Instructor
Prof. F. Elohim Becerra
Email: fbecerra@unm.edu
Office: PAÍS 2514
Phone: 505 277-2673
Teaching Assistant (Grader)
Benjamin Makias
Email: bmakias@unm.edu
Office: PAÍS Lobby
This course studies the fundamentals of optics and some applications, and covers diverse topics in geometrical and physical optics. The course addresses the study of electromagnetic theory, fundamental properties of light, waves, Gaussian beams, ray tracing and matrix methods, basic optical elements and devices, image formation, interference, diffraction and topics in modern/advanced optics.
Prerequisites: E&M, Undergraduate Physics, Knowledge of Differential Equations, Linear & Complex Algebra, Matrix representations, Optics.
Monday and Wednesday, 9:30-10:45 pm PAÍS 1160
There are many useful texbooks that cover the topics on the class.
The course will use the textbook by Frank L. Pedrotti, Leno M. Pedrotti, and Leno S. Pedrotti. We will cover topics from some chapters within Ch1-23, and other additional topics form other resources.
Introduction to Optics (3rd Edition): Frank L. Pedrotti, Leno M. Pedrotti, and Leno S. Pedrotti.
Additional Resources
There will be regular assignments of problem sets including problems from the textbook by E. Pedrotti and other exercises, about one set per week.
The assignments will be given throughout the semester and will be posted in the Tentative Schedule about one week before they are due. Homeworks must be turned in to the TA's mailbox before 5:00 pm on the due date.
Office hours: Monday 11:00 am -13:00 pm. You may also arrange a meeting for another time via email.
TA office hours. No TA (Grader) office hours. See P&A Teaching Assistant Duties. Contact the grader via email to discuss any homework grading issues you may have.
The final grade will be based on the homework assignments, one midterm exam and a final exam. The contribution to the final grade is as follows:
Exam Dates (subject to change):
Formal Reports: You will write a formal report from one topic suggested related to optics covering fundmanteal concepts and applications. You will write the lab report using LaTeX, which is widely used in the scientific community in different areas including physics and engineering. It should follow the format of a scientific paper. Lab reports should be submitted as a word or PDF document by email with the subject “Lab Report". The file name should be your last name followed by the name of the experiment. Lab reports and presentations are individual. Any research article is good example. One example from a class report is here.
Presentation: You will give a presentation at the end of the semester about the topic in your report (15 minutes+ 5 for questions). It should discuss fundamentals and theoretical background, development in the field, and applications of the subject studied to science and/or technology. Some tips; more tips.
Suggested topics for the formal report and repsentations are here. You may choose another topic and you should discuss with the instructor about the suitability for an article and presentation.
Syllabus Topics
Below is a tentative list of topics that will be covered. You can find the calendar for the course in the Tentative Schedule
Additional resources
Sign Convension and Ray Tracing (Chapter 2)
Lasers: Anthony E. Siegman.
Laser Physics: P. W. Milonni, J. H. Eberly.
Optics, Light and Lasers: (2nd Edition) Dieter Meschede.
Fundamentals of Photonics , 2nd Edition: E. A. Saleh, Malvin Carl Teich.
Optics,
4th Edition: E. Hecht.
Laser Electronics (3rd Edition) by Joseph T. Verdeyen. (JV)
| Topic | Date | Subject | Reading | Homework | HW Due | Solutions |
| Introduction to Optics | 08/19 (M) | Overview, Fermat's principle; Reflection and refraction | ||||
| Geometrical Optics | 08/21 (W) | Paraxial optics, mirrors and lenses | Chapter 2 | HW1 | (W) Aug 28 | HW1sol |
| 08/26 (M) | Matrix methods in paraxial optics | |||||
| 08/28 (W) | Paraxial ray equation; GRIN systems | Chapter 18; JV CH2 | HW2 | (W) Sep 04 | HW2sol | |
| 09/02 (M) | Labor Day | |||||
| 09/04 (W) | Optical resonators | Chapter 3; JV CH2 | HW3 | (W) Sep 11 | HW3sol | |
| 09/09 (M) | Apertures | Chapter 3 | ||||
| 09/11 (W) | Prisms and optical systems | " | HW4 | (W) Sep 18 | HW4sol | |
| 09/16 (M) | Prisms and optical systems | " | ||||
| Physical Optics | 09/18 (W) | Wave optics | Chapter 4 | HW5 | (W) Sep 25 | HW5sol |
| 09/23 (M) | Field propagation in a dielectric medium | Chapter 25 | ||||
| 09/25 (W) | Fresnel Equations | Chapter 23, 25 | HW6 | (W) Oct 02 | ||
| 09/30 (M) | " | |||||
| 10/02 (W) | Gaussian Beams and Gaussian Optics: q-parameter | NOTES | HW7 | (W) Oct 09 | ||
| 10/07 (M) | Gaussian beams ABCD matrix & Resonators | |||||
| 10/09 (W) | Superpositions of fields | Chapter 5 | ||||
| Formula Sheet MT1 | 10/14 (M) | Midterm | Formula Sheet MT1 | |||
| 10/16 (W) | Gaussian Pulse Propagation | CH14 (Laser Physics) | ||||
| 10/21 (M) | Interference | Chapter 7 | ||||
| 10/23 (W) | Interference and Fabry Perot | Chapter 8 | ||||
| 10/28 (M) | " | Chapter 8 | ||||
| 10/30 (W) | Diffraction | Chapter 11 | ||||