Modern Optics Project Laboratory
MIT's laboratory course in optics covers polarization, reflection and refraction, coherence and interference, Fraunhofer and Fresnel diffraction, holography, and the imaging and transforming properties of lenses. Students work through spatial filtering, a two-lens coherent optical processor, optical properties of materials, lasers, electro-optic and acousto-optic modulators, liquid-crystal light modulators, optical detectors, and fiber-optic waveguide communication systems. The course is built around hands-on lab work rather than lecture alone, with 12 engineering design points tied to the coursework, plus extensive oral and written communication exercises where students report on their experiments. Materials come from MIT's OpenCourseWare and include the full lab sequence and assignments used in the original MIT subject 6.161, offered by the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, free to access online.