Official description

This course covers a broad range of advanced topics in classical optics, with the laser as a unifying theme. Topics include atom-photon interactions (absorption, radiation, and stimulated emission), how a laser works (gain, pumping, rate equation models, threshold, and gain clamping), optical resonators (their spectrum, finesse, stability, and transverse modes), propagation of Gaussian beams and paraxial rays, and the statistics of optical fields (spatial and temporal coherence). Time permitting, pulse propagation and pulsed lasers will be discussed.