Textbook in PDF format

The study of optics has much to offer to the STEM1 curriculum. If taken prior to upper-level quantum mechanics, the classical waves of physical optics can provide context and an intuitive foundation for the more abstract study of quantum mechanical waves. Wave interference and coherence can be observed with interferometers and within diffraction patterns, giving context to more abstract notions of quantum coherence. Fourier methods become intuitive when the connection to diffraction is established and they can be displayed as patterns on the wall. Quantum uncertainty becomes less mysterious after the classical counterparts are studied. Single-photon interference and Fresnel diffraction can open windows into subtle and interesting outcomes of quantum electrodynamics. Ideas such as these are what attract majors to science in the first place, and optics can provide a conceptual foundation for more advanced study. Optics is also very useful. Students from across the STEM disciplines can benefit from the technology of optics. Scientists measure things,
and measurement usually involves some aspect of optics. Engineers design and use optical sensors and build communication infrastructures that are increasingly based on optics. Biologists and astronomers benefit from a fundamental understanding of resolution limits and coherence. A foundation in optics can facilitate scientific careers.
Despite the practical and conceptual benefits that the study of optics has to offer, it is often missing from undergraduate STEM curricula. Perhaps this is because, in many cases, optics is offered as a senior-level physics course with advanced electricity and magnetism as a prerequisite. However, most of the content in an undergraduate optics course can be discussed very effectively without this level of preparation. The prerequisites assumed in this text are limited to the standard introductory sequences in calculus and calculus-based physics. Principles of electricity and magnetism are developed as needed, beginning with integral forms of Maxwell’s equations. A derivation of the electromagnetic wave equations is included, as is a thorough determination of all properties of transverse electromagnetic waves. This is a text that is accessible to sophomores and juniors, and the accessibility is achieved without compromise
Preface
The Physics of Waves
Electromagnetic Waves and Photons
Reflection and Refraction
Geometric Optics I
Geometric Optics II
Polarization
Superposition and Interference
Diffraction
Lasers
Optical Imaging
Appendix A Chapter 1 Appendix: Transverse Traveling Waves on a String
Appendix B Chapter 2 Appendix: Electromagnetic Wave Equations
Appendix C Chapter 5 Appendix: Calculation of the Jeans Number
Appendix D Chapter 7 Appendix: Fourier Series
Appendix E Solutions to Selected Problems