COURSE DESCRIPTION: The emphasis of this course will be (1) developing the fundamentals of how [gas, solid state, and semiconductor] lasers work (~ first 1/3 of class) and (2) learning the operating characteristics of state-of-the-art lasers. My general approach will be to cover the basics (theory) and then describe real systems and devices.

 

ECE 541 Laser and Optical Engineering

 

Overview and brief history

            Nature of light: wave view versus particle view

Lasers - General

            Two-level systems

            Lineshapes

Absorption and emission

            Einstein coefficients

            Photon density of states

            Fabry Perot cavities

            Lasing conditions

                        Population inversion

                        Optical gain – optical amplifiers

                        Feedback

            Mode locking

            Non-linear optics

Gas Lasers

            He-Ne

            Ion (e.g. argon and krypton)

            Molecular (e.g. CO2)

            Nitrogen

            Eximer

Dye Lasers

Solid State Lasers

            Ruby

            YIG and YAG

            Ti:Sapphire

National Ignition Facility

“War Weapons”

Semiconductor Lasers

           

Optional Lectures:

Grad. School - Is it worth the pain and what do I get?

Optical fibers

Optical modulators

Others on request