All Courses
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2.71/2.710 Optics
This class provides an introduction to optical science with elementary engineering applications. It is recommended for students interested in fundamental wave and ray optics and will help to further their understanding of optical instruments and imaging techniques. These foundations are expected to be valuable in the design of advanced optical materials, solar energy harvesting, and optical metrology. Topics covered: • wave optics, including basic electrodynamics • interference • Fresnel and Fraunhofer diffraction • image formation and spatial filtering • optical transfer functions • image formation, resolution, space-bandwidth product • geometrical optics, including rays, paraxial approximation, apertures and stops This class emphasizes analytical concepts and tools and will also highlight numerical approaches where useful. Graduate students are required to complete an advanced design project. Examples of past final projects are “Diffractive waveguides for head mounted displays” or the “Design of a non-linear laser cavity”, among many other exciting innovative ideas.