QuVis: The University of St Andrews Quantum Mechanics Visualisation project

QuVis News

May 2015: Recent additions to the HTML5 collection include a new "Quantum Cryptography" simulation where users can help two observers, Alice and Bob, determine whether an eavesdropper has infiltrated their experiment, a simulation on "Superposition States and Mixed States" where users can experimentally distinguish between quantum superposition states and classical mixed states, and a simulation on "Spin 1 Particles".

April 2015: QuVis received the 2015 Physics Classics award of the Multimedia Educational Resources for Learning and Online Teaching (MERLOT, www.merlot.org ). Every year each of the MERLOT Editorial Boards selects an outstanding resource from its discipline to receive the MERLOT Classics Award. MERLOT considers this learning material an exemplary online learning resource and recognises it as such on its website.

March 2015: The latest addition to our HTML5 collection is a simulation on "Entanglement: the nature of quantum correlations". This simulations allows users to create a particle pair spin state and take measurements to determine the correlation coefficient, and thus assess in what ways entangled states differ from non-entangled states.

February 2015: Recent additions to the HTML5 collection include a new "Quantum Bomb Detection game" where users can save working bombs and recycle defective ones using the principle of interaction-free measurement, and an animation on "Matrix Multiplication" where users can choose from different matrices and change their numerical values. We have also updated the simulation "Interferometer experiments with single photons" based on outcomes of evaluation with students.

January 2015: Activities for the currently 16 simulations in our new HTML5 collection are now available. These HTML5 simulations run on both PCs and tablet-based devices. We recommend using Safari, Chrome, Internet Explorer or Firefox for these simulations.
The new activities can be accessed via the HTML5 collection at www.st-andrews.ac.uk/physics/quvis/index_html5.php by clicking on the pdf or docx links underneath the simulation screenshots. All activities were trialled with individual students in observation sessions, and in some cases also with in-class trials.
Instructors can access the full solutions by clicking on the "Instructor resources" links. The full solutions are password-protected. Instructors are asked to email Antje Kohnle, ak81@st-andrews.ac.uk to obtain the password, and to obtain a zip file with all activity solutions currently on the QuVis website.

December 2014: The 2014 Multimedia in Physics Teaching and Learning (MPTL) Excellence Award for a Multimedia Resource has been awarded to Antje Kohnle for the QuVis materials, including the simulations in the Institute of Physics Quantum Physics resources at quantumphysics.iop.org. The MPTL group conducts annual reviews of state-of-the-art multimedia-based teaching and learning resources. The topic for 2014 was "Multimedia Materials for Teaching and Learning Quantum Physics". More details of the award are available at www.st-andrews.ac.uk/physics/news/Panda_news/ask_mptlaward_16_12_14.php

November 2014: A newly developed "Single Photon Lab" simulation allowing users to investigate single photon interference is now available in the HTML5 collection. We have also updated the HTML5 simulation "Probabilistic analysis of a mass-spring system" based on outcomes of evaluation with students.

October 2014: Recent additions to the HTML5 collection include "Comparison of the classical and quantum harmonic oscillator" and "Uncertainty of spin measurement outcomes". We have also updated the simulation "Non-interacting particles in a one-dimensional infinite square well" based on outcomes of evaluation with students.

September 2014: Since the launch of the HTML5 collection in July with 5 simulations available, a further 7 simulations have been added to this collection. These simulations run on both PCs and tablet-based devices. They include recoded simulations from the New Quantum Curriculum collection as well as new simulations. The new simulations (e.g. "The 2D quantum harmonic oscillator", "The two-dimensional circular well", "Symmetric perturbation", include a number of game-like elements, in particular a Challenges tab with multiple levels of challenges. Some simulations now also include more interactivity through direct manipulation of objects, see "Particles in an infinite well".

July 2014: QuVis has just launched its latest collection of HTML5 simulations that run on both PCs and tablet-based devices. Click on the "QuVis HTML5 sims" button to access the collection. This collection will be rapidly growing, and consist of recoded older simulations as well as newly developed ones.

January 2014: Seven new problem sets are now available in the "QuVis Simulations for physics" collection. Problem sets are available for the simulations "The Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle", "The Bohr model and its extension to elliptical orbits", "The expanding infinite square well", "Quantum bomb detection", "Probabilistic interpretation of a mass-spring system", "The spherical harmonics", and "Radial probability densities".

December 2013: The Institute of Physics (IOP) Quantum Physics website is now live at http://quantumphysics.iop.org. This free educational resource offers a new quantum curriculum based on two-level systems to support undergraduate physics students and instructors. In addition to over 80 commissioned articles, the site offers numerous interactive simulations, problem sets and a glossary of terms organized across five distinct themes. The QuVis New Quantum Curriculum simulations form part of the IOP resources.

November 2013: Revised versions of the 17 New Quantum Curriculum simulations on two-level systems developed so far are now available on the QuVis website. Revisions include improved graphics and texts.

September 2013: Our new QuVis site http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/physics/quvis is live! The site includes the three collections of simulations developed so far: the Institute of Physics New Quantum Curriculum simulations on two-level systems, simulations for physics students and for chemistry students studying introductory quantum mechanics.

August 2013: A new, improved version of simulation 34 on classical probability density is now available, see http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/~qmanim/embed_item_3.php?anim_id=34

August 2013: A new, improved version of simulation 32 on the Bohr model is now available, see http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/~qmanim/embed_item_3.php?anim_id=32

August 2013: An activity for simulation 16 on quantum tunneling is now available.

July 2013: Problem sets for many simulations are now available for all users to access. The problems are available in Word and pdf format. Click on the links next to “Problem sets” underneath the thumbnails to access these problems. Instructors can email Antje Kohnle, ak81@st-andrews.ac.uk, to obtain the password for the solutions to these problems (available under “Instructor resources”).

July 2013: A new, improved version of simulation 16 on quantum tunneling is now available, see http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/~qmanim/embed_item_3.php?anim_id=16

June 2013: A new, improved version of simulation 4 on the comparison of the classical and quantum harmonic oscillator is now available, see http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/~qmanim/embed_item_3.php?anim_id=4

June 2013: A new, improved version of simulation 18 on the comparison of the finite and infinite square well is now available, see http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/~qmanim/embed_item_3.php?anim_id=18

May 2013: A new, improved version of simulation 47 on the semi-classical vector model of angular momentum is now available, see http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/~qmanim/embed_item_3.php?anim_id=47

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