Do small group activity with state formalism
Do small group activity for crossed polarizers
Have students set up another SG experiment using the simulation (slide 21) and observe the results. Have them use the result to determine what the state must be that is going into the final analyzer. This can be easily found from the formalism, but it is not immediately obvious to the students since they are new to it.
Suggest multiple analogies to understand these observations such as light interference or polarizers.
introduce the idea of mixed states vs. an interference of states, and use the simulation to determine what is going on in our system.
Introduce matrix notation as a direct mapping of our state kets, show how to write the bra and do the inner product. This should be review from the preface.
This is a nice opportunity to bring in historic information about Dirac.
There is the option of looking at the photon analog of 'watching' the photons in the two slit experiment vs. not 'watching' them.