Catalog

Optics

Mechanical Engineering MIT CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 29 lectures

This course provides an introduction to optical science with elementary engineering applications. Topics covered in geometrical optics include: ray-tracing, aberrations, lens design, apertures and stops, radiometry and photometry. Topics covered in wave optics include: basic electrodynamics, polarization, interference, wave-guiding, Fresnel and Fraunhofer diffraction, image formation, resolution, space-bandwidth product. Analytical and numerical tools used in optical design are emphasized. Graduate students are required to complete assignments with stronger analytical content, and an advanced design project.

Syllabus

  1. 1 Design of a Cooke Triplet
  2. 2 Holographic Particle Image Velocimetry
  3. 3 Holographic Tomography
  4. 4 Wigner Distribution Function and Integral Imaging
  5. 5 Light Propagation in Sub-wavelength Modulated Media
  6. 6 Accuracy Requirements in the Mechanical Assessment of Photonic Crystals
  7. 7 Lecture 1: Course organization; introduction to optics
  8. 8 Lecture 2: Reflection and refraction; prisms, waveguides, and dispersion
  9. 9 Lecture 3: Focusing, imaging, and the paraxial approximation
  10. 10 Lecture 4: Sign conventions; thin lenses; real and virtual images
  11. 11 Lecture 5: Thick lenses; the composite lens; the eye
  12. 12 Lecture 6: Terms: apertures, stops, pupils, and windows; single-lens camera
  13. 13 Lecture 7: Basics of mirrors, magnifiers, and microscopes
  14. 14 Lecture 8: Telescopes; aberrations: chromatic, spherical, and coma
  15. 15 Lecture 9: More aberrations; optical design; GRadient INdex (GRIN)
  16. 16 Lecture 11: The Hamiltonian formulation; introduction to waves
  17. 17 Lecture 12: The wave equation; phasor representation; 3D waves
  18. 18 Lecture 13: 3D wave phenomena; introduction to electromagnetics
  19. 19 Lecture 14: Maxwell's equations; polarization; Poynting's vector
  20. 20 Lecture 15: Huygens principle; interferometers; Fresnel diffraction
  21. 21 Lecture 16: Gratings: amplitude and phase, sinusoidal and binary
  22. 22 Lecture 17: Fraunhofer diffraction; Fourier transforms and theorems
  23. 23 Lecture 18: Spatial filtering; lens transfer functions & transforms
  24. 24 Lecture 19: The 4F system; binary amplitude & pupil masks
  25. 25 Lecture 20: Shift invariance; pupil engineering; the Talbot effect
  26. 26 Lecture 22: Coherent and incoherent imaging
  27. 27 Lecture 23: Imaging with a single lens
  28. 28 Lecture 25: Resolution; defocused optical systems
  29. 29 Lecture 26: Depth of focus and field; polarization; wave plates

Course materials