PHYS/ECE 464 Laser Physics I - Fall 2022
Instructor: Professor Mansoor Sheik-Bahae
Office: PAIS 2220
- Final Exam Monday 12/12 4-6pm PAIS 1140 (Formula Sheet)
- Midterm Exam - Wednesday 10/26 (4:30-6:30 pm), ROOM 1160 (Please note the time and room changes)
- Class meeting times: Mondays, Wednesdays 4:00pm- 5:15pm
- Lectures will be held in-person in PAIS 1140
- Students will be notified in advance (before noon) in rare occasions when lectures are via Zoom.
An Ultrastable Laser at NIST
The laser frequency is locked to a Fabry-Perot reference cavity (made from a hollow single crystal Si) cooled to 124K where its coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) is zero.
Textbook:Laser Electronics By Joseph T. Verdeyen
Reference Textbooks:
- Optical Electronics in Modern Communications by Amnon Yariv
- Lasers by A. E. Siegman
- Laser Fundamentals by William Silfvast
Pre-requisites: E&M, Undergraduate Physics, Modern Physics, Knowledge of Differential Equations, Linear & Complex Algebra.
Teaching Assistant: Duncan McGraw
TAs Office Hours: TBD
Assignments:
Homework problem sets will be assigned on a regular basis throughout the semester, most likely one set per week.
Exams:
There will be two exams: One Midterm and the Final Exam. Tentative Test Date (subject to change):
- Midterm:
- Final : Dec. 12, 2022
Check the UNM's Office of Registrar for possible changes in the Final exam schedule.
Grading:
The final grade is weighted as follows:
- Midterm: 30%
- Final: 55%*
- Homework: 15%
Laser Lab Tour:
E-mail me if interested
- Midterm (2001), (2006), (2010), (2012), (2014), (2021), (2022) (2022-Sol)
- Final (2006), (2012), (2019) (2020), (2021)
**
Some Lectures and other resources
- Brief History of Lasers
- Specific Laser Systems
- Semiconductor Lasers
- Mode-locking Tutorial
- LASERS: solution looking for a problem The Movie
- Midterm Review
Course Syllabus
- Introduction (historical overview) [1 lecture]
- Review of E&M theory (Chapter 1) [2 lectures]
- Ray Tracing (ABCD matrix method) (Chapter 2) [3 lectures]
- Gaussian Beams (Chapter 3) [4 lectures]
- Optical Cavities (Chapter 5 & 6) [2 lectures]
- Gain Medium (field-atom interaction) (Chapter 7) [5 lectures]
- Laser Oscillation (Chapter 8) [4 lectures]
- General Laser Characteristics (Chapter 9) [6 lectures]
- Various Laser Systems (Parts of Chapters 10 & 11) [3 lectures]
Homework and Reading Assignments
# | Due Date | Source | Solution | Reading Assignments |
1 | 9/7/22 | all chapter 1 (skip 1.8) | ||
2 | 9/12/22 | 2.1-2.8, 2.11, 2.13 | ||
3 | 9/19/22 | all chapter 3 | ||
4 | 9/26/22 | 4.7, all chapter 5 | ||
5 | 10/3/22 | all chapter 6 | ||
6 | 10/10/22 | all chapter 7 | ||
7 | 10/19/22 | 8.1-8.8 | ||
| Review (Monday 10/24/2022) | 9.1-9.3 | ||
Midterm Exam - Wednesday 10/26 (4:30-6:30 pm), ROOM 1160 (Please note the time and room changes). Closed Book, Closed Notes (Formula Sheet, and Calculator will be provided) | ||||
8 | 11/7/22 | 9.3-9.8, 4.7 | ||
9 | 11/14/22 | Chapters 10, 11 | ||
10 | 11/21/22 | |||
11 | 12/05/22 |
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