This page includes a calendar listing lecture topics and key dates.
Course Meeting Times
Lectures: 2 sessions / week, 1.5 hours / session
Textbook
The primary course text is:
Saleh, B. E. A., and M. C. Teich. Fundamentals of Photonics. New York, NY: Wiley, 1991. ISBN: 9780471839651.
Readings assigned from this book will be supplemented by lecture notes, selections from other books, journal articles, and other handouts.
Class Format
First Lecture per week:
- Quiz (10 minutes)
- Review of last class and student questions
- Lecture
Second Lecture per week:
- Homework due
- Review of last class and student questions
- Lecture
Singapore-MIT Alliance (SMA) Workgroups
This class is offered concurrently to students at MIT and in Singapore via the Singapore-MIT Alliance. Students will assigned to Workgroups for weekly homeworks and Design Review projects. Each group will consist of 2-3 students at MIT and 2-3 students in Singapore.
Assignments
Students will be given weekly homework assignments. One solution will be submitted per workgroup. All members of the group receive the same homework grade.
Design Review Projects
Workgroups must complete four design review projects during the term. These begin with an introduction and discussion during class, and proceed via Web site discussion forums and optional appointments with Prof. Kimerling. The final deliverables are:
- 20 minute presentation (5-6 slides), during which all workgroup members must speak.
- Two days later, submit corrected slides and a final two-page report.
Weekly Quizzes
The weekly quizzes cover two lectures from the previous week. They test student attentiveness, and assess each student’s ability to:
- Grasp Concepts, and
- Retain Facts.
Grading
| ACTIVITIES | PERCENTAGES |
|---|---|
| Homework (7) | 30% |
| Quizzes (7) | 30% |
| Design Reviews (4) | 30% |
| Final Exam | 10% |
Course Calendar
| LEC # | TOPICS | KEY DATES |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Optical Materials Design 1 | |
| 2 | Optical Materials Design 2 | |
| 3 | System Design: TDM, WDM | Homework 1 due |
| 4 | Ray Optics, EM Optics and Guided Wave Optics | |
| 5 | Waveguide Design | Homework 2 due |
| 6 | WDM Filters: The Microcavity and the Ring Resonator | |
| 7 | Photonic Crystals | Homework 3 due |
| 8 | Electrons in Semiconductors | |
| 9 | Photons in Semiconductors and Dielectrics | Homework 4 due |
| Design Review 1 | ||
| 10 | LEDs | |
| 11 | Optical Amplifiers and Lasers | |
| 12 | Crystal Growth | Homework 5 due |
| 13 | Nonlinear Optics and Modulators | |
| 14 | Defects and Strain | |
| 15 | III-V Processing | Homework 6 due |
| 16 | Detectors 1 | Homework 7 due |
| Design Review 2 | ||
| 17 | Detectors 2 | |
| 18 | Microphotonics 1 | |
| 19 | Microphotonics 2 | |
| 20 | Nanophotonics | |
| Design Review 3 (Part 1), Real-Time Design Review 4 (Part 1) | ||
| Design Review 3 (Part 2), Real-Time Design Review 4 (Part 2) | ||
| 21 | Photonics Toolkit | |
| Final Exam |
