OPTIPHD - Optical Sciences
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PhD Coursework Requirements: Overview
Optical Sciences PhD students must satisfy at least 18 credit hours of PhD thesis research, and 45 to 54 credit hours of coursework. Your PhD research advisor has discretion over the number of credit hours required between 45 and 54.
An approved PhD Plan of Study will have:
8 classes satisfying the PhD Core Curriculum, totaling 22 to 24 credit hours.
2 lab classes.
Up to 6 credit hours (3 per semester) of OPTI 792: Directed Introductory Graduate Research. Students may enroll in OPTI 792 only during their first year of the Optical Sciences Ph.D. program. OPTI 792 is designed to aid Ph.D. students in their search and selection of a research area and research advisor by incorporating research activities into the first year.
Up 6 credits of non-letter-graded coursework, including pass/fail courses and OPTI 599: Independent Study enrollments.
The remaining credits must be elective graduate-level courses in Optics or courses offered in other departments as long as they relate to optics or to topics relevant to your research or intended career. A list of Optics courses (grad and undergrad) can be found here: http://www.optics.arizona.edu/academics/courses.
Core Curriculum: 8 courses total
We define our Core Curriculum in terms of topics, rather than specific courses, that are required of every PhD student. There are a few courses in the core curriculum that are indeed required of all PhD students, with flexibility in the other courses that satisfy the curriculum. The required topics are:
Mathematical and Physical Foundations. These are courses covering fundamental subjects, typically math-centered topics, needed as prereqs for other courses. 2 courses from this list are required. Students will usually take either OPTI 512R or OPTI 570 in the Fall semester of Year 1. The second course from this list is usually taken by the end of Year 2.
OPTI 570: Quantum Mechanics. This is not an intro to QM; an undergrad-level QM course is a prereq.
Electromagnetic Waves. Taken in the Fall semester of Year 1.
Geometrical Optics. Taken in the Fall semester of Year 1.
Physical Optics. Taken in the Spring semester of Year 1.
Optical Physics. A PhD student needs to take one of the following 2 courses in the Spring Semester of Year 1.
OPTI 511R: Optical Physics and Lasers. Most students involved in Optical Engineering and Image Science research take this course. It is an introduction to Quantum Mechanics, light-matter interaction, and lasers.
OPTI 544: Foundations of Quantum Optics. Students involved in Optical Physics and some involved in Photonics area will take this class. OPTI 570 is a prerequisite.
Solid-state Optics. A PhD student needs to take one of the following 2 courses, usually in the Fall of Year 2:
Specialty course. A PhD student needs to take one of the following courses:
OPTI 600G: Laser Beams and Resonators (required for students who took OPTI 570 and OPTI 544 instead of OPTI 511R. Taken in the Spring of Year 1.)
Lab Requirement
While two lab courses are required, additional laboratory courses are strongly recommended. Additionally, doctoral students may not satisfy lab requirements solely through computational labs (OPTI 512L, OPTI 571L, or OPTI 586L); students must enroll in at least 1 non-computational lab course as one of the required two lab courses.
Classes that satisfy the laboratory requirement include:
Transfer Courses
With approval of the associate dean, graduate work completed at another graduate-accredited institution may be transferred, provided these courses received a grade of A or B, are comparable to a UA course and were not used toward an undergraduate degree. There is no specified maximum number of units a student may transfer; it depends on one’s background and chosen study program. Subject to department approval, as many as 12 to 18 units may be transferred (usually from math, physics or engineering courses).
Qualifying Exam
Ph.D. student must take the Qualifying Exam at the start of their second academic year of the PhD program. The Ph.D. Qualifying Exam tests students in four core subject areas:
Electromagnetic Waves (OPTI 501),
Optical Design and Instrumentation (OPTI 502),
Diffraction and Interferometry (OPTI 505R), and
Optical Physics (OPTI 511R, or OPTI 570 plus OPTI 544 plus OPTI 600G). (Students who elect to take 570, 544 and 600G instead 511R will also answer the 511R questions; the common topics between these classes that may be on the exam can be found within the Qualifying and Comprehensive Exam Archive webpage.
The written Qualifying Exam is administered once per year at the beginning of each fall semester, immediately before classes start. Qualifying Exams are administered in 150-minute sessions on each of two consecutive days:
Day 1 will have four questions, one from each of the four areas.
Day 2 will have four questions, one from each of the four areas.
Each subject area must be passed in order to pass the exam and proceed to the PhD Comprehensive Exam. The three possible outcomes for each exam are Pass, Marginal Pass, and Fail. If a student passes all four subject areas, the exam is passed. Students who receive a Pass then proceed to completing the GradPath Plan of Study, remaining coursework, and preparing for the Comprehensive Exams. If a single subject is failed and three other subjects are passed, the student’s performance is evaluated as a "Marginal Pass,” and the student is given the option of an oral retest in the failed subject area. The subject re-test exam is an oral exam that takes place near the beginning of the following (Spring) semester. If the student passes the oral exam, the qualifying exam is then fully passed. If the student fails the oral exam, the student fails the qualifying exam and is permitted a single retest of the qualifying exam when it is next offered. A student who fails 2 or more subject areas on the Written Qualifying Exam, fails a subject area retake, or who does not take the Qualifying Exam as required will be considered to have failed the Qualifying Exam. A student who fails their first attempt at the Qualifying Exam must re-take the Qualifying Exam when it is next offered. A student who fails the Qualifying Exam twice is dismissed from the PhD program.
Written and Oral Comprehensive Exams
Students must complete their Comprehensive Exams by the end of the Spring semester of the academic year following their passing of the Qualifying Exams (i.e., the sixth semester of the PhD program for most students). The comprehensive examination, which consists of a written report and an oral presentation/exam, is intended to test the student’s general fundamental knowledge of the fields of the major and minor subjects of study, particularly with respect to the student’s area of research. Details regarding the Comprehensive Exam policies, administration, grading, and appeals policy, can also be found online at: http://www.optics.arizona.edu/academics/phd-optical-sciences/requirements/exam-method
In order to be eligible to complete the comprehensive exam, students must have:
passed their Qualifying Exams.
completed 32 credits of coursework toward their PhD Plan of Study completed by the end of the semester in which the Comprehensive Exam Committee Form is filed. In particular, core area courses in Groups I, II, and III must be completed.
filed a Ph.D. Plan of Study in GradPath.
attained a cumulative GPA of 3.00, with no more than one grade of “C” on the Plan of study. Students must not be on academic probation.
The comprehensive exam committee consists of four faculty members. The committee must include members from at least three of the four Optical Sciences Core Areas (Imaging, Optical Engineering, Optical Physics, and Photonics), and a representative from the student's Minor area department, if the Minor is outside Optical Sciences, as follows:
Research Advisor: The 1st committee member is the faculty member serving as the student’s official Research Advisor, i.e., the faculty member who will serve as the student’s dissertation director.
Second member typically in area of expertise (selected by Research Advisor): The 2nd member is a faculty member with familiarity with the student’s area of research, and is typically someone from the same research core group as the student and research advisor.
The final two committee members are selected by the Associate Dean for Academic Programs. The student may suggest specific faculty to serve on the committee on the Comprehensive Exam Committee Request Form. Typically, these two committee members will be selected from two research core areas (chosen by the student) other than the Student Research Core Area.
The written portion is a report of not more than 10 double-spaced pages (including figures, if any). The written comprehensive exam serves two equally important purposes:
It examines the student’s ability to present a research topic or area of research in a complete and convincing manner for a general optics audience.
It demonstrates the synergy and synthesis of this research among the broad areas of optics. The research topic is used as a framework in which to discuss how aspects of the research involve a broad range of optics topics beyond the area of the student’s specialization. The discussion of synergy and synthesis of various topics in optics should be fully integrated into the entire report.
The written portion of the exam must be approved by the committee before the Oral Comprehensive Exam can be scheduled. For the Oral Comprehensive Exam, each student must prepare a 10- to 15-minute presentation that discusses their research project and/or a topic closely related to their research project or research area. Determination of pass/fail result will be made on the totality of the student’s performance on the oral examination and the written report. A student shall have a maximum of two attempts at completing and passing the Comprehensive Exam.
Doctoral Defense
The student and advisor should identify a dissertation committee as soon as possible after a PhD student has advanced to candidacy. The dissertation committee consists of the student's dissertation faculty (research) advisor, plus at least two additional faculty members nominated by the student in consultation with his or her advisor. The University requires at least three members of the exam committee to be University of Arizona tenured or tenure-eligible faculty, or approved by the Graduate College as tenure-equivalent for committee service. These committee members can also be former University faculty in a tenured or tenure-eligible position who have left employment (such as Emeritus faculty). If appropriate, one member of the three-person committee, or a fourth or fifth member, may be approved as a Special Member to serve on the exam committee.
The defense is generally conducted with a public portion where the candidate presents a summary of the research conducted to a general audience, followed by a brief public question and answer session. After the public portion has concluded, the audience will be dismissed and the defense committee will convene with the candidate for a private defense of the research conclusions and dissertation.If the student passes the defense, once all of the revisions to the dissertation have been approved, students must complete electronic submission of the dissertation to ProQuest.
Pending update
Pending update
Minor
Most Optical Sciences Ph.D. students both major and minor in optical sciences; however, it is also possible to minor in another department. For example, students interested in the optical physics track of optical sciences may particularly wish to consider a minor in physics. Students are welcome to take courses in other departments even if they intend to minor in optical sciences; virtually all of the courses in a related minor field may be taken without formally selecting it as a minor.
Optical Sciences Minor
For Optical Sciences Ph.D. students, a minor in optical sciences requires completion of 9 units of optical sciences courses.
Other Minor Areas
Students taking courses outside the College of Optical Sciences for credit toward a minor in that department must consult with the graduate advisor of the other department to ensure all requirements for their minor are met. Departments may require 9 or 12 units to complete minor course requirements. Some departments may require minor advisor participation on the student’s Comprehensive Exam, Dissertation Defense, or both.
Double Minor
Students who undertake 2 minors may complete 6 units in each minor area. Again, some departments may require minor advisor participation on the student’s Comprehensive Exam, Dissertation Defense, or both.
Please refer to the Graduate Student Handbook for students who are pursuing this program of study.