PHYS 461/661 Optics & Modern Photonics

Course description

This course covers the basic principles of physical optics such as propagation of light, reflection, refraction, diffraction, interference and polarization. It also covers geometrical optics such as lens and mirrors including ABCD matrices and aberrations, and modern optics such as lasers, holography, optical technology and applications, photon sources and detectors.

Student learning outcomes

After successful completion of this course, students will be able to:

• Describe, using mathematics, optical phenomenon such as reflection, refraction and transmission at an interface of material.
• Demonstrate understanding of ray optics and the ability to design a multiple optical system, as application of electromagnetic theory.
• Explain optical phenomenon such as interference, polarization, diffraction and basic beam optics using physics concepts developed in the course.
• Use mathematical software to create graphs of wave propagations, light beam propagation, and etc.