Course Outcomes

Analyze the propagation of an optical beam with an arbitrary polarization inside a free-space optical system with polarization-sensitive components. 

Analyze three-level and four-leve laser systems through detailed calculation of the gain, population inversion, and cavity modes. 

Analyze and design stable mirror-based cavities for achieving single-mode or multi-mode operation; analyze the longitudinal and transverse modes and their Gaussian beam profiles in a mirror-based cavity. 

Analyze different classes of lasers (gas, liquid, solid-state, excimer, and seminconductor laser); also design a stable laser with a given set of specifications using simple building blocks (a variety of gain media, a series of mirrors, filters, switches, and modulators).

Design (conceptually using fundamental building blocks) active and passive Q-switched and mode-locked pulsed lasers and analyze their pulse properties . 

Analyze, explain, and compare in detail the data sheets of different commercial laser systems. 

Design simple experiments to measure the fundamental properties of a laser (especially its divergence angle, coherence length, and beam profile). 

Analyze different classes of optical detectors (photomultiplier tubes and semiconductor detectors). 

Analyze an optical communication system formed through building blocks (laser source, modulator, fiber, detector) in terms of the signal to noise rato and the bit error rate for simple modulation schemes. 

Analyze and design Fabry-Perot-based filters and spectrometrs.