Lasers and optics program at San Jose State University

Abstract

Located in high-tech Silicon Valley, California, San Jose State University is ideally suited to provide students with a high quality education in optics, and industry with a partner for optics related research and development projects. There are 130 undergraduate majors and 65 graduate (M.S.) students in the Physics Department. For the past five years the Department has offered a special program leading to the B.S. in Physics with a Concentration in Lasers and Optics. Students take the usual core undergraduate Physics courses plus upper division courses in Modem Optics, Lasers and Applications, Advanced Optics Lab, Advanced Lasers Lab, Advanced Instrumentation Lab, and either Individual Studies or a graduate course in Electro-optics, Graduate Optics, Optical Metrology, or Spectroscopy. Graduates are well prepared to enter the lasers and optics industry or go on to graduate school. Recently, a 4000 square foot area in the Science Building has been renovated to house the new Institute for Modem Optics, an organized research unit in the College of Science. One of the major goals of the Institute is to facilitate collaborative research between the local optics industry and the faculty and students at SJSU. The Institute is well equipped with lasers, optical instrumentation, electronics/computers, and about 10 optical tables. A National Science Foundation Research Experience for Undergraduates Program grant provides research support in optics for about eight undergraduates at any time throughout the calendar year. The National Science Foundation also provides support for Laser Applications in Science Education, a summer program that provides hands-on experience with lasers for high school science teachers.