EE485 Introduction to Photonics

Home

Schedule and
Supplemental Notes

Homework

Supplementary
Materials

Supplementary Materials

Problem of the Topic

Wave optics

Superposition of waves and interference

Diffraction

Polarization

Polarization 2

Photon and laser

Semiconductor optics

Semiconductor photonic devices

Supplementary Reading Meterials

The 2009 Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to Dr. Charles K. Kao for his ground breaking achievements concerning the transmission of light in fibers for optical communication. Dr. Kao received 1/2 of the Prize. Dr. Willard S. Boyle and Dr. George E. Smith each received 1/4 of the Prize for their invention of an imaging semiconductor circuit-the CCD sensor. (See press release)
For a brief history of optical fibers and Dr. Kao's work, here is an excerpt from "A History of Engineering & Science in the Bell System," published by AT&T Bell Laboratories.

Reference on electromagnetic wave from Saleh & Teich "Foundamentals of Photonics"

Counter-intuitive electric displacement: Let's try to convince ourselves why the what seems like counter-intuitive expression for electric displacement is actually physically intuitive.

Wavelength dependence of refractive index

Reconciliation of lecture notes with textbook on Poynting vector and intensity
Poynting vector in two faces

Reference on Fabry-Perot interferometer from Verdeyen "Laser Electronics"

Wikipedia illustration of group and phase velocity

Coordinate transformation of Jones vectors and Jones matrices

Here is the explanation about the boundary conditions in electromagnetic waves, from The Feynman Lectures on Physics, Vol. 2. (pdf file)

Optics of liquid crystals

Density of states and effective density of states
This handout shows how to derive density of states in bulk semiconductors, quantum wells, quantum wires, and quantum dots. It also shows you how to derive "effective" density of state at the band edges of bulk semiconductors.

You can find how to calculate the built-in potential and deplection widths in a pn junction from its doping concentrations here