Optics Courses
Stanford offers a wide variety of optics and photonics related courses in several different departments. Below is a listing of these courses (current as of Winter 2009).
Seminars
APPPHYS 483. Optics and Electronics Seminar
Current research topics in lasers, quantum electronics, optics, and photonics by faculty, students, and invited speakers. May be repeated for credit.
1 unit, Aut (Mabuchi, H), Win (Byer, R), Spr (Harris, S)
Undergraduate Courses
APPPHYS 68N. Lasers and Photons
(F,Sem) Stanford Introductory Seminar. Preference to freshmen. The physics of lasers and their light. Computer applets and hands-on investigations. Historical development of ideas about light: electromagnetic waves; particles; special relativity; quantum theory; and the laser. Properties of laser light: wavelength and frequency; coherence; polarization; interference; diffraction; and linear and nonlinear optics. Lasers and applications from Schawlow and Townes to Linac Coherent Light Source. Prerequisites: high school physics and calculus. GER:DB-EngrAppSci
3 units, Aut (Bucksbaum, P)
EE 134. Introduction to Photonics
Photonics, optical sensors, and fiber optics. Conceptual and mathematical tools for design and analysis of optical communication and sensor systems. Experimental characterization of semiconductor lasers, optical fibers, photodetectors, receiver circuitry, fiber optic links, optical amplifiers, and optical sensors. Class project aimed on confocal microscopy for biomedical applications. Laboratory experiments. Prerequisite: 41 or equivalent. GER:DB-EngrAppSci
4 units, Spr (Solgaard, O)
EE 136. Introduction to Nanophotonics and Nanostructures
Electromagnetic and quantum mechanical waves and semiconductors. Confining these waves, and devices employing such confinement. Localization of light and applications: metallic mirrors, photonic crystals, optical waveguides, microresonators, plasmonics. Localization of quantum mechanical waves: quantum wells, wires, and dots. Generation of light in semiconductors: spontaneous and stimulated emission, lasers, and light emitting diodes. Devices incorporating localization of both electromagnetic and quantum mechanical waves such as resonant cavity quantum well lasers and microcavity-based single photon sources. System-level applications such as optical communications, biochemical sensing, and quantum cryptography. Prerequisite: familiarity with electromagnetic and quantum mechanical waves and semiconductors at the level of EE 41 or equivalent. GER:DB-EngrAppSci
3 units, Aut (Vuckovic, J)
MATSCI 164. Electronic and Photonic Materials and Devices Laboratory
Lab course. Current electronic and photonic materials and devices. Device physics and micro-fabrication techniques. Students design, fabricate, and perform physical characterization on the devices they have fabricated. Established techniques and materials such as photolithography, metal evaporation, and Si technology; and novel ones such as soft lithography and organic semiconductors. Prerequisite: 152 or 199 or consent of instructor. GER:DB-EngrAppSci, WIM
4 units, Aut (Salleo, A)
MATSCI 195. Waves and Diffraction in Solids
(Same as MATSCI 205.) The elementary principals of x-ray, vibrational, and electron waves in solids. Basic wave behavior including Fourier analysis, interference, diffraction, and polarization. Examples of wave systems, including electromagnetic waves from Maxwell's equations. Diffracted intensity in reciprocal space and experimental techniques such as electron and x-ray diffraction. Lattice vibrations in solids, including vibrational modes, dispersion relationship, density of states, and thermal properties. Free electron model. Basic quantum mechanics and statistical mechanics including Fermi-Dirac and Bose-Einstein statistics. Prerequisite: 193/203 or consent of instructor. GER:DB-EngrAppSci
4 units, Win (Clemens, B)
MATSCI 199. Electronic and Optical Properties of Solids
(Same as MATSCI 209.) The concepts of electronic energy bands and transports applied to metals, semiconductors, and insulators. The behavior of electronic and optical devices including p-n junctions, MOS-capacitors, MOSFETs, optical waveguides, quantum-well lasers, light amplifiers, and metallo-dielectric light guides. Emphasis is on relationships between structure and physical properties. Elementary quantum and statistical mechanics concepts are used. Prerequisite: 195/205 or equivalent. GER:DB-EngrAppSci
4 units, Spr (Brongersma, M)
PHYSICS 45. Light and Heat
Reflection and refraction, lenses and lens systems; polarization, interference, and diffraction; temperature, properties of matter and thermodynamics, introduction to kinetic theory of matter. Prerequisites: 41 or equivalent, and MATH 19 or 41, or consent of instructor. GER: DB-NatSci
4 units, Aut (Gratta, G), Sum (Staff)
PHYSICS 45N. Advanced Topics in Light and Heat
(F,Sem) Stanford Introductory Seminar. Preference to freshmen. Expands on the subject matter presented in 45 to include optics and thermodynamics in everyday life, and applications from modern physics and astrophysics. Corequisite: 45 or consent of instructor.
1 unit, Aut (Susskind, L)
PHYSICS 46. Light and Heat Laboratory
Pre- or corequisite: 45.
1 unit, Aut (Gratta, G), Sum (Staff)
PHYSICS 50. Astronomy Laboratory and Observational Astronomy
Introduction to observational astronomy emphasizing the use of optical telescopes. Observations of stars, nebulae, and galaxies in laboratory sessions with 16- and 24-inch telescopes at the Stanford Observatory. No previous physics required. Limited enrollment. Lab. GER: DB-NatSci, DB-NatSci
3 units, Aut (Funk, S), Sum (Staff)
Graduate Courses
APPPHYS 304. Lasers Laboratory
Theory and practice. Theoretical and descriptive background for lab experiments, detectors and noise, and lasers (helium neon, beams and resonators, argon ion, cw dye, titanium sapphire, semiconductor diode, and the Nd:YAG). Measurements of laser threshold, gain, saturation, and output power levels. Laser transverse and axial modes, linewidth and tuning, Q-switching and modelocking. Limited enrollment. Prerequisites: EE 231 and 232, or consent of instructor.
3 units, not given this year
APPPHYS 305. Nonlinear Optics Laboratory
Laser interaction with matter. Laser devices provide radiation to explore the linear and nonlinear properties of matter. Experiments on modulation, harmonic generation, parametric oscillators, modelocking, stimulated Raman and Brillouin scattering, coherent anti-Stokes scattering, other four-wave mixing interactions such as wavefront conjugation and optical bistability. Optical pumping and spectroscopy of atomic and molecular species. Limited enrollment. Prerequisites: 304, EE 231 and 232, or consent of instructor.
3 units, not given this year
APPPHYS 387. Quantum Optics and Measurements
Postulates in quantum mechanics and quantum optics: Heisenberg's uncertainty principle, von Newmann's projection hypothesis, quantum non-demolition measurements, quantum states of light, cavity quantum electrodynamics, nonlocality and quantum entanglement. Second quantization of bosonic and fermionic fields; Glauber, Fock, Dicke, and Bloch states, first- and second-order coherence, quantum interference. Reservoir theory of open systems: Markoff and Born approximations, density operator master, Fokker-Planck, quantum Langevin, stochastic differential equations, quantum Monte-Carlo wavefunction method.
3 units, alternate years, not given this year
BIOE 222A. Multimodality Molecular Imaging in Living Subjects I
(Same as RAD 222A.) Instruments for imaging molecular and cellular events in animals and human beings using novel assays. Instrumentation physics, chemistry of molecular imaging probes, and applications to preclinical models and clinical disease management.
4 units, Aut (Gambhir, S; Rao, J)
BIOE 222B. Multimodality Molecular Imaging in Living Subjects II
(Same as RAD 222B.) In vivo imaging techniques and applications to preclinical models and clinical disease management. Focus on cancer research, neurobiology, cardiovascular and musculoskeletal diseases.
2 units, Win (Gambhir, S; Rao, J)
BIOPHYS 232. Advanced Imaging Lab in Biophysics
(Same as BIO 132, BIO 232, MCP 232.) Laboratory and lectures. Advanced microscopy and imaging, emphasizing hands-on experience with state-of-the-art techniques. Students construct and operate working apparatus. Topics include microscope optics, Koehler illumination, contrast-generating mechanisms (bright/dark field, fluorescence, phase contrast, differential interference contrast), and resolution limits. Laboratory topics vary by year, but include single-molecule fluorescence, fluorescence resonance energy transfer, confocal microscopy, two-photon microscopy, and optical trapping. Limited enrollment. Recommended: basic physics, Biology core or equivalent, and consent of instructor.
4 units, Spr (Block, S; Schnitzer, M; Smith, S; Stearns, T)
EE 231. Introduction to Lasers
How lasers work, including quantum transitions in atoms, stimulated emission and amplification, rate equations, saturation, feedback, coherent optical oscillation, laser resonators, and optical beams. Limited primarily to steady-state behavior; classical models for atomic transitions with little quantum mechanics background required. Prerequisites: electromagnetic theory to the level of 142, preferably 241, and some atomic or modern physics such as PHYSICS 70 or 130, 131.
3 units, Win (Digonnet, M)
EE 232. Laser Dynamics
Continuation of 231, emphasizing dynamic and transient effects including spiking, Q-switching, mode locking, frequency modulation, frequency and spatial mode competition, linear and nonlinear pulse propagation, short pulse expansion, and compression. Prerequisite: 231.
3 units, Spr (Fan, S)
EE 234. Photonics Laboratory
Photonics and fiber optics with a focus on communication and sensing. Experimental characterization of semiconductor lasers, optical fibers, photodetectors, receiver circuitry, fiber optic links, optical amplifiers, and optical sensors. Prerequisite: 142.
3 units, Win (Vuckovic, J)
EE 235. Guided Wave Optical Devices
Guided wave optics, optical waveguide devices, and integrated optics. Wave propagation in layered media, slab waveguides, and optical fibers. Rectangular waveguides. Optical waveguide technology. Coupled-mode theory. Numerical analysis of complex waveguides. Photonic crystals. Physics and design of waveguide devices. Fiber sensors, waveguide gratings, waveguide modulators, directional couplers, ring filters. Prerequisite: electromagnetic theory to the level of 142 or equivalent.
3 units, Aut (Fan, S)
EE 242. Electromagnetic Waves
Continuation of 141. Maxwell's equations. Plane waves in lossless and lossy media. Skin effect. Flow of electromagnetic power. Poynting's theorem. Reflection and refraction of waves at planar boundaries. Snell's law and total internal reflection. Reflection and refraction from lossy media. Guided waves. Parallel-plate and dielectric-slab waveguides. Hollow wave-guides, cavity resonators, microstrip waveguides, optical fibers. Interaction of fields with matter and particles. Antennas and radiation of electromagnetic energy. Prerequisite: 141 or PHYSICS 120.
3 units, Win (Inan, U)
EE 243. Semiconductor Optoelectronic Devices
Semiconductor physics and optical processes in semiconductors. Operating principles and practical device features of semiconductor optoelectronic materials and heterostructures. Devices include: optical detectors (p-i-n, avalanche, and MSM); light emitting diodes; electroabsorptive modulators (Franz-Keldysh and QCSE), electrorefractive (directional couplers, Mach-Zehnder), switches (SEEDs); and lasers (waveguide and vertical cavity surface emitting). Prerequisites: semiconductor devices and solid state physics such as EE 216 and 228 or equivalents. Recommended: basic quantum mechanics and lasers such as EE 216 and 231 or equivalents.
3 units, Win (Harris, J)
EE 247. Introduction to Optical Fiber Communications
Fibers: single- and multi-mode, attenuation, modal dispersion, group-velocity dispersion, polarization-mode dispersion. Nonlinear effects in fibers: Raman, Brillouin, Kerr. Self- and cross-phase modulation, four-wave mixing. Sources: light-emitting diodes, laser diodes, transverse and longitudinal mode control, modulation, chirp, linewidth, intensity noise. Modulators: electro-optic, electro-absorption. Photodiodes: p-i-n, avalanche, responsivity, capacitance, transit time. Receivers: high-impedance, transimpedance, bandwidth, noise. Digital intensity modulation formats: non-return-to-zero, return-to-zero. Receiver performance: Q factor, bit-error ratio, sensitivity, quantum limit. Sensitivity degradations: extinction ratio, intensity noise, jitter, dispersion. Wavelength-division multiplexing. System architectures: local-area, access, metropolitan-area, long-haul. Prerequisites: 102A or 261, and 242 or 235 or 241, and 178 or 179.
3 units, Aut (Kahn, J)
EE 256. Numerical Electromagnetics
Principles and applications of numerical techniques for solving practical electromagnetics problems. Time domain solutions of Maxwell's equations. Finite difference time domain (FDTD) methods. Numerical stability, dispersion, and dissipation. Absorbing boundary conditions. Perfectly matched layer methods. Explicit and implicit methods. FDTD modeling of propagation and scattering in dispersive and anisotropic media. Near-to-far-zone transformations. Computational problems require programming and use of MATLAB and other tools. Prerequisite: 242 or equivalent.
3 units, Spr (Inan, U)
EE 268. Introduction to Modern Optics
Geometrical optics: ray matrices, Gaussian beams, optical instruments, and radiometry. Wave nature of light: Maxwell's equations, propagation through media with varying index of refraction (e.g., fibers). Interferometry: basic principles, practical systems, and applications.
3 units, Aut (Hesselink, L)
EE 336. Nanophotonics
(Same as MATSCI 346.) Recent developments in micro- and nanophotonic materials and devices. Basic concepts of photonic crystals. Integrated photonic circuits. Photonic crystal fibers. Superprism effects. Optical properties of metallic nanostructures. Sub-wavelength phenomena and plasmonic excitations. Meta-materials. Prerequisite: electromagnetic theory at the level of 242.
3 units, Win (Fan, S; Brongersma, M)
EE 340. Advanced Topics in Optics and Quantum Optics
Optical microcavities and their device applications. Types of optical microcavities (microdisks, microspheres, and photonic crystal cavities), and their electromagnetic properties, design, and fabrication techniques. Cavity quantum electrodynamics: strong and weak-coupling regime, Purcell factor, spontaneous emission control. Applications of optical microcavities, including low-threshold lasers, resonant cavity light-emitting diodes, and single-photon sources. Prerequisites: advanced undergraduate or basic graduate-level knowledge of electromagnetics, quantum mechanics, and physics of semiconductors.
3 units, Spr (Vuckovic, J)
EE 343. Advanced Optoelectronic Devices
Semiconductor quantum well structures; superlattices and coupled quantum wells; optical properties of quantum wells; valence band structure; effects of strain; quantum well lasers; intersubband detectors; excitons in quantum wells; absorption saturation; electroabsorption; quantum well modulators and switches. Prerequisites: 222 or equivalent quantum mechanics, 243. Recommended: 223.
3 units, not given this year
EE 345. Optical Fiber Communication Laboratory
Experimental techniques in optical fiber communications. Experimental investigation of key optical communications components including fibers, lasers, modulators, photodiodes, optical amplifiers, and WDM multiplexers and demultiplexers. Key optical communications systems techniques: eye diagrams and BER measurements. Prerequisites: undergraduate physics and optics.
3 units, Spr (Kazovsky, L)
EE 346. Introduction to Nonlinear Optics
Wave propagation in anisotropic, nonlinear, and time-varying media. Microscopic and macroscopic description of electric dipole susceptibilities. Free and forced waves-phasematching; slowly varying envelope approximation-dispersion, diffraction, space-time analogy; harmonic generation; frequency conversion; parametric amplification and oscillation; electro-optic light modulation; nonlinear processes in optical fibers. Prerequisites: 141, 242.
3 units, Spr (Harris, S)
EE 347. Optical Methods in Engineering Science
Design and understanding of modern optical systems. Topics: geometrical optics; aberration theory; systems layout; applications such as microscopes, telescopes, optical processors. Computer ray tracing program as a design tool. Prerequisite: 268 or 366, or equivalent.
3 units, not given this year
EE 348. Advanced Optical Fiber Communications
Optical amplifiers: gain, saturation, noise. Semiconductor amplifiers. Erbium-doped fiber amplifiers. System applications: preamplified receiver performance, amplifier chains. Raman amplifiers, lumped vs. distributed amplification. Group-velocity dispersion management: dispersion-compensating fibers, filters, gratings. Interaction of dispersion and nonlinearity, dispersion maps. Multichannel systems. Wavelength-division multiplexing components: filters, multiplexers. WDM systems, crosstalk. Time-, subcarrier-, code- and polarization-division multiplexing. Solitons, loss- and dispersion-managed solitons. Comparison of modulation techniques: duobinary, pulse-amplitude modulation, differential phase-shift keying, phase-shift keying, quadrature-amplitude modulation. Comparison of detection techniques: noncoherent, differentially coherent, coherent. Spectral efficiency limits. Error-control coding. Prerequisite: 247.
3 units, not given this year
EE 349. Nano Optics and Grating Photonics
Coupled wave analysis of periodic structures, gratings structures for optical communcations, wave-matter interactions with periodic media and photonic crystals, applications of periodic structures. Prerequisite: 268 or 366, or equivalent.
3 units, Win (Hesselink, L)
EE 366. Introduction to Fourier Optics
Applications of Fourier theory to the analysis and synthesis of optical imaging and optical data processing systems. Propagation and diffraction of light, Fresnel and Fraunhofer approximations, Fourier transforming properties of lenses, image formation with coherent and incoherent light, transform functions of imaging systems, optical data processing, and holography. Prerequisite: familiarity with Fourier analysis. Recommended: 261.
3 units, not given this year
EE 392B. Introduction to Imaging Sensors
Design and analysis: silicon photodetectors; CCD and CMOS passive and active sensor operation; noise and FPN analysis; spatial resolution and MTF; SNR and dynamic range; high dynamic range architectures; A/D conversion approaches. Analysis of the signal path in a digital camera starting from the optics, through the sensor, the A/D converter, to the different color processing steps. MATLAB camera simulator is used to explore various tradeoffs in camera design. Prerequisites: undergraduate level device, circuit, and system background equivalent to 102A, 101A,B; and familiarity with noise analysis.
3 units, not given this year
EE 392R. Charged Particle Optics
Electron optics of charged particle instruments including transmission electron microscope, scanning electron microscope and related tools, mass and energy spectrometers, electron beam lithography tools, focused ion beam systems, electron diffraction, proximal probe tools such as the scanning tunneling microscope. Topics include sources, first-order focusing of electrons and ions, third-order aberrations, space-charge effects and diffraction. Goal is to compute the optical parameters of axially-symmetric magnetic and electric lenses and to be familiar with the principles of operation of the above charged-particle systems and the factors limiting their performance. Prerequisites: undergraduate geometrical optics and vector calculus or 217.
3 units, not given this year
MATSCI 205. Waves and Diffraction in Solids
(Same as MATSCI 195.) The elementary principals of x-ray, vibrational, and electron waves in solids. Basic wave behavior including Fourier analysis, interference, diffraction, and polarization. Examples of wave systems, including electromagnetic waves from Maxwell's equations. Diffracted intensity in reciprocal space and experimental techniques such as electron and x-ray diffraction. Lattice vibrations in solids, including vibrational modes, dispersion relationship, density of states, and thermal properties. Free electron model. Basic quantum mechanics and statistical mechanics including Fermi-Dirac and Bose-Einstein statistics. Prerequisite: 193/203 or consent of instructor.
3 units, Win (Clemens, B)
MATSCI 209. Electronic and Optical Properties of Solids
(Same as MATSCI 199.) The concepts of electronic energy bands and transports applied to metals, semiconductors, and insulators. The behavior of electronic and optical devices including p-n junctions, MOS-capacitors, MOSFETs, optical waveguides, quantum-well lasers, light amplifiers, and metallo-dielectric light guides. Emphasis is on relationships between structure and physical properties. Elementary quantum and statistical mechanics concepts are used. Prerequisite: 195/205 or equivalent.
3 units, Spr (Brongersma, M)
MATSCI 302. Solar Cells
Theory of conventional p-n junction and excitonic solar cells. Design, fabrication, and characterization of crystalline silicon, amorphous silicon, CdTe, CIGS, and tandem and organic solar cells. Emerging solar cell concepts such as intermediate band gap and bioinspired solar cells. Emphasis is on the materials science aspects of solar cells research. Module design and economic hurdles that must be overcome for solar cell technology to generate a significant fraction of the world's electricity. Group project to explore one solar cell approach in depth. SITN/SCPD televised.
3 units, Spr (McGehee, M)
MATSCI 311. Lasers in Materials Processing
Principles of laser operation. Optically and electrically pumped lasers. Materials for solid-state lasers. Fundamentals of laser/materials interactions. Applications in thin film technology and microfabrication; laser annealing of defects and crystallization of amorphous films. Laser-induced shock waves. Extreme non-equilibrium laser processing; ultra-fast (femtosecond) lasers and their novel uses; micro- and nanofabrication of fluidic and photonic devices; intracellular nano-surgery.
3 units, Spr (Salleo, A)
MATSCI 343. Organic Semiconductors for Electronics and Photonics
The science of organic semiconductors and their use in electronic and photonic devices. Topics: methods for fabricating thin films and devices; relationship between chemical structure and molecular packing on properties such as band gap, charge carrier mobility and luminescence efficiency; doping; field-effect transistors; light-emitting diodes; lasers; biosensors; photodetectors and photovoltaic cells. SITN/SCPD televised.
3 units, Win (McGehee, M; Peumans, P)
MATSCI 346. Nanophotonics
(Same as EE 336.) Recent developments in micro- and nanophotonic materials and devices. Basic concepts of photonic crystals. Integrated photonic circuits. Photonic crystal fibers. Superprism effects. Optical properties of metallic nanostructures. Sub-wavelength phenomena and plasmonic excitations. Meta-materials. Prerequisite: electromagnetic theory at the level of 242.
3 units, Win (Fan, S; Brongersma, M)
PHYSICS 321. Laser Spectroscopy
Theoretical concepts and experimental techniques. Absorption, dispersion, Kramers-Kronig relations, line-shapes. Classical and laser linear spectroscopy. Semiclassical theory of laser atom interaction: time-dependent perturbation theory, density matrix, optical Bloch equations, coherent pulse propagation, multiphoton transitions. High-resolution nonlinear laser spectroscopy: saturation spectroscopy, polarization spectroscopy, two-photon and multiphoton spectroscopy, optical Ramsey spectroscopy. Phase conjugation. Four-wave mixing, harmonic generation. Coherent Raman spectroscopy, quantum beats, ultra-sensitive detection. Prerequisite: 230. Recommended: 231.
3 units, Spr (Kasevich, M)
PHYSICS 323. Laser Cooling and Trapping
Principles of laser cooling and atom trapping. Optical forces on atoms, forms of laser cooling, atom optics and atom interferometry, ultra-cold collisions, and introduction to Bose condensation of dilute gases. Emphasis is on the development of the general formalisms that treat these topics. Applications of the cooling and trapping techniques: atomic clocks, internal sensors, measurements that address high-energy physics questions, many-body effects, polymer science, and biology. Prerequisite: 231 or equivalent.
3 units, not given this year
