PHOTONICS

Objective of the course is to give the fundamentals of photonics - the science at the basis of emission, control and detection of light quanta - and its main applications.

The course will be taught through traditional lectures in the classroom.

Optical Amplification and Atomic Lasers

Radiation-Matter Interaction - Absorbance, Spontaneous emission and e stimulated emission – Einstein coefficients and Blackbody Radiation – Natural Linewidth – Optical Gain – Population inversion – Gain saturation – Optical amplification - 3 and 4 level systems - Fabry-Perot Cavity– Cavity modes – Finesse – Laser – NH3 maser - Ruby laser – Nd laser – He-Ne laser – laser cooling – laser annealing

Waveguides

Ideal waveguides with planar mirrors – Dielectric planar waveguides – bidimensional waveguides – Optical coupling – optical switching – Mach Zehnder structure - modulators – optical fibers – attenuation and dispersion - amplification in optical fibers

Detectors, LEDs, Solar Cells & Sensors

Light detectors – Single photon detectors - LEDs with III-V & II-VI semiconductors –Rare earths- Si:Er LEDs – Quantum dots & quantum wires – nano & heterostructure LEDs – Solar cells – Optical Modulators – Optical Sensors - Raman scattering and SERS

Semiconductor Lasers

Optical gain in semiconductors - Laser diode– Heterostructure Laser - VCSEL – Quantum cascade laser – Nanostructure Laser

Photonic Crystals, Plasmonics & Metamaterials

Basic principles – Nanocavity – Purcell Effect – Photonic Crystal Laser – Quasiperiodic and disordered photonic structures - Plasmonics – Metamaterials - Applications

Saleh & Teich, Fundamentals of Photonics, John Wiley & Sons Inc.

J.D. Joannopoulos, S.G. Johnson, J.N. Winn, R.D. Meade, Photonic Crystals: Molding the Flow of Light, Princeton University Press

S.G. Johnson, J.D. Joannopoulos, Photonic Crystals: The Road from Theory to Practice, Kluwer

V.V. Mitin, V.A. Kochelap, M.A. Stroscio, Quantum Heterostructures: Microelectronics and Optoelectronics, Cambridge University Press

O. Svelto, Principles of Lasers, Plenum Press