EP 421

An advanced course in physical optics. Refractive index materials: gases, dielectrics (especially glasses), metals, and plasmas. Dispersion. Polarization of electromagnetic waves. Stokes parameters, the Poincaré sphere, and the Jones matrix calculus. Crystal optics: anisotropy of the refractive index. Birefringent materials. Quarter-wave plates, half-wave plates, and polaroid sheets. Interference of light: two-source interference in the coherent and partially coherent cases. N-source interference applied to diffraction gratings. Grating resolving power. Fiber optics. Laser physics and applications.