Catalog Description: Fundamental principles of optical systems. Geometrical optics and aberration theory. Stops and apertures, prisms, and mirrors. Diffraction and interference. Optical materials and coatings. Radiometry and photometry. Basic optical devices and the human eye. The design of optical systems. Lasers, fiber optics, and holography.

Units: 4

Prerequisites: MATH 53; EECS 16A and EECS 16B, or MATH 54.

Credit Restrictions: Students will receive no credit for Electrical Engineering 218A after taking Electrical Engineering 118 or 119.

Formats:
Spring: 3.0 hours of lecture and 1.0 hours of discussion per week
Fall: 3.0 hours of lecture and 1.0 hours of discussion per week

Grading basis: letter

Final exam status: Written final exam conducted during the scheduled final exam period

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Class Schedule (Fall 2024):
EE 118/218A – TuTh 09:30-10:59, Cory 540AB – Boubacar Kante

Class homepage on inst.eecs

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Department Notes:

Course objectives: This course introduces fundamental physical principles of both classical and modern optics as well as principles of optical design used in the engineering of optical systems. It also provides exposure to practical aspects of optical materials and devices. Its intention is to provide a foundation of basic principles, design methodology, and practical considerations needed to design or use optical instruments in engineering practice.

Topics Covered:

• Propagation of light. Snell's law and Huygen's principle. Refraction and reflection. Plane waves, spherical waves and image formation. Total internal reflection. Polarization, polarizers, and wave-plates.
• Lenses and aberrations. Phase retardation by thin lenses. Lens laws and formation of images. Resolution and primary aberrations. Prism devices Various optical material types, crown and flint glass, fused silica, low thermal expansion glasses. Design of achromatic doublet.
• Simple optical instruments. Optical properties of the human eye. Still cameras, shutters, apertures, photographic film. Design of telescopes, atmospheric distortion, the Hubble Space Telescope. Microscope design. Projection system design.
• Detectors. Semiconductor detectors, including pn junction diodes, PIN diodes and avalanche diodes. Photomultipliers. CCD image array detectors. Microchannel plate image intensifiers.
• Light modulators. Liquid crystal light valves and flat panel displays. Deformable mirror array devices.
• Illuminators and condensers. Brightness theorem. Field uniformity and light collection efficiency. Light sources including Solar, arc lamp, tungsten filament lamp and mercury discharge lamp. Solar energy collectors including photovoltaics and thermal concentrators.
• Lasers. Optical gain. Spontaneous and stimulated emission. Population inversion. Optical feedback and resonant cavities. Resonator design. Laser modes. Spectral bandwidth and coherence length. Examples of laser types including diode laser, gas laser. Harmonic generation.
• Diffraction theory. Fraunhofer and Fresnel Diffraction. Fresnel zone plate.
• Interference. Young's ?slit experiment and fringe visibility. Michelson Interferometer. Multiple beam interference and thin film coatings.
• Holography. In-line holography and off-axis holography. Various holographic schemes including reflection holograms, rainbow holograms. Holographic data storage.
• Fiber optics. Waveguides and modes. Fiber coupling. Types of fiber: single and multi-mode. Fiber communication systems including couplers and switches, time division and wavelength division multiplexing. Fiber dispersion. Fiber amplifiers.

Related Areas:

• Physical Electronics (PHY)