Optics from Beginner to Expert - The Physics of Light
What you'll learn
- Geometrical optics: Reflection & Refraction for understanding Mirrors & Lenses
- Wave optics: Diffraction, Interference & Polarization of light as a wave explained by Huygens' principle & Electrodynamics
- Quantum optics: Energy, Momentum & Spin of light as photons
- Famous experiments: Double-slit experiment, Photoelectric effect, Compton effect & many more
- Solar cells & LASER as modern light technologies
- Mathematical descriptions and derivations: From Maxwell's equations to Fresnel equations
- Exercises and applications of cool phenomena like Birefringence & Dichroism
- Modern optics phenomena like Holography & Fourier optics
Requirements
- Basic mathematics
- Recommended: What are derivatives and vectors?
Description
This course is for everyone who wants to learn about optics: Beginners to experts!
A bit of high school mathematics (trigonometry, equations) is all you need to know to get started!
The fundamental question of optics is: 'What is light?' Is light a ray or a beam that can be fully described by geometry? Is light a wave that can interfere with other waves and can bend around corners? Does light consist of particles that have an energy and a momentum just like electrons or even macroscopic objects like a football? Here, we will discuss all of these approaches based on theory and experiments. I can guarantee that you will learn a lot no matter what your current skill level is. For advanced students: The later lectures about wave and quantum optics are on a university level.
You are kindly invited to join this carefully prepared course in which we derive the following concepts from scratch. I will present examples and have prepared quizzes and exercises for all topics.
Geometrical optics (3 hours)
Reflection & Mirrors
Refraction & Lenses
Applications: Eye, Microscope & Telescope
Wave optics (or physical optics) (8.5 hours)
Experiments & Phenomenological description (incl. introduction about derivatives and differential equations)
Diffraction, interference & Polarization
Theory based on Maxwell’s equations (incl. introduction to complex numbers)
Electromagnetic waves in matter: Derivation of the Fresnel equations & Complex refractive indices
Quantum optics (4.5 hours)
Photons: Quantum description of light (Photoelectric effect, Compton effect)
Applications: LASER & Solar cell
Introduction to quantum mechanics
Outlook: Modern optics phenomena
Why me?
My name is Börge Göbel and I am a postdoc working as a scientist in theoretical physics. Therefore, I use presented concepts very often but I have not forgotten the time when I learned about it and still remember the problems that I and other students had.
I have refined my advisor skills as a tutor of Bachelor, Master and PhD students in theoretical physics and have other successful courses here on Udemy.
I hope you are excited and I kindly welcome you to our course!
Who this course is for:
- All skill levels from beginners to experts: The sections differ in difficulty from easy (geometrical optics) to advanced (quantum optics)
- Everyone who wants to understand 'What is light?' from several perspectives
- Students who want to understand the famous experiments and phenomena related to light
- The more advanced sections are especially for college and university students who are also interested in the mathematical description of the effect
Instructor
- 4.7 Instructor Rating
- 1,438 Reviews
- 11,979 Students
- 10 Courses
Hi, my name is Börge, I am a theoretical physicist working in the field for more than 10 years. I have been supervising several Bachelor, Master and PhD students and I am an experienced instructor on physics, mathematics and programming-related topics and want to spark your excitement for science. I will help you to become knowledgeable and successful in the STEM fields. Understanding Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics basically guarantees you to have a successful career and to be able to make the world a better place. However, getting into these extremely fascinating topics can be frustrating: They are often taught either too loosely or with a too strong focus on the mathematics.
My all-in-one courses are exactly the courses I wish I had when I was first getting into university-level mathematics, physics & programming!
You will benefit no matter what your skill level is: from ‘interested newcomer’ to ‘experienced university student’. Each beginner friendly course (mathematical basics included) condenses more than a whole semester of university to about 10h-20h of time-efficient videos, exercises, quizzes, and real-world examples.
Join 6,000+ happy students today in one of my comprehensive 5-star courses. I am excited to go on this journey together with you :-)
Career as a scientist
Dr. Börge Göbel is a tutor and scientist working in theoretical physics. For his post-doctoral research position in quantum physics at a German university, he has to use and refine his programming (mostly Python and Mathematica), mathematics and physics skills on a daily basis. His 30+ original research publications in the most prestigious and renowned journals (including Nature & Science publishing groups) have been cited 1,000+ times and he has collaborated with outstanding researchers (including Nobel prize laureates) from all over the world.
The secret to do research successfully is not to hole up in complicated equations but to make the difficult concepts simple and accessible – to oneself and to others :-)
Check out my website to stay updated about my courses.