Spring 2027

Photonics

PHOTONICS covers ray and physical optics, interference, Fourier optics, absorption, dispersion, polarization, light sources including lasers, and modulation/detection.

offering recorded3 credits
Recorded instructors · Spring 2027 Kuangye Lu

Summary

1 / 3

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2024: 3.61 GPA, 77.8% A/AB (n=18 letter grades); Spring 2025: 3.50 GPA, 68.4% A/AB (n=19 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.82 GPA, 89.5% A/AB (n=19 letter grades).

What you’ll be able to do

  • Apply Maxwell's equations to explain optical propagation, loss, and gain in free space, dielectrics, semiconductors, and metals

  • Calculate reflectance and transmittance of light at interfaces under a variety of conditions

  • Explain the principles of interference and the functionality of interferometers and spectrometers

  • Explain the differences between various light sources, including different types of lasers

  • Calculate the behavior of rays using ray matrices, especially for imaging

  • Review and assess current literature in the field of photonics

Source: UW Guide

Grade history

↗
average GPA
letter grades
A
AB
B
BC
C
D
F

All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors

Prerequisites

Course map

PHYSICS/​E C E 235 and (E C E 320,PHYSICS 322, or concurrent enrollment in either one), graduate/professional standing, or member of Engineering Guest Students

ECE 434 used by

“Used by” includes alternatives; linked courses may have other requirements. This is a best-effort interpretation; check the catalog requirements above.

Prerequisite text tree

Professors

Spring 2027
Historical instructors & teaching patterns

Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Calendar & sections

Spring 2027

Schedule loads here as you scroll.

SectionModeEnrolled / capacityWaitlist
LEC 001Classroom Instruction0 / 450

Times are Central. Select a meeting for details; export includes recorded dates for the selected sections. Enrollment reflects scan time.

Meeting source records
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Student experience

the class

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2024: 3.61 GPA, 77.8% A/AB (n=18 letter grades); Spring 2025: 3.50 GPA, 68.4% A/AB (n=19 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.82 GPA, 89.5% A/AB (n=19 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

No workload feedback recorded.

Topics

  • Ray optics, physical optics, interference, Fourier optics, absorption, dispersion, polarization
  • Light sources, gas/solid state/semiconductor lasers, modulation and detection of light

Skills

  • Applying Maxwell's equations to optical propagation, loss, and gain
  • Calculating reflectance and transmittance of light at interfaces
  • Explaining interference principles and interferometer/spectrometer functionality
  • Distinguishing between various light sources and laser types
  • Calculating ray behavior using ray matrices for imaging
  • Reviewing and assessing current photonics literature

Grades

Latest available · Spring 2026— not enough history to project Spring 2027.

average GPA
A / AB grades
letter grades
Instructor

Grade distribution · % of letter grades

A
AB
B
BC
C
D
F

Grades over time

Through Spring 2026

More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data

Not enough comparable courses for Spring 2027 in UW–Madison.

Sources & history

UW–Madison

Catalog & offerings

Descriptions, prerequisites, and recorded course offerings.

Catalog observation history

Observations at scan time; dates do not imply when a catalog change took effect.

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Selected offering source records
ECE 434 · Spring 2027

Photonics

Recorded 2026-10-14
Raw records 
[
  {
    "run_id": "20261014T203208-0851c9a1",
    "semester": "1274",
    "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00",
    "offering_id": "1274:320:006373",
    "course_id": "ECE 434",
    "course_uid": "course_84af475d9b3f1a72344c4df8",
    "term_id": "1274",
    "source_course_id": "006373",
    "source_subject_id": "320",
    "title": "Photonics",
    "credits_min": 3,
    "credits_max": 3,
    "typically_offered": "Spring"
  }
]
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Student reviews

Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.

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Madgrades

Grade history

Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.

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Dataset & model

Recorded 2026-10-14

View the dataset on Hugging Face
Model outputs & technical records
Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B
LLM outputs across runs
Download part 1
Full model traces

Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.

Download part 1
Model & dataset provenance 
{
  "model": "Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B",
  "model_revision": "1d4bf0f2ff6012fd82039f2fa52739d0dd7c60c0",
  "task_version": "17",
  "output_id": "1457d183ac884edab94e111420bf3f2c8c281511705c1299e32c8d7dd7c1ed47",
  "requirements_status": "needs_review",
  "dataset_revision": "fc1811fa52e581ea57a35c0cf3343f8740a8ffbf",
  "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00"
}