Modern Optics and Lasers

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PHYS428 - Spring 2021, Tue/Thur, 11:00am-12:15pm

Lecture modality: Hybrid

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Introduction: 

This course will help undergraduate and graduate students who are interested in research related to applied optics and optical engineering to acquire core optical principles and physics through a broad review of modern optics and applications. It will offer fundamentals and concepts in classical optical physics including geometrical optics and advanced knowledge for specialized applied optics of laser, imaging and spectroscopies.

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Goals:

• Providing inclusive insight and perspective on optics and optical engineering for undergraduate and graduate students.

• Introducing fundamental physics and key principles of modern optics to students who are interested in taking an advanced optics course.

• Supporting students to perform the interdisciplinary applied optics research in science and engineering.

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Notes:

   *      General Fundamental concepts will be more highlighted than mathematics and calculations.

   **    All exams and questions will come from the course lecture materials.

   ***  Individual meetings are available whenever further instructional assistance is needed. 

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Topics to be covered:

1. Maxwell's equations for EM wave

2. reflection, refraction & interference

3. Interferometer & diffraction

4. Geometrical optics

5. Polarization

6. Light-matter interaction

7. Emission & absorption

8. Molecular materials & defects

9. Quantum wells & quantum dots

10. Coherence

11. Lasers

12. Nonlinear optics

13. Electro-optical effects

14. Magneto-optical effects

15. Optical cavities

16. Ultrafast spectroscopy

17. Quasiparticles and collective excitations