Physics 481/581 Physical Optics Instructor: Oksana Ostroverkhova Weniger 413 Class TA: Matt Cibula Class hours: MWF 10-11, Weniger 304 Office hours: TF 1-2 Labs: R 9-11:50 AM or 1-3:50 PM, Weniger 426

Textbook Main textbook: Eugene Hecht, “Optics”, 4 th Ed. Other texts: M. Born, E. Wolf, “Principles of Optics” (much more rigorous) G. Fowler, “Introduction to Modern Optics” E. Steward, “Fourier optics: an introduction”

Homework Homework is given at every class and is due at the beginning of the next class, unless stated otherwise No late homework is accepted, as the solutions are given at the class Work with others is encouraged, but write it up yourself Write enough of text, so that I see that you understand what you are doing Homework will be timely graded and returned Homework will contribute 20% to the overall grade

Labs Hands-on experience is very important There will be 9 labs (starting from the next week and up to the last week of classes) Lab reports are due at the next lab session (i.e. you have 1 week to complete the report) Lab reports will be graded by the TA and returned in a timely fashion Material learned during labs can also appear at the midterm and final exam Labs will contribute 20% to the overall grade

Worksheets Worksheets will be given at each (or almost each) class These will have one or two questions on the material either covered in class or based on reading assignment Worksheets will be graded and returned in timely fashion Worksheets will contribute 10% to the overall grade

Grading: summary Homework 20% Labs 20% Worksheets 10% Midterm (tentatively Feb 15) 20% Final (Tue, March 20, 9:30-11:30 AM) 30%

Course syllabus Electromagnetic waves (Chapters 1-3) week 1 Interference (Chapters 7.1, 9.1, 9.2, 9.4.2) week 2-3 Diffraction (Chapter 10) week 3-5 Light propagation in the medium (Chapters ) week 6 Interference effects in media (Chapters ) week 7 Polarization. Birefringence. (Chapter ,7.2) week 8 Intro to Fourier Optics (Chapter ) week 9 Intro to modern optics (Chapter 13) week 10

Math to review Harmonic functions Complex numbers, representations of trigonometric functions Vector calculus Special functions (Bessels) Fourier transforms Basic linear algebra