PH 322 - Intro-Optics and Photonics

• Characterize the properties of light from an electromagnetic wave and from a photon point of view
• Understand the basic operating principles of a wide variety of sources and detectors of light and use information about the characteristics of those sources and detectors to make recommendations for specific applications
• Use the laws of reflection and refraction to predict the paths taken by the reflected and transmitted rays when a light ray is incident on the boundary between two different transparent regions, and use Fresnel’s equation to predict the details of how the energy in the incident ray is divided into the energies of the reflected and transmitted rays
• Use the laws of reflection and refraction to explain the principles of retro-reflecting mirror assemblies, prisms, and the transmission of light using optical fibers
• Use elementary geometrical optics to design lens and mirror systems to accomplish the formation of real and virtual images of objects and to predict the location, orientation and brightness of the images
• Explain the operation of and be able to design simple optical instruments such as rangefinders, cameras, microscopes, and telescopes using principles that minimize the effects of spherical and chromatic aberration
• Explain how signal degradation occurs in optical fibers due to attenuation of light and because of modal, material, and waveguide dispersion of light
• Distinguish between Fresnel and Fraunhofer diffraction of light and explain how interference and diffraction can be used to design anti-reflecting films, diffraction gratings and optical instruments such as interferometers
• Explain the different ways to polarize light, the principles of quarter-wave plates and half-wave plates, and the principles of operation and applications of polarized light such as is used for liquid crystal displays
• Understand the operation and properties of gas lasers and semiconductor p-n junction lasers
• Show how to use the principles of holography to construct a hologram and to use the double-exposure technique and the continuous-exposure or real-time technique to accomplish holographic testing for stresses and strains in materials
• Explain the principles of infrared, visible, and ultraviolet spectroscopy, and be able to show how those spectroscopic techniques can be used to study the properties of atoms, molecules, and the surfaces of materials
• Design zone plates for applications at different wavelength of electro-magnetic radiation
• Use the principles of reflection, refraction, and interference to explain the many different patterns of light and color that appear in the sky due to interaction of rays of sunlight with raindrops and airborne ice crystals

• None 

• Geometrical optics (9 classes)
• Physical optics (12 classes)
• Quantum optics and lasers (9 classes)