Optics I: Way of Light (chem 249A)

1. Electromagnetic theory of light

Constants and their true meaning
Speed of light. Bernoulli, Newton, Romer, Fizeau, Hertz, Michelson experiments. Maxwell team: Gauss, Amper and Faraday. Constants define the fields
Maxwell equations
Wave equation, Plane wave and harmonic wave, surface of equal phase and phase velocity. Wave vector and wavelength. Spherical wave Quasi-plane wave and propagation of Gaussian beam.
Superposition principle.

2. Polarization of light

Transverse nature of optical wave
Polarized vs unpolarized light
Linear and elliptical polarizations
Standing wave

3. Light energy and momentum

Energy flux carried by the wave. Poynting vector. Intensity and beam profile. Solar constant vs ultrashort pulsed lasers
Momentum of optical wave and light pressure. Lebedev’s experiments. Photon. Optical trapping

4. Origins of electromagnetic wave emission and electromagnetic spectrum

Atom as a source of light
Thomson model of atom and dipole oscillator
Emission from the charge and emission conditions
Intensity of dipole oscillator and emission diagram
Fourier expansion and transformation
Decaying oscillator
Connection between spectral energy and time. Heisenberg principle from classical perspective
Emission of ensemble of oscillators
Mechanisms of spectral broadening
Natural broadening
Collision-induced broadening
Doppler broadening

5. Light and matter

Material equations
Optical waves in a linear isotropic medium
Dispersion of light
Origin of Refractive index
Group velocity
Absorption of light
Inner field consideration. Lorenz-Lorentz equation.
Light at the border of two dielectrics. Fresnel equations.
Evanescent field
Light at the metal border

6. Coherence and interference of electromagnetic waves

Coherence. What does it mean when two waves are coherent.
Interference
How to create coherent waves – front and amplitude splitting approaches.
Interference of quasi-monochromatic light. Time coherence length.
Role of source dimensions. Spatial coherence.
Multi-beam interference. Fabry-Perot interferometer.

7. Diffraction of electromagnetic wave

Mathematical description of Huygens-Fresnel principle
Diffraction on round hole. Fresnel zones.
Fresnel amplitude and phase plates. Lens as diffraction element.
Classification of diffractions
Fraunhofer diffraction as Fourier transformation
Fraunhofer diffraction on two-dimensional structures
Fraunhofer diffraction on periodic structures
Diffraction for spectroscopic expansion
Diffraction on 2D and 3D structure. Ewald-Laue idea and crystallography.

8. Light in anisotropic dielectric media

Dielectric constant of anisotropic media
Propagation of plane electromagnetic waves in anisotropic media
Propagation of electromagnetic wave in single axis media
Ray velocity ellipsoid. Propagation analysis through Huygens’s principle.
Interference of polarized waves
Induced anisotropy. Kerr effect.
Phenomenological theory of natural polarization rotation. Chirality.

9. Thermal radiation and how quantum mechanics was born

Thermal radiation and luminescence
Equilibrated spectral energy density function of absolute black body
Black body radiation dispute. Stefan-Boltzmann approach. Wien’s approach.
Thermodynamical approach by Rayleigh-Jeans
Planck formula and new constant