Faculty of Science

Objectives

To give a general view of the manifestation of wave phenomena in general and optical systems in particular.

Contents

The linear theory of vibrations in discrete systems: Simple Harmonic Oscillator, Resonance and normal modes, Beats, The linear theory of vibrations in continuous media: The Classical Wave equation in 1- dimension and methods of solution in bounded and unbounded domains, The vibrating string, Resonance, normal modes and interference, Fourier series wave propagation in a non uniform string, The Electromagnetic theory of light, Reflection, Fresnel coefficients, Polarization and introduction to crystal optics, Multiple Beam interference, The Fraunhoffer theory of Diffraction, Interferometery and related topics; Geometrical optics: Fermat’s principle and an introduction to Gaussian optics.