MCC students enrolled in PHY 262 Modern Physics will benefit from a recent partnership between the Department of Engineering Science and Physics and the University of Rochester’s Institute of Optics. Starting Thursday, April 9, the laboratory portion of PHY 262 will be conducted on-site at the Institute of Optics using state-of-the-art equipment and facilities.
Students will conduct experiments involving the manipulation of individual particles of light, photons. Several of these experiments have only recently been adapted from the research literature. The techniques developed in these experiments form the basis of the emerging technologies of quantum computing, quantum cryptography and quantum state teleportation. Learning the abstract theory from hands-on experiments will provide students not only a better understanding of “quantum weirdness” but also a unique experience with technology that they will encounter in the future high-tech workplace.
In addition to coordinating this year’s laboratory partnership, MCC’s Paul D’Alessandris and members of the Institute of Optics have submitted a grant proposal to the National Science Foundation for funding to expand the partnership to include other local institutions as well as provide support for materials development and a more formal assessment of student outcomes.
Paul D'Alessandris
Engineering Science and Physics
04/09/2009 |