Physics for Computer Engineers

Course Details
 Course Details
Course Code: PHYS1036
Course Name: Physics for Computer Engineers
Number of Lectures per week: 04

Course Instructor: Dr. Santosh Dubey, Professor & Head (Physics)

• MS & PhD: Scientific Computing, Florida State University, USA
• Post Doctoral: Nuclear Engineering, Purdue University, USA
• Former Scientist: Institute for Plasma Research, Dept. of Atomic Energy, Govt. of India
• Research Interest: Modeling & Simulation of materials employed in Nuclear Reactors, ion-beam assisted
material synthesis & modification
• Email: santosh.dubey@ddn.upes.ac.in
• UPES Page: Santosh Dubey- School of Advanced Engineering | UPES
• Google Scholar Profile: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=LqpiRlwAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao

Seating Location: AB1, 2nd Floor Faculty Block

Office Hours: Tuesday & Friday 2 to 5 PM
 Course Details
Course Objectives
• To demonstrate the principles of LASER and its applications in holography as well as in fiber-optic
communications.
• To determine gradient of scalar fields and divergence & curl vector fields.
• To develop understanding of electromagnetics, which forms the basis of several contemporary
communication systems such as fiber optics communication and it, is also a prerequisite for forthcoming
semesters.
• To utilize fundaments of quantum mechanics in various areas of Material Science and engineering.
• To understand and apply semiconductor materials in various applications.

Course Outcomes
CO1. Understand the significance of lasers and its application in holography and optical fiber communication.
CO2. Illustrate the electric field for different charge geometries.
CO3. Outline the magnetic field due to different current geometries.
CO4. Utilize the fundamentals of Quantum Mechanics and analyze the behavior of particle in a box.
CO5. Apply and analyze various applications of semiconductor materials in different instruments.
 Syllabus
Unit I: Lasers & Fibre Optics

Lasers: Introduction, Spontaneous and Stimulated emission of radiation, Relation b/w Einstein’s A
and B coefficients, Population inversion & types of pumping, Main components of a Laser,
Construction & working of Ruby Laser and its applications, Construction & working of Helium-Neon
laser and its applications.

Holography: Elementary idea of holography and constructive and reconstructive of holography.

Fiber Optics: Fundamental ideas about optical fiber, Types of fibers, Acceptance angle and cone,
Numerical aperture, Propagation mechanism and communication in optical fiber, Attenuation and
losses.
 Syllabus
Unit II: Electro-Magnetics:

Electro-statics: Coordinate systems, Del operator, Gradient, Divergence, Divergence Theorem,

Stoke’s Theorem, Introduction to electrostatics, calculation of electric field, potential and energy
due to charge distribution by vector approach, Gauss law electric flux density.

Polarization in Dielectrics, Bound charges, Dielectric Constant and strength, Continuity equation
and relaxation time Boundary Conditions.

Magneto-statics: Introduction, Biot-Savart’s law, Ampere’s Circuit Law; Applications, Magnetic flux
density

Electromagnetics: Faraday’s Law, Transformer and motional EMF. Displacement current, Maxwell’s
Equations in Final form.
 Syllabus
Unit III: Quantum Mechanics

Introduction to Quantum Mechanics, photoelectric effect, Compton Effect, Pair production &
Annihilation, Wave particle duality, De Broglie waves, Davisson Germer experiment, phase and
group velocities and their relations, Thought experiment- Heisenberg’s Gamma ray microscope,
Uncertainty principle and its applications, Wave function and its interpretation, Normalization,
Schrodinger time independent & dependent wave equations, Particle in a 1-D box; generalization to
3-D box.

Unit IV: Semiconductor Physics

P and N type semiconductors, Energy Level Diagram, Conductivity and Mobility, Concept of Drift
velocity, Hall effect, Barrier Formation in PN Junction Diode, Static and Dynamic Resistance, Current
Flow Mechanism in Forward and Reverse Biased Diode, Avalanche breakdown, Zener breakdown,
Two-terminal Devices and their Applications: Half-wave Rectifiers, Full-wave Rectifiers, Ripple
Factor and Rectification Efficiency, Zener Diode and Voltage Regulation, Principle and structure of
LED, Photodiode and Solar Cell
 Text Books/Reference Books
Text Books
• Laser, Holography & Fiber Optics: Malik H.K, Singh A.K. (2011) Engineering Physics, TMH, New
Delhi. ISBN: 9780070671539
• Quantum Mechanics: Beiser A. (2002) Concepts of Modern Physics, McGraw Hill Education. ISBN:
9780070495531
• Electromagnetics: Sadiku M.N.O. (2007) Elements of Electromagnetics, Oxford University Press.
ISBN: 0195300483
• Semiconductor Physics: Physics and Technology, S.M. Sze, 2nd Ed., 2002, Wiley India.
• Electronic Devices & circuits: S.Salivahanan & N.S.Kumar, 3rd Ed., 2012, Tata Mc- Graw Hill.

Reference Books
• Griffith D.J. (2012) Introduction to Electromagnetics, PHI Learning, 4th edition,
ISBN:9780138053260.
• Ghatak A. (2012) Optics, McGraw Hill Education. ISBN: 978-1259004346.
• Sahni V., Goswami D. (2008) Nano Computing, McGraw Hill Education Asia Ltd.,
ISBN:978007024892.
 Evaluation Scheme

Components Theory
IA [theory Mid End Semester
(Class test + Semester
Assignment) +
Lab]
Weight % 50 20 30

Passing criteria: You need to pass both in End Sem and Composite
(IA + Mid-Sem + End-Sem)
 Why Physics is Important?
Physics provides an analytic problem-solving outlook and basic understanding of nature, while computer
science enhances the ability to make practical and marketable applications

Physics provides a foundation for understanding more advanced concepts in computer science, such as artificial
intelligence and quantum computing

Computer science sits somewhere between physics and mathematics…computer hardware works in the realms
of electronics - which is based on semiconductors; algorithms are developed with the help of logic/maths.

Computer Graphics & video games – understanding Newton’s laws of motion, friction, hydrodynamics , etc.
might be crucial. Interaction of light with the atmosphere, objects in the world, the human eye, etc. needs
physics understanding

Internet Of Things (IoT) - need lots of physics (sensors, measurement techniques, etc.).
Robotics: physics matters [mechanics (motion of objects), electromagnetics [motors, sensors], etc.)

“Scientific visualization” – a very promising field in computer graphics, need very intimate understanding of
Physics
 Why Physics is Important?
• India has millions of software engineers, but where is all the innovation coming from?

• Has any major software language like Python, Ruby, Perl, or C been created by Indians?

• What about libraries like Numpy or Pandas?

• Who invented WWW internet  Tim Berners-Lee, a British scientist, while working at CERN
(particle physics accelerator)

Why Innovation is so difficult??

• Because it needs an ability to think out of the box and solve physical problems from different
perspectives  needed a lot in solving Physics problems

• How did you get the ability to think?  Physics  while solving real-life problems based on
Physical concept
 Lasers, Fiber Optics, Semiconductor in Computing
Digital Computers Optical Computers (still under research)

Main Components: Main Components:

- Data transfer Electrical wires  information transfer via - Data transfer Fiber optic cables information
drifting electrons  limit on information transfer depends transfer via Laser light
on how fast electrons move - Processing Optical processor Optical Logic
- Processing CPULogic gates  Transistors gates  Optical Transistors (non-linear Optical
(semiconductor-devices) crystals used to manipulate light beams)
- Storage Memory  Electronic Transistors - Storage Optical storage  Optical Transistors
- Transistor switching speed: around 10-12 – 10-15 second
Optical transistors:
- Switches or amplifies optical signals
- Switching speed  less than 10-18 s optical
transistors are way faster
 Electromagnetics in Computing
- Hardwares & circuits used in computer 
employ electromagnetics concepts

- Communication systems 
electromagnetics

- Needed for people work on real life

projects:
• sending satellites
• inter-planetary, inter-galactic
missions
• automation in industries
• developing smart defense
technologies
• Data science in energy industry
 Quantum Mechanics in Computer Science
Quantum Computing: A brief history of Quantum Computing

https://quantumpedia.uk/a-brief-history-of-quantum-computing-e0bbd05893d0
 Quantum Mechanics in Computer Science
Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen (EPR) Paradox [1935]:

EPR paradox questioned the completeness of quantum mechanics due to the phenomenon of entanglement
(very important in quantum computing).

Entanglement implies that the properties of two or more particles can be correlated in such a way that the
state of one particle instantly affects the state of the other, regardless of the distance between them.

Bell Inequalities:

This provided a way to test the validity of the EPR paradox experimentally.

The violation of Bell inequalities in subsequent experiments confirmed the existence of entanglement, a key
resource for quantum computing.