Syllabus
* The nature of light.
* Polarization properties of light.
Linearly, circularly and elliptically polarized light. Polarization devices - linear polarizers, retarders, depolarizers, modulators. Jones calculus, Mueller calculus, Poincaré sphere.
* Spectroscopy with polarized light.
Interaction of light with matter. Absorption spectroscopy with unpolarized ligth. Absorption spectroscopy with linearly polarized light. Two-photon absorption spectroscopy. Polarized emission spectroscopy. Raman spectroscopy.
* Optical activity and spectroscopy.
Phenomenon of optical activity. Induced optical effects - optical modulators. Optically active molecules and biological substances. Optical rotation and circular dichroism. Vibrational optical activity - vibrational circular dichroism (VCD) and Raman optical activity (ROA). Instrumentation for ORD (optical rotatory dispersion), UV CD, VCD (dispersive and FT), ROA, FDCD (fluorescence detected CD).
Annotation
Nature of polarized light. Mathematical description of polarization - the Jones and Mueller calculus.
Spectroscopy with polarized light. Origin of optical activity.
Induced optical activity. Applications of polarized light in studies of molecules and particularly biomolecules.