Education and training in Integrated Optics at the University of Twente

The curriculum in Electrical Engineering at the University of Twente has been recently adjusted in order to increase the proficiency in optics of the graduates, providing a general background and preparing especially for integrated optics and optical communication techniques. This involves mainly three undergraduate courses during the second through fourth year of the five-year curriculum. Two of these courses involve intensive use of computer aids. In the first one, Electrodynamics, Maple worksheets are extensively used for diminishing the tedium of the mathematics and for visualizing (using animation) of traveling and standing wave patterns. In the last course, computer programs (a slab mode solver and an implementation of the beam propagation method) are used as design tools. We describe the aims, contents, and the relationship between the courses and some organizational issues. It is concluded that the courses meet our requirements: undergraduate students become productive quite fast in the field of integrated optics when they work in an internship or in their MSc-project. The background thus provided to our graduates seems to be well received in the relevant industry.