Calendar

Readings are taken from the following required texts:

Hecht, Eugene. Optics. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley, 2001. ISBN: 9780805385663.

Goodman, Joseph W. Introduction to Fourier Optics. Englewood, CO: Roberts & Co., 2004. ISBN: 9780974707723.

SES # TOPICS READINGS KEY DATES
1 Introduction; brief history of optics; absorption, refraction; laws of reflection and refraction Hecht Ch. 1 (all), 3.6, 4.4.1, 4.5, 4.7 (but not 4.7.1), 5.4.1, and 5.5  
2 Laws of reflection and refraction; prisms; dispersion; paraboloidal reflector Hecht 5.1, 5.2.1, and 5.4.2 HW 1 out
3 Perfect focusing; paraboloidal reflector; ellipsoidal refractor; introduction to imaging; perfect on-axis imaging using aspheric lenses; imperfect imaging using spherical surfaces; paraxial approximation; ray transfer matrices Hecht 5.2.2 and 6.2 (but not the part on mirrors)  
4 Sign conventions; thin lens; real and virtual images Hecht 5.2.3 ("Thin-Lens Equations" and "Focal Points and Planes" only) HW 2 out
5 Imaging at finite distances with thin lenses; thick lenses; the human eye; image formation by a composite lens Hecht 5.2.3 ("Finite Imagery" and "Thin-Lens Combinations"), 5.7.1, and 5.7.2 HW 1 due
6 Aperture stop; entrance and exit pupils; numerical aperture (NA); field stop; entrance and exit windows; field of view (FoV) Hecht 5.3 HW 3 out
7 Ray tracing with mirrors; basic optical systems: single lens magnifier, eyepiece, microscope Hecht 5.4.2-3, 5.7.3-7, and 6.2 ("Matrix Analysis of Mirrors") HW 2 due
8 Basic optical systems (cont.): telescope; chromatic aberration; geometrical aberrations: spherical, coma Hecht 6.3  
9 Geometrical aberrations (cont.): astigmatism, field curvature, distortion; optical design demo; GRadient INdex (GRIN) optics: quadratic and axial profile; introduction to the Hamiltonian formulation Hecht 6.4 HW 3 due
10 Quiz 1    
11 Hamiltonian formulation of ray tracing; analogies between Hamiltonian optics and Hamiltonian mechanics; introduction to waves Hecht Ch. 2 (all)  
12 1D wave equation; complex (phasor) representation; 3D waves: plane, spherical Hecht 7.1-7.2 HW 4 out
13 3D waves: plane, spherical; dispersive waves; group velocity; spatial frequencies; introduction to electromagnetics; Maxwell's equations; derivation of the wave equation for light Hecht 3.1, 3.2, 3.3.1-3.3.2, and 3.5 (but not 3.5.1)  
14 Maxwell's equations (cont.); polarization justification of the refractive index; electromagnetic energy flux and Poynting's vector; irradiance (intensity) Hecht 9.1-9.5 HW 5 out
15 Interference; Michelson and Mach-Zehnder interferometers; Huygens principle; Young interferometer; Fresnel diffraction Hecht 10.1 and 10.3.1-10.3.4 HW 4 due
16 Gratings: amplitude, phase, sinusoidal, binary

Hecht 10.2.8

Goodman 4.4.3-4.4.4

HW 6 out
17 Fraunhofer diffraction; review of Fourier transforms and theorems

Hecht 10.2 and 11.2

Goodman 4.3, 4.4.1-4.4.2, and 4.5.2

HW 5 due
18 Spatial filtering; the transfer function of Fresnel propagation; Fourier transforming properties of lenses Goodman 5.1-5.2 and 8.1.1 HW 7 out
19 4F system (telescope with finite conjugates) as a cascade of Fourier transforms; binary amplitude and phase pupil masks; Point Spread Function (PSF)

Hecht 11.3.1-11.3.3

Goodman 6.1.1-6.1.2 and 6.2

HW 6 due
20 Shift invariance; Amplitude Transfer Function (ATF); lateral and angular magnification in the 4F system; relationship between NA, PSF, and ATF; sampling and the Space Bandwidth Product (SBP); advanced spatial filtering: pupil engineering, phase contrast imaging; Talbot effect Goodman 8.1.2 and 8.3 HW 7 due
21 Quiz 2    
22 Temporal and spatial coherence; spatially incoherent imaging; Optical Transfer Function (OTF) and Modulation Transfer Function (MTF); comparison of coherent and incoherent imaging   HW 8 out
23 Imaging with a single lens; resolution    
24 Project presentations   HW 8 due
25 Resolution (cont.); defocused optical systems    
26 Depth of focus and depth of field; deconvolution and Tikhonov regularization; polarization; wave plates; effects of polarization on high-NA optical systems