OSE6111 - Optical Wave Propagation

Credit Hours:

• 3 hours (3,0)

Prerequisite:

• Graduate standing or consent of instructor

Suggested Reading:

• Any text book on fundamentals of applied electromagnetism particularly on Maxwell’s equations and plane wave propagation.

List of topics

Review of Vector Analysis

• Vector Representation and vector coordinate transformations
• Dot product and cross products
• Differential vector operations
• Integral vector theorems

Electromagnetic Field Theory

• Electromagnetic fields
• Integral and differential time varying Maxwell’s equations
• Constitutive relationships and electric permittivity, magnetic permeability, and electrical conductivity
• Boundary conditions
• Power and Energy
• Fourier series and Fourier transforms in linear systems
• Complex time harmonic Maxwell’s equations

Electromagnetic Propagation in Linear Isotropic Homogenous Media

• Wave propagation in linear homogenous isotropic (LHI) media
• The wave equation and Helmholtz equation
• The Poynting’s theory and power flow density
• Electromagnetic field polarization, linear, circular, and elliptical

Reflection and Refraction at Planar Interfaces

• Reflection and refraction at planar boundaries
• Phase Matching
• E and TM polarizations
• Brewster angle, critical angle, total internal reflection
• Reflection/refraction in multi-layered media
• Quarter-wave stack and applications in thin film coatings

Electromagnetic Propagation in Anisotropic Media

• Dielectric tensor classification of anisotropic media
• Dispersion relation and light propagation in uniaxial and biaxial media
• Power flow in anisotropic media
• Index ellipsoid
• Refraction and reflection at anisotropic interface
• Jones’s calculus and retardation plates

Gaussian Beam Propagation

• Scalar wave equation approximation
• Propagation of Gaussian beams and beam divergence
• Limitation of the paraxial approximation
• Transformation of Gaussian beams and the ABCD bilinear transformation
• Applications to simple resonators
• Plane wave decomposition for finite beam propagation

Optical Propagation in Periodic Media

• Periodic field spatial harmonics
• Generalized phased matching condition and the grating equation
• Propagation and evanescent diffracted orders
• Interferometric formation of volume gratings
• Bragg condition for volume gratings