6.007 | Spring 2011 | Undergraduate

Electromagnetic Energy: From Motors to Lasers

Course Description

This course discusses applications of electromagnetic and equivalent quantum mechanical principles to classical and modern devices. It covers energy conversion and power flow in both macroscopic and quantum-scale electrical and electromechanical systems, including electric motors and generators, electric circuit …

This course discusses applications of electromagnetic and equivalent quantum mechanical principles to classical and modern devices. It covers energy conversion and power flow in both macroscopic and quantum-scale electrical and electromechanical systems, including electric motors and generators, electric circuit elements, quantum tunneling structures and instruments. It studies photons as waves and particles and their interaction with matter in optoelectronic devices, including solar cells, displays, and lasers.

The instructors would like to thank Scott Bradley, David Friend, Ta-Ming Shih, and Yasuhiro Shirasaki for helping to develop the course, and Kyle Hounsell, Ethan Koether, and Dmitri Megretski for their work preparing the lecture notes for OCW publication.

Learning Resource Types
Demonstration Videos
Problem Sets
Lecture Notes
Graph of two perpendicular waves, each in a different color.
Electromagnetic plane waves. (Image by the course instructors.)