Physics 308

 

Academic Year 2000/2001

 

Instructor: W.H. McCutcheon

 

Credits: 3

 

Term: 2

 

Lecture hrs/week: 2

 

Lab hrs/week: 3

 

Prerequisites: one of Phys. 301, Phys. 354

 

Required Text: Optics by Hecht,  third edition, pub. Addison Wesley

 

Description

 

Physical optics, polarization, Fresnel equation, coherence, interference, diffraction, lasers, holography, Fourier optics.

 

Course Outline

 

Week 1:  Optical path length, Fermat’s principle, geometrical optics

 

Week 2: Thin lenses, thick lenses, thin lens combinations

 

Week 3: Matrix optics, aberrations

 

Week 4: Graded index optics, wave motion, plane waves, spherical waves

 

Week 5: Polarization, Stokes parameters,

 

Week 6: Methods of  producing polarization, Interference, Young’s experiment

 

Week 7: Michelson interferometer, Midterm test

 

Week 8: Newton’s rings, diffraction, array of  N coherent oscillators, single slit diffraction

 

Week 9: single slit diffraction, double slit diffraction, multiple slits

 

Week 10: Circular aperture, Rayleigh criteria, Fresnel diffraction

 

Week 11: Fresnel zone plate, circular aperture and obstacles

 

Week 12: Rectangular aperture, Cornu spiral, slit, straight edge, Fourier optics

 

Week 13: Fourier optics and transforms, convolutions, FTs in diffraction, Phase contrast, discussion of final exam.

 

 

 

 

Instructor’s notes

 

Problems were assigned about every 3 lectures.

One midterm was given.

 

Other useful texts:

1.      Fundamentals of Photonics by Saleh and Teich (Wiley)

2.      Modern Optics by Guenther (Wiley)

3.      Introduction to Modern Optics by Fowles (Dover)