This topic was originally part of Spins Lab 1. There are two problems with that lab. First, that students don't understand the mean as a weighted average. Second, that the effect of binning data is not clear. We are currently working on activities that address these problems. In the meantime, we ignored them for 15 years and you can safely do so also.

• Prerequisite Ideas
• The Birthday Problem (Activity, 5 minutes)
• Dice Rolling Lab (Activity, 25 minutes)
• Introduction to Probability (Lecture, 20 minutes)
• How Choosing the # Trials vs. # Experiments Changes Results (Lecture, 15 minutes)
• How Choosing the # Trials vs. # Experiments Changes Results 2 (Lecture, 15 minutes)

• Homework

• The Lorentz Force Law (SWBQ, 5 minutes)
• Lorentz Force and Work on a Rectangular Loop (Small groups, 55 minutes We are actively working to shorten and streamline this activity)
• The Magnetic Dipole Moment (Lecture, 10 minutes)

• Homework

• Prerequisite Ideas
• Postulates of Quantum Mechanics (Lecture, 10 minutes)
• The Stern-Gerlach Experiment (Lecture, 10 minutes)
• Expected vs. Observed Results of the S.G. Experiment (Lecture, 10 minutes)

• Prerequisite Ideas
• Introduction to the SPINS program (Lecture, 10 minutes)
• Terminology for the Stern-Gerlach Experiment (Lecture, 5 minutes)
• Probabilities in the z-direction for a Spin-$\frac{1}{2}$ System (Simulation, 10 minutes)
• Probabilities for Different Spin-$\frac{1}{2}$ Stern Gerlach Analyzers (Simulation, 15 minutes)
• Probabilities for Different Spin-1 Stern Gerlach Analyzers (Simulation, 15 minutes)

• Stern-Gerlach Experiment Probabilities (SWBQ, 5 minutes)
• Postulate Four of Quantum Mechanics (Lecture, 10 minutes)
• Guessing the Form of Spin along x in Terms of z (SWBQ, 5 minutes)
• Dimensionality of the Ket Vector Space (Lecture, 10 minutes)
• Deriving Spin-up with x Orientation in Z-ket Basis (Lecture, 25 minutes)
• Computing $_{x}\langle -\vert+ \rangle_{x}$ (SWBQ, 5 minutes)

• Homework

You may need to sprinkle these review topics several times each throughout the course!

• Bra-ket notation (Lecture, 5 minutes)
• "Taking the Square of the Norm" (SWBQ, 5 minutes)
• Finding the Square of the Norm of a Complex Number (SWBQ, 5 minutes)
• Representing Complex Values in Polar & Rectangular Form (SWBQ, 5 minutes)
• Relative Phases in Quantum States (Lecture, 10 minutes)
• Normalization of Quantum State Vectors (Lecture, 5 minutes)

• Prerequisite Ideas
• Finding Unknown States Leaving the Oven in a Spin-$\frac{1}{2}$ System (Simulation, 30 minutes)
• Determining how a $\vec{B}$ Field Changes a Spin-$\frac{1}{2}$ Particle's State (Simulation, 30 minutes)
• Finding Unknown States Leaving the Oven in a Spin-1 System (Simulation, 20 minutes)
• Quantum Friend (Small groups, 30 minutes)

• Homework

• Prerequisite Ideas
• Analyzing a Spin-$\frac{1}{2}$ Interferometer (Experimental) (Simulation, 15 minutes)
• How Making Measurements Affects Results in Quantum Systems (Lecture, 10 minutes)
• Postulate 5 of Quantum Mechanics (Lecture, 5 minutes)
• The Projection Operator & Wave Function Collapse (Lecture, 30 minutes)
• Homework

• Prerequisite Ideas
• The Outer Product (Lecture, 10 minutes)
• Computing Several Outer Products (SWBQ, 5 minutes)
• Results of a State Collapse (SWBQ, 10 minutes)
• Analyzing a Spin-$\frac{1}{2}$ Interferometer (Theoretical) (Simulation, 45 minutes)
• Analyzing a Spin-$1$ Interferometer (Simulation, 30 minutes)
• The $S_{z}$ Operator (SWBQ, 5 minutes)
• Naming Quantum Operators (Class Activity, 5 minutes)
• Computing the $S^{2}$ Operator for the Spin-$\frac{1}{2}$ System (SWBQ, 5 minutes)
• The $S^{2}$ Operator (lecture, 15 minutes)
• The Hamiltonian (lecture, 10 minutes)
• Homework

• Prerequisite Ideas
• Commutators & Commuting Operators (lecture, 15 minutes)
• Finding if $S_{x},\: S_{y},\; and \; S_{z}$ commute (activity, 5 minutes)
• The Completeness Relation (lecture, 10 minutes)
• Writing the Completeness Relation for the 3-state Case (SWBQs, 5 minutes)
• Expectation Values & Quantum Uncertainty (lecture, 15 minutes)
• Practice Finding Expectation Values (small groups, 20 minutes)
• Homework

• Prerequisite Ideas
• Introducing the Density Operator (lecture, 20 minutes)
• Practice With Outer Product Matrix Properties (SWBQ, 5 minutes)
• Describing the Sample Oven in the Stern-Gerlach Experiment Mathematically (Small groups, 15 minutes)
• Applications for the Density Function (Lecture, 10 minutes)
• Homework

• Prerequisite Ideas
• The Schrodinger Equation (lecture, 25 minutes)
• Factoring out Overall Phases (SWBQ, 5 minutes)
• Analyzing the Probabilities of Time-evolved States (small groups, 110 minutes)
• Homework

• Prerequisite Ideas
• Ehrenfest's Theorem (lecture, 10 minutes)
• Spin Precession (lecture, 5 minutes)
• The Correspondence Principle (lecture, 5 minutes)
• Rabi Flopping (lecture, 40 minutes)
• Magnetic Resonance (lecture, 40 minutes)
• Homework

Optional topics - can be skipped (In 2008-2010 we had a gues lecturer speak on one of the following topics. Their lecture notes or powerpoint slides are included as a resource.)

• Prerequisite Ideas
• Here is a scan of the lecture notes from the invited guest lecturer (Lecture, 60 minutes): 425_guest_lecture.pdf

• Prerequisite Ideas
• Here are slides addressing this topic (Lecture, 60 minutes): bells_inequality.pdf
• Additional reading of interest: a paper giving an Sherlock Holmes-type analogy to Bell's theorem bells_theorem.pdf
• Appropriate homework problems are at the end of Chapter 4

• Prerequisite Ideas
• There are no current lecture notes for this topic, addressed in chapter 4 (Lecture, 60 minutes)
• Appropriate homework problems are at the end of Chapter 4

• Here are slides for the related topic of Quantum Cryptography: quantum_cryptography.pdf

- In process of editing. See Master SWBQ List at “Pedagogy” → “Small Whiteboard Questions”