Programme

OPTICS

- Preliminaries on waves:
Electromagnetic waves
Energy transfer and Poynting’s vector
The scalar approximation
Interference, diffraction and propagation of light

- Paraxial Optics:
The paraxial wave equation
Paraxial plane waves and Talbot effect
Higher-order Gaussian beams
Intensity moments and their propagation
Propagation in quadratic-index media

- Optical coherence theory:
Statistics of speckle
Analytic signal and quasi-monochromatic fields
Temporal coherence
Spatial coherence and the cross-spectral density
Partially polarized light fields

- Some applications of diffraction:
Diffractive optical elements
Holography

Core Documentation

- P. Mazzoldi, M. Nigro, C. Voci, “Elementi di Fisica – Elettromagnetismo e Onde”, II edizione, EdiSES (2008)
- F. Gori, Elementi di Ottica, ed. Accademica
- Notes provided by the teacher

Type of delivery of the course

traditional

Attendance

optional

Type of evaluation

oral exam