| Date | Lectures | Assignments | Notes | ||
| 01/09 | Waves. | HW 1 | WS 1 | ||
| 01/11 | Plane, spherical and cylindrical waves. Electromagnetic waves. | HW 2 | WS 2 | ||
| 01/13 | Electromagnetic waves. Poynting vector. | HW 3 | WS 3 | Lab 1 | |
| 01/16 | No class: MLK Day. | ||||
| 01/18 | Photons. Radiation. | HW 4 | EM spectrum (Power Point Presentation from Georgia Tech) | ||
| 01/20 | no class: flood. (Addition of waves.) | ||||
| 01/23 | Addition of waves. Interference. | HW 5 | WS 4 | Lab 2 | |
| 01/25 | Interferometers. | WS 5 | Interference of C60 molecules (Nature 1999) | ||
| 01/27 | Introduction to diffraction. | HW 6 | WS 6 | Best Lab Report winner for Lab#1: Breland Oscar | |
| 01/30 | Diffraction on a single slit and on a rectangular aperture. | HW 7 | WS 7 | Lab 3 | |
| 02/01 | Diffraction by many slits. | HW 8 | WS 8 | ||
| 02/03 | Diffraction gratings. Diffraction on a circular aperture. | HW 9 | WS 9 | ||
| 02/06 | Resolution of optical systems. Fresnel diffraction. | HW 10 | WS 10 | Lab 4 | |
| 02/08 | Fresnel diffraction: circular apertures. | HW 11 | WS 11 | Midterm is set for Fri,Feb 17. Closed book. Based on parts of Ch. 2,3,9,10 discussed in class. | |
| 02/10 | Fresnel zone plates. Light propagation in a medium. | WS 12 | Best Lab Report winner for Lab#2: Andy Svesko | ||
| 02/13 | Fresnel equations. | HW 12 | WS 13 | Lab 5 | |
| 02/15 | Total internal reflection. | WS 14 | Best Lab Report winner for Lab#3: Timothy Matthews | ||
| 02/17 | Midterm (10 am, Weniger 304) | ||||
| 02/20 | Interference in thin films. | HW 13 | WS 15 | Lab 6 | Whispering modes in a glass bead |
| 02/22 | Multiple beam interference. | HW 14 | WS 16 | Best Lab Report winner for Lab#4: Kyle Hollis | |
| 02/24 | Fabri-Perot interferometer. Interference in thin films. | HW 15 | WS 17 | ||
| 02/27 | Applications of single and multiple layer films. Light in bulk matter. | HW 16 | WS 18 | Lab 7 | |
| 02/29 | Dispersion.Addition of waves of different frequencies. Group velocity. | HW 17 | WS 19 | Best Lab Report winner for Lab#5: Afina Neunzert | |
| 03/02 | Polarization. | HW 18 | WS 20 | Lab 8 | |
| 03/05 | Birefringence. | HW 19 | WS 21 | ||
| 03/07 | Retarders. | HW 20 | WS 22 | ||
| 03/09 | Optical Activity.Introduction to Fourier Optics. | HW 21 | WS 23 | Best Lab Report winner for Lab#6: Randall Fox | |
| 03/12 | Apodization. Convolution. | HW 22 | WS 24 | Lab 9 | |
| 03/14 | Spatial filtering. | HW 23 | WS 25 | Best Lab Report winner for Lab#7: Teal Pershing | |
| 03/16 | Introduction to holography. | Speaking of Star Wars: modern research on holograms | |||