Table of Contents
Unit: Stern-Gerlach Experiments
Historic Stern-Gerlach Experiment (70 minutes)
- Introduction to the course (Lecture, 15 minutes)
- Quantum Postulates (Small Whiteboard Activity, 5 minutes)
- Discussion of Historic Stern-Gerlach Experiment (Lecture, 30 minutes)
- Components of the SG Experiment (Small Whiteboard Activity, 5 minutes)
- Discussion of Intrinsic Spin (Lecture, 15 minutes)
Probability and Statistics (30 minutes)
- Introduction to statistics (Lecture, 10 minutes)
- Dice (Small Group Activity, 20 minutes)
Using Stern-Gerlach Observations to Build Quantum State Formalism (245 minutes)
- Introduction to Stern Gerlach simulation (Lecture, 10 minutes)
- SPINS Lab 1 (Small Group Activity, 60 minutes)
- Outcome from Successive Stern-Gerlach Devices (Lecture, 40 minutes)
- Guessing forms for spin along x in terms of z (Small Whiteboard Activity, 5 minutes)
- State Formalism (Small Group Activity, 15 minutes)
- Building Quantum State Formalism (Lecture, 40 minutes)
- Calculating 'crossed polarizers' effect (Small Group Activity, 15 minutes)
- SPINS Lab 2 (Small Group Activity, 60 minutes)
Generalized Spin Systems (20 minutes)
- Spin N systems (Lecture, 20 minutes)
Unit: Operators and Measurement
Operators, Eigenvalues, and Eigenvectors
- Operators (Lecture, 10 minutes)
- Matrix Representation of Spin Operators (Small Group Activity, 45 minutes)
- Spin projections in a general direction (Lecture, 10 minutes)
- Projection Operators (Small Group Activity, XX minutes)
- Here is a resource for the labs and the operator activity - a pdf file of a talk regarding these specific sequences: nwaps_oct2010.pdf
Expectation Value, Standard Deviation, Commutation, and Uncertainty
- Expectation Value and Standard Deviation (Lecture, 20 minutes)
- Commutation and Uncertainty (Lecture, 20 minutes)
Spin-1 Systems
- Spin 1 systems (Lecture, 10 minutes)
- SPINS Lab 3 (Small Group Activity, 100 minutes)
The $S$ and $S^2$ Vectors (XX minutes)
- The $S$ and $S^2$ Vectors (Lecture, 20 minutes)
Unit: Schrödinger Time Evolution
Schrodinger equation, energy eigenvalues and eigenstates
- Schrodinger equation (Lecture, 60 minutes)
- Time Evolution Introduction (Small Group Activity, 20 minutes)
- Visualizing Complex Time Dependence for Spin 1/2 Systems (Kinesthetic Activity, XX minutes)
- Energy eigenvalues and eigenstates (Lecture, 60 minutes)
- Quantum Time Evolution (Small Group Activity, 20 minutes)
Spin Precession
- Spin Precession (Lecture, 80 minutes)
- Time-dependent spin vector (Small Group Activity, 40 minutes)
- SPINS Lab 4 (Small Group Activity, 100 minutes)
Neutrino Oscillation
Optional topic - can be skipped
- Neutrino Oscillation (Lecture, 30 minutes)
- Neutrino Oscillations (Small Group Activity, 20 minutes)
Magnetic Resonance
Optional topic - can be skipped
- Here are slides that can be used for this topic (Lecture, 40 minutes): nmr.pdf
- Appropriate homework problems can be chosen from the end of Chapter 3, none explicitly address this topic
Unit: Quantum Spookiness
Optional topics - can be skipped
(What we have done from 2008-2010 is have a guest lecturer speak on one of the following topics)
Quantum Clocks
- Here is a scan of the lecture notes from the invited guest lecturer (Lecture, 60 minutes): 425_guest_lecture.pdf
- There have not been homework problems designed for this guest lecture
EPR Paradox
- 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
Schrodinger Cat Paradox
- There are no current lecture notes for this topic, addressed in chapter 4 (Lecture, 60 minutes)
- Here are slides for the related topic of Quantum Cryptography: quantum_cryptography.pdf
- Appropriate homework problems are at the end of Chapter 4
