Physics Courses 300 - 699

First Year Seminars • Astronomy • Physics 100-299 • Physics 300-699 • Physics 700-999 (Graduate) • Labs • Classroom Demos

302 (104) Mechanics II (3). Prerequisite, Physics 301 (103). Advanced topics in mechanics. Fall, alternate years. Staff.

311 (107), 312 (108) Electromagnetism I and II (3 each). Prerequisites, Physics 117 (027) and Mathematics 383 (083) (or permission). Brief treatment of DC and AC circuit theory. Electrostatics: dielectrics; the magnetic field; magnetic materials. Maxwell's equations and their application to electromagnetic waves. Fall and spring. Hernandez, Ng.

313 (113) Space and Time in Physics and Philosophy (Philosophy 121) (3). Contingent and necessary properties of space and time. The direction and flow of time. Fatalism. Effects preceding their causes. Spring. Van Dam.

315 (115) Physics Ideas of the Twentieth Century (-).

321 (160) Introduction to Quantum Mechanics (3). Prerequisite, Physics 301 (103), Math 383 (083) (or permission). Origins of quantum theory. Uncertainty principle. Schroedinger equation for simple systems, including hydrogen atom. Perturbation theory. Spin. Identical particles. Spring. Henning.

331 (061) Introduction to Numerical Techniques in Physics (4). Prerequisite, Physics 117 (027) or permission. Corequisite, Mathematics 383 (083). Applications of calculus, vector analysis, differential equations, complex numbers, and computer programming are made to realistic physical systems. Three lecture and two computational laboratory hours a week. Fall. Lu.

341 (105) Thermal Physics (3). Prerequisites, Physics 117 (027) (or 105 (025) by permission) and Mathematics 233 (033). Equilibrium statistical mechanics; the thermodynamic laws, internal energy, enthalpy, entropy, thermodynamic potentials, Maxwell's equations. Fall. Wu, staff.

351 (101) Electronics I (4). Prerequisites, Physics 117 (027) and Math 383 (083) or permission of the instructor. DC and AC circuit analysis, PN junctions and diodes, single-transistor circuits, transducers. Analog devices. Extensive circuit building with testing, trouble shooting, and debugging. Fall. Karwowski, Washburn.

352 (102) Electronics II (4). Prerequisite, Physics 351 (101). Introduction to digital circuits: gates, flip-flops, and counters. Computers and device interconnections, converters and data acquisition. Signal analysis and digital filters. Graphical (LabVIEW) programming and computer interfacing. Individual projects and practical applications. Spring. Karwowski, staff.

393 (093) Senior Seminar (2 or 3). To be taken by seniors with permission of department adviser. Upon demand. Christiansen, staff.

415 (106) Optics (3). Prerequisites, Physics 311 (107) and 312 (108) (or 211 (058) by permission). Elements of geometrical optics; Huygens' principles, interference, diffraction, and polarization. Elements of the electromagnetic theory of light; Fresnel's equations, dispersion, absorption, and scattering. Photons. Lasers and quantum optics. Spring, alternate years. McNeil.

422 (122) Physics of the Earth's Interior (Geology 122) (3). Prerequisites, Mathematics 383 (083), Physics 201 (052) and Physics 211 (058), or Physics 301 (103) and 311 (107). Origin of the solar system: the nebular hypothesis. Evolution of the earth and its acretionary history. Earthquakes: plate tectonics and the interior of the earth. The earth's magnetic field. Mantle convection. Spring. Rial.

424 (124) Physics Highschool Teachers (-).

425 (125) Physics Highschool Teachers (-).

471 (140) Physics of Solid State Electronic Devices (3). Prerequisite, Physics 117 (027). Corequisite, (or prerequisite) Physics 211 (058) or 311 (107). Properties of crystal lattices, electrons in energy bands, behavior of majority and minority charge carriers, p-n junctions related to the structure and function of semiconductor diodes, transistors, display devices. Fall and spring. Washburn.

472 (144) Chemistry and Physics of Electronic Materials Processing (Chemistry 472 (192)) (3). Prerequisites, Chemistry 482 (182) or Physics 117 (027) and permission of the instructor. A survey of materials processing and characterization used in fabricating microelectronic devices. Crystal growth, thin film deposition and etching, and microlithography. Spring. Parikh, staff.

481, 482 (142L,143L) Advanced Laboratory I and II (2 each). Prerequisite, Physics 351 (101) or 352 (102) or permission. Selected experiments illustrating modern techniques such as the use of laser technology to study the interaction of electromagnetic fields and matter. Six laboratory hours a week. Fall and spring. McNeil, staff.

491 (148L) Materials Laboratory I (Applied Sciences 144L) (2). Prerequisite, Physics 352 (102). Corequisite, (or prerequisite) Applied Science 470 (141). Structure determination and measurement of the optical, electrical, and magnetic properties of solids. Fall. Tsui, Parikh.

492 (149L) Materials Laboratory II (Applied Sciences 145L) (2). Prerequisite, Physics 491 (148L) or Applied Sciences 491L (144L). Continuation of Physics 491 (148L) with emphasis on low- and high-temperature behavior, the physical and chemical behavior of lattice imperfections and amorphous materials, and the nature of radiation damage. Spring. McNeil, staff.

521 (163) Applications of Quantum Mechanics (3). Prerequisite, Physics 321 (160). Emphasizes atomic physics but includes topics from nuclear, solid state and particle physics, such as energy levels, the periodic system, selection rules, and fundamentals of spectroscopy. Spring. Thompson.

543 (161) Nuclear Physics (3). Prerequisite, Physics 321 (160) or equivalent. Nuclear structure, nuclear reactions, experimental techniques of producing and studying nuclear particles; models of the nucleus; nuclear forces. Spring, alternate years. Champagne.

545 (165) Introductory Elementary Particle Physics (3). Prerequisite, Physics 312 (108), 321 (160). Relativistic kinematics, symmetries and conservation laws, elementary particles and bound states, gauge theories, quantum electrodynamics, chromodynamics, electroweak unification, standard model and beyond. Spring, alternate years. Ng.

573 (169) Introductory Solid State Physics (3). Prerequisite, Physics 321 (160) or equivalent. Crystal symmetry, types of crystalline solids; electron and mechanical waves in crystals, electrical and magnetic properties of solids, semiconductors; low temperature phenomena; imperfections in nearly perfect crystals. Fall, alternate years. Hernandez.

595 (175) Nonlinear Dynamics (3). Prerequisite, Mathematics 383 (083) (or permission). Interdisciplinary introduction to nonlinear dynamics and chaos. Fixed points, bifurcations, strange attractors, with applications to physics, biology, chemistry, finance. Spring. Engel, Evans.

595 (175) Nonlinear Dynamics (-).

631 (191) Mathematical Methods of Theoretical Physics I (3). Prerequisite, Physics 128 (028), or equivalent; Mathematics 383 (083). Vector fields, curvilinear coordinates, functions of complex variables, linear differential equations of second order, Fourier series, integral transforms, delta sequence. Fall. Staff.

632 (192) Mathematical Methods of Theoretical Physics II (3). Prerequisite, Physics 631 (191) or permission. Partial differential equations, special functions, Green functions, variational methods, traveling waves and scattering. Spring. Staff.

633 (193) Scientific Programming (3). Prerequisite, Mathematics 528 (128) or 529 (129), or Physics 631 (191) or 632 (192); elementary Fortran, C or Pascal programming. Structured programming in Fortran or Pascal; use of secondary storage and program packages; numerical methods for advanced problems, error propagation and computational efficiency; symbolic mathematics by computer. Spring. Thompson, W..

660 (151) Fluid Dynamics (Marine Sciences 151, Geology 181) (3). Prerequisite, Physics 301 (103) or permission. The physical properties of fluids, kinematics, governing equations, viscous incompressible flow, vorticity dynamics, boundary layers, irrotational incompressible flow. Fall. Shay.

671L, 672L (181L, 182L) Independent Laboratory I and II (3 each). Prerequisite, Physics 301 (103), 312 (108), or permission. Six laboratory hours a week. Fall and spring. Tsui, Parikh.