Related papers: La Nube: La Manera Mas Emocionante De Experimentar…
A goal of PER is to understand how students use math in physics contexts. To investigate how students use math, we need to identify transitions between conceptual sense-making about physical systems and using mathematics to describe and to…
Mirrors are one of the most elementary and ubiquitous components of optical systems. They use a sharp refractive index contrast to provide the basic capability of reflecting light. Motivated by recent developments of photonic time-varying…
A conventional stroboscope uses flashes of light to make a rapidly moving object visible. This is achieved by throwing repetitive pulses of white light on the object of specific frequency. Here an alternative approach is given in which two…
We present a concept of a mirror for the application in high-reflectivity low-noise instruments such as interferometers. The concept is based on an etalon with a metasurface (meta-etalon) on the front and a conventional multilayer stack on…
Prior research suggests that many students believe that the magnitude of the static frictional force is always equal to its maximum value. Here, we examine introductory students' ability to learn from analogical reasoning (with different…
This paper introduces Reflective Empiricism, an extension of empirical science that incorporates subjective perception and consciousness processes as equally valid sources of knowledge. It views reality as an interplay of subjective…
The topic of this thesis is the theoretical analysis of the optomechanical coupling effects in a high-finesse optical cavity, and the experimental realization of such a device. Radiation pressure exerted by light limits the sensitivity of…
Although an object may appear in numerous contexts, we often describe it in a limited number of ways. Language allows us to abstract away visual variation to represent and communicate concepts. Building on this intuition, we propose an…
In the conventional approach to lens imaging, rays are used to map object points to image points. However, many students have a need to think of the image as a whole. To answer this need, lens imaging is reinterpreted as a superposition of…
The ASK-IT/Assessing-to-Learn (A2L) project is an attempt to bring a strategic approach to learning, instruction, and communication. ASK-IT/A2L seeks to integrate formative assessment and classroom response system use with physics…
We study the sensitivity of past and future stopped-pion experiments to light, invisible dark sector particles produced in exotic pion decays. We consider two-body decays involving sterile neutrinos, $\pi^+ \to \ell^+ N$, as well as…
Due to its amazing three-dimensional effects, holography is a very motivating, yet very demanding subject for physics classes at the upper level in school. For this reason an instruction unit on holography that supplement holographic…
A 2D transparency may be projected on a diffractive screen by just illuminating it with a filament lamp of the same height. Sharpness of the filament width is naturally related to sharpness on the image, but some peculiar properties makes…
Physicists and physics students have been studied with respect to the variation in ways they expound on their topic of research and a physics problem, respectively. A phenomenographic approach has been employed; six fourth-year physics…
This paper presents a photo elicitation project that invites students to explore their identities in STEM and surface the cultural wealth they bring into the physics classroom. Grounded in critical race theory, educational theory, and…
The incorporation of structured light techniques into vision science has enabled more selective probes of polarization related entoptic phenomena. Diverse sets of stimuli have become accessible in which the spatially dependant optical…
Atmospheric seeing arises from stochastic fluctuations in the refractive index of the Earth's atmosphere, producing random variations in the apparent direction of incoming light from astronomical sources. Scintillation refers to the…
Visual information determines majority of our spatial behavior. The eye projects a 2-D image of the world on the retina. We demonstrate that when a monocular-like imaging system operates entirely with optically dense fluids, an increase in…
It is well known that perspective alignment plays a major role in the planning and interpretation of spatial language. In order to understand the role of perspective alignment and the cognitive processes involved, we have made precise…
As a subject, an observer is fundamentally at rest in a reference frame, and this being at rest allows for measuring the motion of physical objects. Exploring the experience of centrifugal force brings to the fore the natural inclination to…