Undergraduate students can have difficulty transferring theoretical knowledge, in particular more abstract mathematical models, to lab experiments, connecting theory with real physical phenomena. This intermediate-level optics lab course for physics major is designed to help students make this connection by building theoretical and experimental skills through a series of scaffolded activities. These skills are then used to complete an investigation of a real-life optical system.

This manual contains two sequences of lab activities that integrate the use of matrix modeling: Jones matrices for polarization, ending with an investigation of RealD 3D glasses, and ABCD matrices for image formation, ending with an investigation of a Galileoscope, a refracting telescope students can construct themselves.