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About James A. Lock

I have been at Cleveland State University since March 1978. During those more than 30 years, I have taught 24 different physics courses, from the noncalculus introductory course to graduate courses. My favorite courses to teach are the junior-senior physics major courses such as classical mechanics, quantum mechanics, mathematical physics, and electromagnetism. In these courses one can beautifully blend mathematics with physical insight to describe a large number of easily observable or technologically practical phenomena. In seven of the advanced physics major courses, I have developed course transcripts that number several hundred pages each. These transcripts are a record of everything I say, do, and write on the blackboard during class. They are given to the students thus largely freeing them from their note taking responsibility. In this way, instead of spending the class periods intently copying all that is written on the blackboard, the students can watch, listen, and think about the material as it is presented to them.
For the first decade of my research career I was interested in quantum mechanical scattering theory as applied to medium energy nuclear physics. However for more than the last twenty years my primary research interest has been the theory of the scattering of light waves from small particles, known as Mie theory and its many variations. In particular I have been interested in the semi-classical limit of light scattering where hundreds of partial waves begin to cooperate with each other and organize their collective behavior to resemble that of scattered light rays. A number of semi-classical light scattering effects I have analyzed using both ray models and wave models have been rainbows and other optical caustics both naturally occurring and produced in the laboratory, morphology-dependent resonances which are pseudo-bound states of light that can exist in small water droplets, various atmospheric optical effects, and the expression of light wave scattering by a particle in terms of the Debye series of multiple internal reflections of light waves inside the particle before exit. I have done much work on the theory of scattering of focused light beams by particles, laser tweezers used to manipulate microparticles, and coherent multiple scattering in dense hydrosols and aerosols. I have also provided theoretical support for a number of light scattering experiments done by researchers at the NASA-Glenn Research Center for over the last twenty years and I have provided the light scattering analysis for a number of optical particle sizing and particle counting instruments. Currently I have 123 research publications since 1970.

Positions

Present Professor Emeritus of Physics, Cleveland State University
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Contact Information

Office: SI 126
Phone: 216-687-2420

Email:


Articles (107)