Syllabus
1. Electromagnetic waves. Plane and spherical wave. Complex representation of monochromatic wave. Electromagnetic origin of light, spectral intervals of electromagnetic waves. Propagation of monochromatic electromagnetic wave in vacuum. Polarization of light. Description of polarization of light. Propagation of electromagnetic wave in non-conductive, isotropic, and linear media. Reflection and refraction of light on plane interface, Fresnel formulae. Propagation of electromagnetic wave in conductive media.
2. Quasimonochromatic electromagnetic waves. Electromagnetic wave in linear medium. Fourier analysis, spectrum. Phase and group velocity. Superposition of electromagnetic waves. Interference of two waves, Young`s experiment. Michelson interferometer. Interference of multiple beams of equal amplitudes. Fabry-Perot interferometer. Coherence of light, complex degree of coherence. Optical interferometers.
3. Diffraction phenomena. Huygens-Fresnel principle. Fraunhofer diffraction. Rectangular aperture, circular aperture. Diffraction grating. Fresnel diffraction. Fresnel zones. Optical imaging. Fourier optics. Holography.
4. Geometrical optics and optical instrumentation. Approximation for very short wavelengths, eikonal equation, light rays. Principle of Fermat. Paraxial (Gaussian) optics. Imaging formulae. Optical imaging by reflection and refraction on spherical surface. Aberrations. Image-forming instruments (magnifying glass, eye, microscope, telescope, camera), elements of theory of photometry. Diffraction and resolving power of telescope and microscope. Elements of spectroscopy. Spectral instruments – prisms and gratings.
5. Light propagation in anisotropic media. Light propagation in anisotropic media. Fresnel`s equation. Optical properties of uniaxial crystals. Application of birefringence: polarizers, compensators.
6. Wave-corpuscular dualism. Spectrum of blackbody radiation. Planck`s quantum hypothesis, Planck`s formula. Photoelectric effect. Photon.
7. Light-matter interaction. Classical theory of dispersion: models of Lorentz and Drude. Index of refraction and absorption coefficient. Light absorption and emission. Stimulated and spontaneous transitions. Principles of laser.
8. Fourier optics. Fraunhofer diffraction and Fourier transform. Optical spatial filtering. Optical image processing.
9. Basics of fiber optics. Guiding of optical waves. Allowed modes, attenuation. Types of optical fibers.
10. Basics of photonics. Principles of light detection. Nonlinear optics. Second harmonics generation. Frequency mixing. Self-focusing and self-phase modulation. Optical switches.
Annotation
A semester lecture in optics. This is a part of the basic course in physics, for the 2nd year students.