Results for EE 236A: Modern Optics

This course will provide an introduction to the use of optics in biology, primarily focusing on microscopy from an engineering perspective (i.e., the focus of the course is more on technology than biology). Course material will be interspersed with labs to provide hands-on experience with common techniques in modern microscopy (e.g., brightfield, fluorescence, confocal and phase contrast microscopy). Background in college physics strongly recommended. Programming experience with Matlab required. Suggested prerequisites: EE 134 or EE 236A.

Geometrical optics, aberrations, optical instruments, radiometry. Ray matrices and Gaussian beams. Wave nature of light. Plane waves: at interfaces, in media with varying refractive index. Diffraction and Fourier optics. Interference, single-beam interferometers (Fabry-Perot), multiple-beam interferometers (Michelson, Mach-Zehnder). Polarization, Jones and Stokes calculi.nFormerly EE 268. Prerequisites: EE 142 or familiarity with electromagnetism and plane waves.