsunomiya Girls’ High School has participated in the national “Super Science High School” science education program for ten years. The program aims to improve advanced science education in high school and to let advanced high school students experience open scientific inquiry, through collaboration with researchers at Utsunomiya University. Our group of students is currently involved in studying the structural color of insects – a topic that brings together chemistry, biology, and optics. Therefore, even students who do not study physics are exposed to interesting optical phenomena. It is well known that beetles’ shells exhibit circular polarization, but among similar insects, one will show circular polarization while others do not. Our initial investigation involved imaging the shells of several beetles with an imaging Stokes polarimeter and an electron microscope. As a result, we were able to observe the structural differences between the two types of insects. Next, we tried to experimentally reproduce the same structures using a cholesteric liquid crystal having properties similar to the beetle shells. This provides a means of not just observing but also experimentally investigating structural color of insects.

OPTIKS, Outreach for Professionals who Teach in Informal Environments and K-12 Schools, is an interactive workshop for industry professionals, graduate students or faculty who are interested in presenting outreach and training others in how to conduct workshops. The paper outlines the components of this class for participants to understand how to develop lessons and activities to engage prospective audiences about optics and photonics science and technology. Key preparation considerations, such as audience and location, are presented alongside formal pedagogical methods to develop highly engaging outreach education activities. The workshop was first implemented at the 2018 SPIE Optics + Photonics congress, and an overview of the delivery is be presented as a case study of this paper. Lessons learned from the initial presentation along with future improvements to this course will also be discussed in this paper.

Developed by the OSA Rochester Section (OSA-RS), the Optics Suitcase is an innovative, interactive presentation package designed to introduce middle school students to the dynamic and exciting range of concepts within the study of light. The Optics Suitcase contains supplies and giveaway theme packets for in-class presentations that explore color in white light. The goal is to help promote technology careers to middle school age students. A detailed presentation guide is included with the suitcase to help give presenters techniques for engaging students during the presentation and making the demonstrations more interactive. Three experiments explore the colors constituting white light in the form of diffraction (The Rainbow Peephole), polarization (Magic Stripes) and selective reflection (Magic Patch). These three experiments use giveaway theme packets that are designed to help reinforce the study of light concepts at home as students present the information they learned to their family and friends at home. This paper outlines the contents of the Optics Suitcase, a typical lesson plan as well as tips for giving an Optics Suitcase presentation.

In Florida, and the United States in general, we are experiencing low interest in our photonics technician programs from students finishing high school. The National Science Foundation and many other national organizations have been promoting STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) during the last ten years, which has increased the interest and awareness among students and parents. However, the large majority of the students who show interest in STEM opt for an education at a university where they can obtain a bachelor’s degree. To attract more students to a two-year Associate degree in Photonics we established a year-long program of short technology boot camps for students who are in middle school or their first grade of high school. We borrowed the idea from after-school music lessons or camps, and soccer or other sports activities. The students are weekly engaged in these mostly fun activities during after-school hours, and for a long period of time lasting many months. Music lessons, for example, are typically offered once a week, but last from 9 – 12 months. Sports activities run as long as an entire season. We hypothesized that the continuous interaction with the subject allows a young person to develop skills, confidence, and experience that eventually influence their decision to continue further studies that will lead to a career. To test this idea, we created a series of technology camps that we offered during the entire year, after school hours, allowing an interested student to pursue technological education throughout the year. The technological awareness and continuous engagement with hands on activities enabled the youngsters to discover if they had talents or proclivities that would trigger the desire for further studies in technology, engineering, or science. This paper describes the different technology camps, the data gathered, the outcomes and the results of testing our hypothesis.

Since 2013, we have been introducing topics in optics/photonics in middle and high school mathematics classes. Our goals have been to illustrate applications of mathematics to students who may not otherwise find mathematics useful, to promote critical thinking and problem-solving skills, and to introduce science and technology topics not usually addressed at these grade levels. In this paper we describe our activities, programs and their outcomes.

We have developed three light-based educational outreach activities targeted towards pre-university students, emphasizing experiential hands-on components for core learning via challenges the students must complete. These activities leverage photonics concepts from two active research areas at the Univ. of California Santa Barbara: integrated optics and solid-state lighting. The activities center on (1) building a free-space optical link, (2) subtractive and additive color mixing, and (3) guiding light using gelatin waveguides. These activities are self-contained that is, the necessary background and intuition are introduced and built, respectively, before culminating in the main demonstration. The color-mixing and gelatin waveguide activities were designed for middle school students (ages 10-13) and their families, while the free-space optical link activity was designed for high school students (ages 14-18). Graduate students, not necessarily in photonics or optics, typically lead these activities for groups of 20-30 students after an initial training. We have found that we are able to garner considerable excitement from students when activities culminate in a challenge, especially if it has a competitive nature. This allows leaders to emphasize important practices in scientific research, such as: using the success of others' experiments to one's benefit, making informed hypotheses and testing them, persistence in understanding and solving a problem, and finally, the desire to improve upon a working solution.

Plank’s constant is a fundamental constant in Physical sciences and Millikan was awarded Noble prize for its experimental determination. With the advent of solid state electronic devices, experiments were designed to determine the Plank’s constant utilizing LED.^{1, 2} Herrmann, Sch¨atzle³ and Morehouse⁴ have discussed the validity of this experiment. In this paper, the validity of this experiment is re-examined. The measurements of the longest wavelength light emitted by LED and precise determination of band gap energy of LED are essential for accurate determination of Plank’s constant by utilizing LED.⁵ An experimental study of these arguments is also presented in this paper.

In recent years, the importance of training skillful fiber optic engineers capable of designing and analyzing fiber optic links to deliver the enormous capacity needed for the next generation of mobile phones (5G) has been proven in industry. A comprehensive curriculum for such courses should undoubtedly comprise both theoretical and hands-on skills to better prepare the engineers before entering industry. The hands-on skills can be established through experimenting with real fiber optic links. However, having access to an equipped fiber optic laboratory imposes a significant cost to the academic institutions. Therefore, similar hands-on experiences can be delivered by software simulation of the physical signal generation and propagation. Thus, identifying an efficient yet powerful tool in simulating fiber optics components and devices is of utmost importance toward successfully rendering an understanding of the physical phenomena to the graduates. This paper aims to analyze the necessity of incorporating hands-on experience through software simulation and then it suggests the course topics and the learning outcomes expected to be achieved from this course. In addition, it investigates the feedbacks obtained from graduate engineering students throughout an actual course offered on fiber optic communication and demonstrates the assessment of the strength and weaknesses of the method. Finally, it introduces a powerful software package capable of simulating a variety of optical systems and devices frequently used in a typical fiber optic link and presents the performance analysis of this software package in addressing primitive and complex problems arising in fiber optics.

Despite the growth in ICT applications in education, inequalities continue to exist. Students and teachers inadvertently suffer in underprivileged schools - facing isolation, neglect, coupled with inadequate pedagogic attention, poor infrastructure and insufficient resources. Science needs to be taught in the class room in a way that it stimulates the mind of the children to inquire and execute scientifically. A blended learning technique is employed for capacity building on light-based technologies. We have developed an innovative methodology of interlinking the concepts and activities prescribed in the science text books using hands-on minds-on intracurricular experimental kits. The kits serve as essential alternative to the lack of any equipment in most of the schools and can be used in conjunction with textbooks. This new teaching-learning environment has been successfully tried and tested in different schools. All the stakeholders involved have responded positively and have expressed satisfaction of having understood the latent principles more clearly than when taught only through the traditional method of teaching.

This work presents a simple, low-cost opto-mechatronic educational device that determines the refractive index for liquids, which is performed automatically on the computer with an Arduino UNO card through a LabVIEW graphical interface. The operation of the apparatus is based on passing a laser beam through a container with the given substance; then, the refracted beam will be detected with a photoresistor which is moved along the axis by a stepper motor. The distance traveled by the motor until the beam of light impinges on the photoresistor together with known constants (distances between the fixed elements, thickness of the container and refractive index of this material) will be used to calculate the refracted angle through the unknown medium, as well as its refractive index, by linking all the variables in a formula derived from Snell's Law.

This is a review paper about the most important laser safety procedures, it aims to implement the skills and safety awareness of lasers operation in teaching laboratories and clinical application for students and early careers who could be involved in laser operation and usage. This awareness is of great importance for individual who will be involved in dealing with lasers, as the knowledge and consistent application of laser safety procedures will guarantee a safe working environment of laser.

A hybrid problem-based learning (h-PBL) strategy was developed and executed in a digital image processing (DIP) course at the South Dakota State University. The newly developed curriculum encompasses the design and implementation of a problem-based learning (PBL) project: a three dimensional (3D) imaging project using fringe projection. The PBL project requires students to build a digital fringe projection system using a digital projector, to use a digital camera to capture the deformed fringe patterns projected onto the object under study, and to process the captured images using the software Matlab in order to retrieve the 3D profile of the object. The course was taught in a hybrid fashion with a mixture of both traditional lecturing (TL) and PBL, to replace the previous TL course. This paper presents the curriculum development activity and investigates the student perspectives on the developed h-PBL approach through a survey study. Longitudinal data from the open-ended surveys administered after the completion of the PBL project were collected from the multiple year study of the DIP course taught by the same instructor. Data analysis reveals that a higher level of student satisfaction was achieved after h-PBL. The h-PBL approach, albeit more challenging and time-consuming in comparison with TL, motivated and stimulated student self-regulated learning, improved student problem solving skill, and promoted student critical thinking.

Optically routed NOR gates using LED and phototransistors have previously been shown by the author to be capable of building all manner of sequential and combinatorial logic gates. Using scissor cut flexible silicone light pipes, logic circuits can be rapidly built and debugged without the use of an oscilloscope or logic probes. An optoelectronic rotating memory has also been developed leveraging a popular "construction toy system" for the structure and mechanism. The capability to build lookup tables and finite state machines greatly expands the possibilities for developing an innovative hands on digital logic education curriculum for middle through high school students.

In traditional teaching model of experimental lesson, the teacher introduces the principles, the devices and the matters needing attention of the experiment to the students before the students begin to do the experiment, the students analyze the result and finish the report after school. If the students have some questions about the result, it's very hard for them to solve the questions through experimental method. In order to free up class time for students to do experiments, improve the efficiency and effect of experimental teaching, a mini-experiment-teaching APP was developed. It can be used by mobile phones with android or OS system. Through it, the students can watch the teaching videos, finish the fundamental questions(just about the background, the principles, the devices, the matters needing attention of the experiments. ) and discussed with teachers and classmates. The APP was practiced in experimental lesson of opto-electronic technology, the students must watch the whole teaching video, finish the fundamental questions and get 60 scores before they begin to do the experiment, and must finish analyzing the results of the experiment before they leave the laboratory. The results of practice and survey show that most students prefer the novel teaching model to the traditional teaching model, only one student didn't finish watching teaching video before class. The result of examination shows that the effect of the novel teaching model is better than that of the traditional teaching model, the novel teaching model can also save the teacher's time.

After the successful International Year of Light 2015, the idea of sustainability became increasingly imminent. After a preparatory year on 16 May 2018, the International Day of Light was launched for the first time. This event was celebrated with a public celebration in Paris at the UNESCO headquarters.

In this paper we will present our projects dedicated to the International Day of Light in Paris. Together with a group of students from our university, we had the special opportunity to be integrated in the program of the opening ceremony at UNESCO in Paris.

With our interdisciplinary projects we have tried to build a bridge between optics, photonics, art and media installations.

Flipped-classroom learning has been shown to improve students’ learning experience and performance in tertiary education. However, few studies have been done in Asia where the learning culture is vastly different from the West. Here, we studied the effect of flipped-classroom learning with the use of interactive videos on the academic performance of a group of first year undergraduate physics students in Hong Kong. By employing a conceptbased pre-test and post-test, normalized gains of 35% and 13% were obtained for the flipped and control class, respectively. A very strong correlation (r = 0.72, p < .001) was shown between the post-test score and the exam results of the flipped class, while the control class showed a moderate positive correlation (r = 0.37, p = .013). Our results showed that the conceptual knowledge of students taught in flipped-classroom improved significantly more than the students taught traditionally, and that their understanding in conceptual knowledge served as a stronger indicator of their exam performance. The interactive videos were well-received and were shown to be one of the most valued components by the students.

Optoelectronic technology curriculum are based on optoelectronics, comprehensive use of optical technology, laser technology, analog/digital circuits and computer technology to solve various application problems. Its research contents include optoelectronic signals formation, transmission, acquisition, transformation and processing etc. The integrated design practice project is an effective way to cultivate student’s integrated application ability of multi-disciplinary theoretical knowledge. Here, An integrated design project titled “Laser countermeasure - reconnaissance alarm and jamming system” is presented. In this project, students are divided into two groups: The Blue Side and the Red Side. Laser emitting and receiving module, which consists of laser pulse coding circuit, optoelectronics receiving circuit, signal processing circuit and buzzer alarm circuit need be designed and debugged by the Blue Side. For the Red Side, which can receive the opposite radiation optics signal, encode and generate a deceptive laser which include the same coding information as the incoming laser. At last, which lead to the false alarms of Blue Side system. Also, all modules are need designed and debugged by the Red Side independently. For both sides, each group constitutes of about 4 students, project period is about 2 weeks. The practical results show that the project can deepen students' understanding of basic knowledge of optics, mechanics, electronics and computer, improve students' analysis and solving problems ability, inspire the innovation spirit and teamwork spirit.

Driven by the idea of students-centered, aptitude-oriented cultivation, that is to educate each student according to his natural ability, the course content of the optoelectronic technology is optimized and integrated, and the extension project is added according to the ability of different students, which involves the scientific frontier and the practical training. To ensure the final implementation of the course reform, the assessment modes are designed and students are allowed to select their assessment test according to their interest and ability, just like a set menu. No matter what kind of assessment modes the students choose, all classmates are required to give an oral presentation about their extension project. The realization of multifaceted assessment enhances students’ participation and devotion to the course.

In this paper, we introduce advanced undergraduate communication engineering students to the newest research papers in the optical communications field. An elective course named ‘Selected Topics in Communications’ offered to final year students in Electronics and Communication department, faculty of Engineering, Arab Academy for Science and Technology (AAST), Egypt, focuses on free space optics (FSO). The course objective is to equip students with the necessary theoretical models and the practical knowledge of free FSO from the most recent research. The course studies the current FSO capabilities, constraints, challenges and applications both indoors and outdoors in atmospheric, space and underwater channels. The main prerequisite to the course is digital communications due to the dependence on optical technology on high speed transmission and different modulation techniques in order to achieve best performance. In lectures, we define what a paper is and identify their different types. We explain the difference between conferences and journals, the reviewing process and their requirements. Lectures include how to read and write a technical research paper. Such lectures are to familiarize students with the construction of a paper, how is it organized how to scan for certain information and read results. In tutorials, students practice on different research papers and extract required information according to prepared question sheets. At least 25% of the course marks are dedicated to research papers. Lecturers pick an unknown paper for examination. On the other, students are required to perform a paper presentation after choosing a recent paper on a certain topic.

Research in Physics Education suggests students have difficulties in learning physics content through experimental lab work¹. In applied areas, such as optics, the formation of a strong understanding that spans both theory and application is often necessary. In this pilot study, the progression of six optics students was tracked over a 15-week semester. We integrated short laboratory activities into a traditional upper-division theoretical optics course with the aim of helping students to make connections between concepts in theoretical optics and their implementation/applications in the laboratory. Three interviews were conducted at the beginning, the middle and the end of the semester to monitor the development of students’ skills and knowledge in the relevant optics areas. The interview protocols asked students to make conceptual explanations, perform theoretical calculations and perform experimental tasks to demonstrate their understanding. Initial analysis of the interview responses reveals the gaps in the students’ knowledge and skills. We performed a qualitative thematic analysis of the interview data to examine student success in making connections between theory and application. Our results consist of a revised interview protocol for assessing learning in this integrated optics context, revised laboratory activities, and insights for experimental designs that could better assess student learning gains.

Optical science and engineering have been playing key enabling roles behind the continuous advancement of physics since ancient times. We have to pick up that role again. Recent publications by physicists Smolin [1], “Trouble with Physics”, 2007 and Hossenfelder [2], “Lost in Math”, 2018, are deeply troubling for the future of Physics and our credibility as the gatekeeper of the enabling knowledge of Optical Physics. We will explain how the various erroneous interpretations related to Relativity (e.g. time dilation), to Quantum Mechanics (Superposition Principle) and Astrophysics (Holographic Universe) arise due to the (i) use of non-causal Fourier modes (existing in all space) as tools of nature’s reality and (ii) neglect of Non-Interaction of Waves (NIW). NIW indicates that simple superposition of Fourier modes, in the absence of interacting materials, cannot generate spatio-temporal re-grouping of wave energies. System engineering thinking will be underscored that can constrain our math models to stick to realities. We will present examples on how understanding NIW in optical phenomena can help us bring out causal interpretations and causal models in some of the key branches of Physics.

With the expansion of military master and the adjustment of military scale structure, new requirements have been put forward for talent cultivation, especially for the high-level applied talents cultivation. Talents with different specifications, types and levels must be cultivated in the education process. Therefore, the master cultivation mode needs to be explored and improved. This paper systematically studies the classification standards, training scheme, graduation standards in the classification cultivation mode for master majoring in precision optical engineering, as well as the feasibility and implementation suggestions of the classification cultivation for master in military academy. By means of field investigations, collection and arrangement of network resources, questionnaire survey of characteristic samples, and combining with data resources of master, the sample database is established by collecting relevant data including professional types, training scheme, dissertation quality, professional development prospects and post applicability to output talents. The results indicate that the quality of graduate training can be effectively improved by the classifying training mode of “academic” and “applied”. The classified cultivation can not only satisfy the reform and development trend of military academy and the diversified demands of modern war for military talents, but also provide reference for high-level innovative military talents cultivation.

Free space optics research encompasses a variety of optics and optoelectronics concepts making it an ideal educational venue. The research and development of a free space optics wireless link was used to teach optics and optoelectronics to undergraduate students. Essential to the educational component in the experiment was an actively mode locked ultrashort pulse laser system, designed for telecom research, which offered a clear visual correlation between the optically modulated data signal, displayed on a digital communication analyzer, and the received electrical signal, obtained by an Indium Gallium Arsenide detector, displayed on an oscilloscope. Data patterns generated by a bit error rate tester were modulated onto the laser using a Mach Zehnder Modulator. Optical taps on the laser allowed the students to view the mode locking of the laser and the output signal from the modulator. Both taps were crucial for teaching the students how changes made to the laser cavity, effect the performance of the laser and the modulated output. At the receive end of the link, students learn how the optical signal is transmitted, detected and converted from an optical signal to an electrical signal via the detector. The students can view the received data pattern on an oscilloscope and compare it to the transmitted data pattern. Using the error detector on a bit error rate tester, the students can also determine the bit error rate. This free space optics research project supports course instruction for optics courses, optoelectronics courses and undergraduate research.

Laser eye safety is one of the most important topics covered in any laser curriculum. Before students begin working hands-on with laser labs, it is extremely critical for students to understand safe methods to observe when using and operating lasers. Since the eye is the most vulnerable body part to laser energy damage, it is important for students to have a good understanding of how the eye may be damaged by laser energy, and how to protect it from laser energy. Typically, students studying laser safety learn about laser eye safety by studying parts of the eye, wavelength relationships with damage to different eye parts, magnification relationships, and interacting irradiance levels and wavelengths. The curriculum material and tools generally used by students studying laser eye safety only involves ANSI standards, technical explanations, pictures and equations. Central Carolina Community College and LASER-TEC have developed a Laser Safety Eye Lab to provide students an additional learning tool for studying this topic. The lab includes the use of a sheep eye for demonstrating the interactions between various parts of the eye and different aspects of laser energy, including coherence, irradiance, with respect to wavelength variations. This lab will provide students a hands-on learning experience of all the important interactions of the eye and laser energy relative to laser eye safety.

With the high-speed development of science and technology, students in colleges and universities are required to improve their practical and innovative abilities, especially for those majored in photoelectric engineering. However, it is difficult to achieve this goal if we only employ theoretical teaching and traditional experiments through which students are only required to verify some theorems and conclusions through the established operations. To address this issue, comprehensive experiments are adopted in many colleges and universities to enhance the students’ ability of knowledge application and independent innovation. In this paper, an experiment, in which students are asked to design a system to detect the rotational speed, rotational direction and stop bit of a flywheel in real time by optoelectronic measurement, is given as an example to introduce the teaching reform of comprehensive experiments from three aspects including experimental design, teaching method and experimental evaluation. In experimental design, compared with traditional comprehensive experiments, we pay more attention to the practicability in project and the comprehensiveness of knowledge. For an experiment, its practical value can arouse students’ interest, and it should cover as much professional knowledge as possible to improve the students’ ability of synthetical knowledge application. In the course of experiment, to meet the requirement of cultivating students’ self-learning ability, the experimental teaching method is adjusted from teacher-centered into student-centered. Besides, a scientific and reasonable experimental evaluation system is needed to motivate students to do experiments positively. Therefore, a new multifaceted evaluation system is set up to test students’ grasp of theoretical knowledge, knowledge application ability, practical ability, innovation ability and team working ability comprehensively. Through five years of exploration and practice accumulation, our teaching mode of comprehensive experiments is verified to be effective to develop students’ capability of knowledge application, practice and innovation.

Optical Manufacturing Technology is a compulsory course for postgraduate and advanced undergraduate majors in optical engineering and similar majors. Modern fabrication and testing equipment are extremely expensive, which cost millions or even tens of millions, and having high requirements for the use environment. Most schools that do not focus on optical fabrication rarely purchase these devices for educational purposes only. Relevant professional teachers are also not familiar with the working principle and use process of the new fabrication and testing equipment such as Computer Controlled Optical Surfacing (CCOS), Magnetorheological Finishing (MRF), Ion Beam Figuring (IBF), laser tracker and LuphoScan interferometer. This has caused the teaching content of the course to stay at the stage of singleaxis machining, knife-edge tester, so that students' knowledge of modern equipment is almost blank. While teaching with micro-course videos, the relevant equipment use process can be visually presented to students, and relevant technical experts can also explain the working principle and scope of application to students more professionally. According to the survey, 82% of students like this micro-course video teaching, acknowledging that it helps to better understanding modern optical fabrication and testing equipment, expand students' knowledge, and increase students' advantages in employment competition.

We show how Error-Detection Tasks (EDT) are an effective way for students to practice giving peer feedback. In EDT, students are presented with a solved physics problem, prepared by a fictional in-class peer, containing one or more errors - algebraic, procedural, or conceptual. Students must identify and explain how to correct the error(s), as though they were explaining it to the “peer” who wrote the solution. EDTs have been developed for a web-based learning platform (myDALITE.org) that provides students with asynchronous peer instruction such that students can provide feedback and evaluate feedback from other students. Results show that students trained with EDT significantly outperform a control group in correctly identifying errors and providing more meaningful feedback to their fictional in-class peer.

The photoelectric courses such as photoelectric technology, optical communication, optoelectronics, and photoelectric detection and signal processing, which own the properties of specialty, integrity and practicability, are usually difficult to grasp well only by classroom teaching. To help undergraduates to understand the photoelectric courses’ knowledge and improve their problem solving ability, developing the project-based integrated design experiments is an effective method to inspire the students’ interest and improve their innovative practical ability.

Firstly, the main properties of photoelectric courses’ integrated design are analyzed, and the basic principles of selecting the proper topics to design some training projects are summarized. A well designed project should be comprehensive, feasible and cost effective, and the project can be separated into several parts with gradually increasing difficulty, which is good for implementing it step by step and inspiring the students’ potentials. Secondly, some teaching research and practice of integrated design experiments are implemented based on the photoelectric technology course offered in our university, and four integrated design projects are introduced, which are measuring the rotating speed, direction and stop position of a rotating wheel, designing a laser reconnaissance warning and jamming system, making an analog and digital communication system by utilizing a white light LED and making a photoelectric detection system for blood oxygen saturation. The experimental arrangement and implementing experience are also provided and investigated. Thirdly, some crucial problems discovered in our teaching practice, such as optimizing the design contents and demands of project, helping students’ to overcome various difficulties, making teachers become experienced, and evaluating the project design results efficiently and accurately, are also analyzed and discussed to improve and perfect the quality of integrated design experiments. In conclusion, the photoelectric integrated design experiments have been introduced to help undergraduates to master the theoretical knowledge and train their problem solving ability, and our teaching practice experiences have been summarized and provided based on the photoelectric technology course, which can be spread to other photoelectric courses.

Applied optics is one of the core courses for undergraduates that major in optical engineering and related fields. The course of applied optics leads to various successor courses, such as optical design, laser optics, and fiber optics, etc. It is difficult to cover all the main fields of modern optics. As an attempt, we tried to introduce the flipped classroom teaching model to improve the students’ general understanding on applied optics. The course is divided into three parts: basic theory, experiments, and flipped classroom. The basic theory contains the concepts in coaxial spherical systems, prisms, apertures and aberrations, while the experiments provides deepened understandings on the basic theory. After that, the flipped classroom is introduced, including several different topics, such as telescopes, microscopes, cameras, infrared systems, projectors, fibers, etc., which refer to different fields of applied optics. The students are asked to organize contents around interested topics and give brief talks. During the last few years, several interesting topics, such as light field camera, super-resolution imaging, and 3D movie, are reviewed by students. It is found that by this teaching model, the students can get general impression of modern optics and pay more attention on their favorite topics.

The electromagnetic spectrum is usually classified by its wavelength and the energy levels associated with it. Teaching these relations to kids without an exploration activity could be a real challenge. On this subject, we have designed a lesson using lasers, diffractions gratings, and photoluminescent materials. This lesson includes activities that allow introducing different optics and photonics concepts. The warm-up activities are to learn the monochromatic nature of lasers, show how diffractions gratings work and explain the concepts of phosphorescence and fluorescence. All this knowledge is combined to see the different energy levels associated with three colors of lasers: red, green and violet. Using different lasers the kids explore which ones activate the fluorescence or phosphoresce effects in the materials provided and, finally, they examine these effects using diffraction gratings. The diffraction gratings allow exploring how a laser can cause fluorescence and how the light emitted by this phenomenon is related to the color of the laser and other colors with less energetic wavelengths. Also, the different lasers are used to analyze which one can cause phosphoresce over materials and comparing the violet lasers with the UV light. In the end, the conclusion is based on the law of conservation of energy.

The group Physics for everyone, a group created by former members of the SPIE student chapter of the Universidad Autonoma de Nuevo Leon, have been conducting activities for kids, teenagers and the general public through the program “Optics for everyone” since its creation in 2013. The objectives of this group and this program are to teach the importance of light, optics, and photonics to understand the world where we lived and the advances in technology. Also, the group prepares undergraduate students to learn and teach optics and photonics before taking the corresponding curricular courses, conducting to a new approach of how to understand the light interactively. This work presents a summary of the activities performed during five years, the outcomes obtained, the number of people reached, the experience of the volunteers and the conclusions and future work of the program and the group. Among the outstanding contributions of the programs is included the performance of optics and photonics workshops in public schools and public places, including unprivileged and remote communities in the state of Nuevo Leon, Mexico.

The photoelectric effect is a cornerstone textbook experiment in any Modern Physics or Advanced Laboratory course, designed to verify Einstein’s theory of the photoelectric effect, with the implicit determination of an experimental value for Planck’s constant and the demonstration of the particle nature of light. The standard approach to the experiment is to illuminate the light-sensitive cathode of a vacuum-tube photocell with monochromatic light of known wavelengths; a reversed-voltage is then applied to the photocell and adjusted to bring the photoelectric current to zero. The stopping voltage is then plotted as a function of the inverse wavelength or frequency of the incident light, and Planck's constant is determined from the slope of the graph. Additionally, a value for the work function of the photocathode can be extracted from the intercept. The commercial apparatus for the experiment is available from a number of vendors (PASCO, Leybold) in various forms, degrees of performance and cost. However, designing and assembling a photoelectric effect experiment apparatus can in itself be a valuable experiential project-based undergraduate learning opportunity in Optics involving both fundamental light and optics theory and practical optics and opto-mechanical design aspects. This presentation details a project undertaken in the Applied Physics/Engineering Physics programs at Kettering University involving students in a Modern Physics laboratory course. The first phase of the project, discussed in detail in this paper, was a redesign of an existing photoelectric effect apparatus through an undergraduate student thesis, currently in advanced stages of completion. In a second phase of the project we plan to replicate the newly assembled experimental apparatus up to as many as six identical stations and deploy it in our Modern Physics lab course. Typically, more than 50% of the students in this course are engineering majors who would otherwise not get any significant exposure to problems of optics and optical design. We believe that the modular design of the new apparatus together with a carefully redesigned lab activity will allow us to have our students explore major aspects of optics and optoelectronic design while performing this classic Modern Physics experiment.

This paper describes the integration of the research project "Characterization of Color Vision using Spectroscopy and Nanotechnology: Application to Media Photonics" into an engineering course in the field of media technology. The aim is to develop the existing learning concept towards a more research-oriented teaching. Involving students in research projects as part of the learning process provides a deeper insight into current research topics and the key elements of scientific work. This makes it easier for students to recognize the importance of the acquired theoretical knowledge for the practice, which enables them to derive new insights of their own.

There are many interesting ways in which optics and meteorology intersect and provide cross-discipline learning opportunities. One example is the use of thermal imaging to illustrate the principles underlying urban heat islands (UHIs), found on scales from the mesoscale to the microscale, which give rise to increased temperatures in urban settings. The most common way of documenting such phenomena is through traditional meteorological measurements. This presentation describes the use of a thermal infrared imager to document and help explain micro-scale UHIs observed initially as a persistent difference in air temperature measured by two nearly identical weather stations separated by 2.79 km in Bozeman, Montana. Mobile meteorological measurements from a backpack-mounted weather station, carried throughout the surrounding area at different times of year and compared with the stationary campus weather station, verified the presence and scale of a micro-heat island. This also identified one such micro UHI that existed when the immediate surroundings contained man-made materials such as concrete and asphalt adjacent to natural vegetation. Thermal images from the radiometrically calibrated imager recorded the diurnal thermal signature of manmade and natural surfaces. The thermal images help to explain process that are occurring, whereas most traditional meteorological instrumentation may not provide process-based information. Time-series plots of the infrared brightness temperatures show that the man-made materials emit elevated levels of thermal radiation long after the end of direct solar heating, while natural vegetation quickly comes into thermal equilibrium with the ambient air. The combination of traditional and nontraditional instrumentation document and explain processes occurring in micro UHIs that vary rapidly in space with changing ground cover.

The differences and similarities between the detection processes involved in the microwave and visible electromagnetic (EM) waves are presented for the case of two beam superposition. A microwave receiver measures the motion of conduction electrons which responds linearly to the superposed time dependent EM field amplitudes. A visible light detector also responds to the superposition of the EM field amplitudes due to interactions with the detecting dipoles. However, the visible light detector measures the quantum of energy absorbed and responds to the square modulus of the superposition of the time dependent amplitudes of the EM fields. The measured current in the microwave detector is directly proportional to the superposed microwave amplitudes. The measured energy in visible light detector is directly proportional to the square modulus of the superposed visible light amplitudes. We will highlight the similarities and differences in the detection processes. These important similarities and difference are not underscored in most optics textbooks.

Experimental data acquisition and statistical data analysis are core components in photonics undergraduate curriculum. Although it focuses on experimental data, the content is usually delivered by a lecture-based format. This is partially because the contents are delivered at the beginning of the program when experimental data acquisition techniques have not yet been introduced. In a second-year data acquisition and applied statistics course, we have designed an experiential learning module that covers the fundamental content of data acquisition and statistical analysis. This module uses a single physical experimental setup that is continuously measuring environmental parameters (temperature, humidity, light, imaging, etc.) using a set of multiple modality sensors in an Internet-of-things (IoT) big data platform (Pi Vision, OSI Soft). Different types of sensors measuring the same parameters are also used for cross-validation purposes. The data is streamed to a cloud computing platform, allowing each student to acquire their own subset of data, and then perform processing and analysis. The capability of remote access a physical sensing experiment provide the students hands-on learning opportunities on a managed complex data acquisition system. The platform provides a set of powerful visualization tools to allow a multi-dimension view of complex data streams (e.g. time-lapse of statistical distribution). Such IoT data acquisition platform allows key concepts to be demonstrated, applied, and tested including error propagation, distribution and test of distribution, correlation and cross-validation, data rejection, and signal processing. This experiential learning module has been demonstrated to be more effective in achieving related learning objectives through quantitative graduate attribute measurements as well as qualitative feedback.

Publisher's Note: This paper, originally published on 2 July 2019, was replaced with a corrected/revised version on 3 August 2020. If you downloaded the original PDF but are unable to access the revision, please contact SPIE Digital Library Customer Service for assistance.