LEARNING OUTCOMES
Upon successful completion of this course, the students should be able to:
• Define the following properties of light:
− Speed
− Frequency
− Wavelength
− Energy
• Describe the dual nature of light, as a continuous wave and a discrete particle (photon), and give examples of light exhibiting both natures.
• Distinguish between light rays and light waves.
• State the law of reflection and show with appropriate drawings how it applies to light rays at plane and spherical surfaces.
• State Snell’s law of refraction and show with appropriate drawings how it applies to light rays at plane and spherical surfaces.
• Define index of refraction and give typical values for glass, water, and air.
• Calculate the critical angle of incidence for the interface between two optical media and describe the process of total internal reflection.
• Describe how total internal reflection can be used to redirect light in prisms and trap light in fibers.
• Describe dispersion of light and show how a prism disperses white light.
• Calculate the minimum angle of deviation for a prism and show how this angle can be used to determine the refractive index of a prism material.
• Describe what is meant by Gaussian or paraxial optics.
• Describe the relationship between collimated light and the focal points of convex and concave mirrors.
• Use ray-tracing techniques to locate the images formed by plane and spherical mirrors.
• Use the mirror equations to determine location, size, orientation, and nature of images formed with spherical mirrors.
• Distinguish between a thin lens and a thick lens.
• Describe the shapes of three typical converging (positive) thin lenses and three typical diverging (negative) thin lenses.
• Describe the f-number and numerical aperture for a lens and explain how they control image brightness.
• Use ray-tracing techniques to locate images formed by thin lenses.
• Describe the relationship between collimated light and the focal points of a thin lens.
• Use the lensmaker’s equation to determine the focal length of a thin lens.
• Use the thin-lens equations to determine location, size, orientation, and nature of the images formed by simple lenses.
• Describe the properties of electromagnetic waves and give everyday examples.
• Explain the mechanism that causes light to be polarized, explain the use of polarizing material, and give an example of the use of polarizers.
• Describe Huygens’ principle and the superposition principle.
• Define the terms reflection, refraction, and index of refraction and explain how they are related.
• Explain diffraction and interference in terms of Huygens’ principle.
• List the three types of emission and identify the material properties that control the emission type.
• Describe in a short paragraph the electromagnetic spectrum and sketch a diagram of the key optical regions and uses.
• Give a basic explanation of atoms and molecules and their ability to absorb, store, and emit quanta of energy.
• Define the primary equations describing the relationships between temperature of, wavelength of, and energy emitted by a blackbody and a graybody.
• Describe the mechanisms that affect light propagating in a medium and its transmission
• Describe a wave front.
• Describe the relationship between light rays and wave fronts.
• Define phase angle and its relationship to a wave front.
• Calculate water wave displacement on a sinusoid-like waveform as a function of time and position.
• Describe how electromagnetic waves are similar to and different from water waves.
• State the principle of superposition and show how it is used to combine two overlapping waves.
• State Huygens’ principle and show how it is used to predict the shape of succeeding wave fronts.
• State the conditions required for producing interference patterns.
• Define constructive and destructive interference.
• Describe a laboratory setup to produce a double-slit interference pattern.
• State the conditions for an automatic phase shift of 180° at an interface between two optical media.
• Calculate the thickness of thin films designed to enhance or suppress reflected light.
• Describe how multilayer stacks of quarter-wave films are used to enhance or suppress reflection
over a desired wavelength region.
• Describe how diffraction differs from interference.
• Describe single-slit diffraction and calculate positions of the minima in the diffraction pattern.
• Distinguish between Fraunhofer and Fresnel diffraction.
• Sketch typical Fraunhofer diffraction patterns for a single slit, circular aperture, and rectangular aperture, and use equations to calculate beam spread and fringe locations.
• Describe a transmission grating and calculate positions of different orders of diffraction.
• Describe what is meant by diffraction-limited optics and describe the difference between a focal point in geometrical optics and a focal-point diffraction pattern in wave optics.
• Describe how polarizers/analyzers are used with polarized light.
• State the Law of Malus and explain how it is used to calculate intensity of polarized light passing through a polarizer with a tilted transmission axis.
• Calculate Brewster’s angle of incidence for a given interface between two optical media.
SYLLABUS
• Nature, Properties and Propagation of Light
• Dual Nature of Light – Light rays and light waves – Concept of a photon – Characteristics of light waves – Maxwell equations
• The Electromagnetic Spectrum
• Atomic Structure – Interactions of Light with Matter
• Blackbody Radiation – Spectral distribution
• Optical Rays – The Rectilinear Propagation of Light Optical path
• The Speed of Light in Vacuum and in Stationary Media – Index of Refraction
• REFLECTION AND REFRACTION OF LIGHT – The laws of reflection: plane & curved surfaces – mirrors – image formation – Graphical ray-trace method – Sign convention – Magnification of a mirror image
• Refraction of light from optical interfaces – Snell’s law – Fermat’s Principle – Least time principle
• Critical angle and total internal reflection – fiber optics
• THE PRINCIPLE OF REVERSIBILITY OF LIGHT
• DISPERSION OF LIGHT – PHYSICAL PHENOMENA
• Refraction in prisms – Minimum angle of deviation – Special applications of prisms
• Refraction from spherical surfaces – Thin lenses – IMAGE FORMATION WITH LENSES – Function of a lens – Types of lenses – Converging and diverging thin lenses – Focal points of thin lenses – Image location by ray tracing – Lens formulas for thin lenses – Sign convention – Linear/ Transverse Magnification – Combination of thin lenses – Lenses with thickness – Lens manufacturers’ equations
• Gauss – Newton – Lens power – fundamental points – Radius paths – Introduction to the theory of matrices.
• Variation of Reflective index with wavelength – Lenses Aberrations (Spherical, Chromatic, etc. Aberrations)
• LIGHT WAVES AND PHYSICAL OPTICS
• Physics of waves and wave motion – The mathematics of sinusoidal waveforms – Oscillations – Harmonic waves
• INTERACTION OF LIGHT WAVES – The principle of superposition
• Huygens’ Principle and wavelets
• INTERFERENCE – Young’s double-slit interference experiment – Constructive and destructive interference – Thin-film interference
• DIFFRACTION – Diffraction by a single slit – Fraunhofer and Fresnel diffraction – Diffraction Grating – Diffraction-Limited Optics
• DISTINCTION BETWEEN INTERFERENCE AND DIFFRACTION
• POLARIZATION – Polarization of light waves – Types of Polarization – Methods of Polarizing Light – Malus’ Law – Polarization by reflection and Brewster’s angle
• Absorption of Light – Filters – Scattering of Light – Optical Windows