Academics

EECS 434: Principles of Photonics

Instructor: Professor Mohammed Islam

Coverage
EECS 434 provides an introduction to photonics, optoelectronics, lasers and fiber-optics. The course reviews briefly Maxwell’s equations to derive appropriate equations for optics. Polarization and liquid crystals are discussed, and reflection at interfaces, mirrors and interferometers are studied. Guided wave optics is discussed, including the important areas of dielectric waveguides and fiber optics. Other topics are also covered, such as resonator optics and lasers. Then, the attention turns to semiconductors, including laser diodes, LEDs and photodetectors. Class demonstrations will cover practical devices that rely on optics and photonics.

Textbook(s)
B.E.A. Saleh and M.C. Teich, Fundamentals of Photonics, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., (1st or 2nd Edition)

Syllabus

• Electromagnetics and Optics
• Absorption and Dispersion
• Polarization of Light
• Liquid Crystals
• Reflections of Plane Waves from Interfaces
• Wave Impedence and Reflection Coefficient
• Scattering Matrix for Partially Transmitting Mirrors
• Fabry-Perot and Interferometer, Resonators
• Lasers
• Plane Mirror Waveguides
• Planar Dielectric Waveguides
• Fiber Optics
• Semiconductor Photon Sources
• Semiconductor Photon Detectors
• MEMS