EECE7105 --- Optics For Engineers --- Fall 2012

Prof. DiMarzio | TA: Zhengwei Hao | Syllabus | Projects |
Schedule: Tu 11:45a-1:25p, and Th 2:50p-4:30p in 209 KA

Exam 1 With Solutions

Exam 2 With Solutions

Tentative homework due dates are in the Syllabus


I hope that many people will find this material useful. I am making it available here in a very open form for the convenience of my students. In the spirit of academic openness, anyone is welcome to print a copy for personal use. However, please do not present it in any public venue or alter it in any way without my permission.

http://www.crcpress.com/product/isbn/9781439807255
New textbook: Optics for Engineers


The text for this course is my book Optics for Engineers. Click on the book or the link above for more information from my publisher, CRC Press.

Handouts of my notes, based on the book, will be posted here (as pdf files) as I complete them.
http://www.crcpress.com/product/isbn/9781439807255
 Lecture Notes 1 - Introduction
Lecture Notes 2 - Reflection, Refraction, Thin Lens
Lecture Notes 3 - Matrix Optics
Lecture Notes 4 - Apertures
Lecture Notes 5 - Aberrations
Lecture Notes 6 - Polarization
Lecture Notes 7 - Interference
Lecture Notes 8 - Diffraction
Lecture Notes 9 - Gaussian Beams
Lecture Notes 10 - Coherence
Lecture Notes 11 - Fourier Optics
Lecture Notes 12 - Radiometry and Photometry
Lecture Notes 13 (COMING) - Detectors
Lecture Notes 14 (COMING) - Non-Linear Optics

Click for Video Streaming Information

Announcements (Updated 22 Dec 2012)

(22 Dec 2012) Given that the world did not end this morining, I have posted individually my comments on your projects and exams in most cases.

(16 Dec 2012) Course grades are now posted on Blackboard and on the registrar's grading system. I did the calculations in the following way. (1a) Averaged all homework grades for those who did five. (1b) Dropped the lowest grade for those who did six. This seemed fair for those who did the last one before I announced it was cancelled. (2) I weighted the average homework 25%. (3) I weighted the project 25%. (4) I weighted the better of your two exams at 30%, and the lower of the two at 20%, student-by-student. (5) Once I arrived at final scores, I scaled things up a bit to arrive at letter grades. I have posted the exam solutions.
Thanks to all of you for being part of the course. I wish you all the best in your careers. Happy holidays.

(13 Dec 2012) One correction in 4.1. The flux is in Watts, not Watts per unit area.

(12 Dec 2012) Hint on Problem 3. If the phases, phi_n are all zero, then at t=0, all the modes add up coherently to give you a very high field. If the phases are different, then the sum will be smaller. Ultimately the energy is the same, so that means the pulse is longer in time.

(9 Dec 2012) There is a minor typo in Problem 4, Section 4.3. Of course there is no such unit as an unW. The correct expression is 1000 W/m^2. I have corrected the document.

(9 Dec 2012) Clarification: On Problem 4, the objects are quite far away. Another way to think of it is that the objects are going to be much larger than the image plane of the camera.

(8 Dec 2012) Another couple mistakes in Equation 1 of Problem 3. The calculation is for the field, rather than the irradiance. Also, there is a missing j in front of the phi. The new version is posted.

(8 Dec 2012) One of the students has found a typographical error in the exam that may cause some confusion. In Equation 1 in Problem 3, "N" in the exponent should be "m". I have posted the exam at the same location with the correction.

(7 Dec 2012) Clarification on Problem 1 of the exam: You do not need to account for absorption or scattering in the Lyot filter. These are important, but not part of the problem. In Part 1.1, the goal is to plot the transmission spectrum for each stage separately. You will have five plots, each for one stage. In Part 1.2, you will have one plot for the case where the light goes through all five stages. The purpose is to show how all the stages work together to give the final result. I plotted the results of 1.1 with dashed lines in different colors, and then plotted the result for Part 1.2 in solid black on top of them.

(6 Dec 2012) The final exam is now posted.

(5 Dec 2012) There is evidently some confusion about the project reports. I am expecting a narrative report, somewhat in the style of a paper, discussing your project. As always, the document should be a single .pdf file, with abstract, introduction, some sections appropriate to your particular project (the body of the report), and some conclusions, along with references cited. There is a drop box for the projects on the blackboard site where you have submitted your homework and exam in the past.

(25 Nov 2012) It's probably not a good idea to advertise a lecture that occurs at the same time as our class, but this might be interesting to some of you, and you can always look at the video for class. Applied and Interdisciplinary Mathematics Seminar
Location: 511 Lake Hall, Northeastern University
Date: Tuesday, November 27
Time: 11:00am - 12:00pm
Hoai-Minh Nguyen
University of Minnesota
Approximate cloaking using transformation optics and negative index materials

(20 Nov 2012) Two items of importance: (1) The homework originally due today is extended to next Tuesday as I mentioned in class. (2) Earlier I reported that today's class was not posted. Evidently uploading was slow today for unknown reasons. The class is there now. The streaming people are trying to determine the cause of the slowness. (3) Happy Thanksgiving to all.

(12 Nov 2012) I've updated the syllabus with the new homework date and the date for the project report, 6 Dec. The final exam will be posted that day, and due on the 13th.

(8 Nov 2012) By "popular demand" the due date for Homework from Chapters 6 and 7 is extended to Tuesday.

(4 Nov 2012) I have graded the exam. The Exam 1 Solutions are posted, and your grades are recorded in Blackboard. I sent a short summary of notes to myself for grading, followed by comments to you for each problem. This is the first time I've graded entirely electronically, so I hope I got everything right. I explained my grading rationale on the solution set, and I think I've been quite generous with partical credit. If I made a math error, please let me know. I've included a histogram of the grades in the solution set. If you submitted more than one attempt at the exam, and you don't see your grade, please check the other attempts. I know everyone on the list is accounted-for, but I'm not sure I handled the multiple attempts correctly.

(2 Nov 2012) Here is a drawing of Ali's setup that goes along with the supplementary video we produced this morning.

(30 Oct 2012) I have been asked about group participation in projects. I will allow a group of two students. Keep in mind that the project is a significant part of the overall grade, so a project by two people should reflect double the workload of a project performed by one. I do not think it would be appropriate to have groups larger than two.

(29 Oct 2012) The syllabus has been revised with new homework dates. A list of possible projects has been posted. I may add to this as ideas come to me. Also feel free to propose your own ideas.

(26 Oct 2012) The homework for Ch. 5, listed as due on 23 October is now due next Tuesday, 30 October, as was announced at the very end of class on Tuesday. Please note that at the beginning of class, I set the date to Friday, and then at the end, after some discussion with students, I decided to allow you the weekend to work on it.

(17 Oct 2012) In part 2.1, the afocal telescope need not be the one we discussed in class. It may consist of any number of lenses and/or mirrors in any configuration that satisfies the condition of being "afocal." Later, in part 2.2, we consider a specific design of the afocal telescope. Note that the combination of the telescope and the camera lens together is NOT afocal. Only the telescope by itself is. If you understand this distinction, you will be better able to understand the reason this design functions as it does.

(15 Oct 2012) I don't think this will confuse anyone, but just in case, when the exam mentions a "microscope" lens (Second line of page 4), of course, it means a "camera" lens. In Part 2.1, you can assume that the telescope matrix takes you to the front vertex of the camera lens. You don't need to account for a gap there.

(15 Oct 2012) The take--home exam, Exam 1, is now posted.

(10 Oct 2012) For a number of reasons, I have decided that Exam 1 will be released at noon on Monday 15 October, on this site. You will have until noon the following Monday, 22 October, to complete it. Submission will be electronic through the Blackboard site. Complete instructions for submission will be on the exam, but I will want a single .pdf file.

(7 Oct 2012) Oops. I made an error in the dates of some of the lectures, using the same dates twice. I have revised the syllabus to change the dates, and also some of the homework assigments. Basically, I've split the next homework into two parts, Chapters 3 and 4 for now, and Chapter 5 later. Chapters 3 and 4 are due on the 11th instead of the 9th. The mideterm exam has been moved forward two days for the same reason.

(4 Oct 2012) Ali V and I have posted a video of the twolens system that we made on an optical table in the lab. It is called Supplement 1 Again (because we didn't get it right the first time). A document describing it is at twolens.pdf. I hope this will help you understand the apertures. Of course, feel free to ask questions.

(30 Sep 2012) Notice from the Administration... "There appears to be a University-wide Blackboard problem, affecting the merged course sites V30/35. V35 students enrolled in a course that has been merged with the V30 section, are currently unable to access their Blackboard course site. Therefore, unable to watch the captured lectures. ... Blackboard administration will not be able to troubleshoot this problem until tomorrow. They are not working on weekends."

I may be able to work around this for you if it presents a problem.

(26 Sep 2012) On the discussion boards, you have the option to "subscribe" to the discussion. If you do that, you will get an email when someone posts something. Otherwise, you will not get any notice, and will have to log in periodically to check the board. I believe you have to subscribe to each board (but not each thread).

(19 Sep 2012) Some of you have not yet received the book. I have photographed the homework for the first two chapters in a zip file at hw-pics.zip.

(17 Sep 2012 Second update) The homework problems are at the end of each chapter in the book.

(17 Sep 2012) Homework this term will be from the textbook. The problems there are based on those in the original homework handout that has been used in past years. Although the solutions are freely available, I suggest that you make a substantial effort to solve each problem without checking the solutions. In this way you will be better prepared for the exams. Tentative due dates are in the syllabus which I revised this weekend. Some adjustment may be needed if we don't hold to the lecture schedule that I have planned.

(1 Sep 2012) The syllabus and first four sets of notes are posted. You are encouraged to print the notes before coming to class (or viewing the video). Most students find it helpful to write on the note pages while viewing the lectures. New this year: All students in the class will have access to the video-streaming lectures. For those of you who have taken NU streaming-video courses, I think you will find the quality of the video improved over previous years. Video should be available within minutes after the end of each class. Some of the equipment is new, and I have more control over the video presentation than I had in the old system, so as you watch, if you have any suggestions for improving the presentation, feel free to email me. Remember, the first class is Thursday, 6 September 2:50 to 4:30pm in 209 Kariotis.

(27 Aug 2012) For distance-learning students: There will be two take-home exams in this course, and homework will be submitted electronically, so there is no need for exam proctors, and no need for you to come to campus (although you are welcome to do so if you like). For this course, you my ignore information from the video-streaming people about proctoring of exams and mail delivery. Videos of lectures will normally be available a few minutes after the end of each class. I will open a Blackboard discussion group to allow you to discuss homework.

For on-campus students: Northeastern begins classes next Wednesday, so our first class will be Thursday from 2:50 to 4:30pm in 209 Kariotis. I encourage you to participate in the Blackboard discussion groups.

(17 June 2012) This is the first time I'm teaching the course from my book, Optics for Engineers. I am in the process of generating a new set of lecture notes based on the book, and using the notation that I use there. I will post the notes as I complete them. Thanks to the many students over the years who have offered constructive criticism of the old notes, first hand-written, then typeset on transparencies, and later on Powerpoint. Those slides formed the basis for the book, and have led to the present course.