Holographic Imaging

MAS.450/854
Spring 2002

home page

course administration

description of the course (.pdf)

staff contact information

class times and locations

requirements and grading

policy on collaboration and the use of "bibles"

lab assignments

calendar and class schedule (includes links to handouts from each day)

lab safety information

final project lab checklist

course material

reading

computer demos

labs

problem sets and solutions


A brief summary of MAS.450

MAS.450 (and its graduate version MAS.854) is a laboratory course about holography and holographic imaging.

This course teaches holography from a scientific and analytical point of view, moving from interference and diffraction to imaging of single points to the display of three-dimensional images. Using a "hands-on" approach, students explore the underlying physical phenomena that make holograms work, as well as designing laboratory setups to make their own images. The courrse also teaches mathematical techniques that allow the behavior of holography to be understood, predicted, and harnessed.

Holography today brings together the fields of optics, chemistry, computer science, electrical engineering, visualization, three-dimensional display, and human perception in a unique and comprehensive way. As such, MAS.450 offers interesting and useful exposure to a wide range of principles and ideas. As a course satisfying the Institute Laboratory Requirement, MAS.450 teaches about science, scientific research, and the scientific method through observation and exploration, hinting at the excitement that inventors feel before they put their final equations to paper.

MAS.450 has two lectures and one lab session per week. A lab fee of $50 will be collected during the term to cover the cost of supplies. Additional material costs may be incurred for specific final projects. There is no required book for the course; reading material will be distributed to all students. In addition, as much of the course material as possible will be available online. Computer simulations will be used to help explain some aspects of holography; MIT students are expected to be able to use Project Athena for this work.

Spring '02 lecturer: Prof. Stephen A. Benton
Laboratory TA's: S.A. Benton, S.L. Smith, others.
Course staff: Steven Smith, Dina Freedman

Time and place:
Lectures: E15-054, TR 10:30-12
Labs: E15-044, times to be scheduled