| Date | Lectures | Assignments | Notes | ||
| 01/04 | Waves. | HW 1 | WS 1 | ||
| 01/06 | Plane, spherical and cylindrical waves. Electromagnetic waves. | HW 2 | WS 2 | Lab 1 | Notes on error analysis |
| 01/08 | Electromagnetic waves. Poynting vector. | HW 3 | WS 3 | ||
| 01/11 | Photons. Radiation. | HW 4 | WS 4 | EM spectrum (Power Point Presentation from Georgia Tech) | |
| 01/13 | Addition of waves. | HW 5 | WS 5 | ||
| 01/15 | Interference. | HW 6 | WS 6 | Lab 2 | |
| 01/18 | No class: MLK Day. Note: problems Hecht 9.3 and 9.6 from HW#6 are postponed due Friday. | ||||
| 01/20 | Interference. Interferometers. | HW 7 | WS 7 | Interference of C60 molecules (Nature 1999) | |
| 01/22 | Introduction to diffraction. | HW 8 | WS 8 | Best Lab Report winner for Lab#1: Ben Waters | |
| 01/25 | Diffraction on a single slit and on a rectangular aperture. | HW 9 | WS 9 | Lab 3 | |
| 01/27 | Diffraction by many slits. | HW 10 | WS 10 | ||
| 01/29 | Diffraction grating. Diffraction on a circular aperture. | HW 11 | WS 11 | ||
| 02/01 | Fresnel diffraction:introduction. | HW 12 | WS 12 | Lab 4 | |
| 02/03 | Fresnel diffraction: circular apertures. | HW 13 | Best Lab Report winner for Lab#2: Allen Waters | ||
| 02/05 | Fresnel zone plates. Diffraction from an obstacle. | HW 14 | WS 13 | Midterm is set for Wed,Feb 10. Open book. Based on parts of Ch. 2,3,9,10 discussed in class. | |
| 02/08 | Light propagation in a medium. | Reading: Ch.4.1-4.7. | Lab 5 | ||