4600 Optics and Photonics II covers principles of lasers, interactions of laser light and matter, and new development in the fields of optics and photonics. Topics include wave optics, optical resonators, interaction of radiation and atomic systems, principles and techniques of lasers, nonlinear optics and devices, guided-wave optics, and fibre-optic communication. Recent development in the fields, such as photonic crystal optics, ultrafast optics, and nano-optics will be introduced.

PR: PHYS 3500 and 3600.

What makes a laser to emit such a strong light beam? How information transmits in a fibre-optics enabled internet? How to store a movie in a CD? What is the significance of the studies on soliton, photonic crystal, optical computing, and so on? This course introduces the physics behind new technologies that use light to revolutionize our daily life. This course adds to concepts and topics in optics and photonics that are introduced in PHYS 3600. The main focus is on the principles, techniques, and applications of lasers with relevant topics of technological importance such as fibre-optic communication, photonic crystal optics, and ultrafast optics, and nano-optics. Through discussion on optical resonators, interactions between radiation and atomic systems, principles of lasers and specific laser systems, an in-depth understanding of lasers can be achieved. Some important applications realized by the availability of lasers are introduced, which include nonlinear optics and devices, guided-wave optics, and fibre-optic communication. New development in the fields of optics and photonics will be discussed if time permits.