Topic outline

  • Course description

    The course gives a general understanding of the concepts and phenomena relevant to modern optics and photonics, and prepares the student for more advanced and specialised treatments of the topics.


    The course walks the student through the basics of electromagnetic waves, light polarization, interference and diffraction, optical coherence, light-matter interaction and the principles of lasers. It includes 11 weeks of online lectures (in Zoom), 10 weeks of home exercise rounds and exercise sessions (also in Zoom), and a final exam.


  • Workload and grading

    Workload

    • Lectures 22 h + reading the lecture material 30 h
    • Exercise sessions 20 h + home exercises 40 h
    • Independent study 20 h
    • Exam 3 h

    In total 135 h (42 contact hours and 93 hours of independent work)

    Grading

    • Home exercises 20 %
    • Exam (5 tasks) 80 %


    To pass the course, at least 50 % must be obtained.


  • Lectures and book references

    Lectures are based on the books:

    • A. Lipson, S.G. Lipson, H. Lipson, Optical Physics (4th ed.), Cambridge University Press 2011
    • E. Hecht, Optics (5th ed.), Pearson Education Limited 2017
    • F.L. Pedrotti, L.M. Pedrotti, L.S. Pedrotti, Introduction to Optics 
(3rd ed.), Cambridge University Press 2018

    Lecture notes:

  • Exercises

    Not available unless:
    • You are a(n) Teacher
    • You are a(n) Category Assistant

    Exercise sessions (2 hours per week)

    Problem sets and model solutions distributed via MyCourses

    • 2 home assignments per week
      • worth one exam problem out of five (6 points)
      • solutions presented briefly in the exercise sessions

    • 1-2 demo (/home) assignments per week
      • 2 extra bonus points for the exam
      • solutions presented more exactly in the exercise sessions
    Assignments must be returned before the exercise sessions via MyCourses

  • Exam

  • Exam 2