PH306: Lasers and Ultrafast Optics (3-0-0-6)

Laser Physics: The Einstein coefficients, light amplification, the threshold condition, laser rate equations, line broadening mechanisms, cavity modes, optical resonator, quality factor, mode selection, Introduction to gas lasers, solid state lasers, and semiconductor lasers.
Ultrafast optics: Introduction to ultrashort pulses (nano-, pico-, femto-, attosecond pulses): generation and propagation; principles of mode locking; pulse compression; laser amplifiers; interferometric autocorrelation; ultrafast measurement techniques: time resolved measurement, electro-optic sampling.
Applications: Nonlinear optical susceptibilities, second harmonic generation, self-focusing;, Step index and graded index optical fibers, attenuation and dispersion, brief introduction to fiber optic communications; Optical solitons, working principle: terahertz spectroscopy, laser ablation, multiphoton absorption.

Texts/References:

1. W. T. Silfvast, Laser Fundamentals, 2nd Ed., Cambridge University Press, 2004.
2. B.E.A. Saleh and M.C.Teich, Fundamentals of Photonics, 2nd Ed., Wiley, 2007.
3. Ultrafast Optics - Andrew Weiner (John Wiley & Sons).
4. Ultrashort Laser Pulse Phenomena - J.-C. Diels and W. Rudolph (Academic Press).
5. O. Svelto and D. C. Hanna, Principles of Lasers, Springer, 1998.