EP 226 - Waves, Oscillations and Optics, Spring 2016-17

Instructor Name Tapanendu Kundu

Course Type Core for EP students

Course overview

Oscillations: Most of this part is a review of simple harmonic motion. Topics like damped oscillations, forced oscillations, coupled oscillations (in both spring mass systems and electrical circuits) are discussed in a relatively rigorous manner. Fourier series analysis of oscillations is also discussed at length.

Waves: The initial part is a recap of JEE physics. Equations and analyses of travelling waves, standing waves are covered. The rest of the topics include physical models for transverse and longitudinal waves, continuum model for string vibration modes, cavity quantisation of electromagnetic waves, Maxwell's equations, use of Fourier transforms.

Plasmonics: Introduction to surface plasmon polaritons and bulk plasmons. Attenuated total reflection discussed in the context of specific biomedical engineering applications.

Optics:  Polarisation, Jones matrix formalism, photoelastic materials, Fresnel’s equations, dielectric waveguides.

Prerequisites

No formal, or informal, prerequisites involved since all of the topics are discussed right from the basics.

Credit distribution

There were just two exams for this course - Midsem and Endsem. Besides, there was a graded course project. The weightage of the Midsem was 30%, Endsem 50% and the rest 20% was for the course project.

Feedback on Lectures

The Prof did not use slides at all; everything was taught on the blackboard. A lot of experiments were demonstrated in the class, during lectures. The lectures were comprehensive enough, but on some very rare occasions, the derivations were a little tough to understand. Most of the derivations were directly taken from one of the references mentioned in class by the Prof.

Attendance was taken in every lecture, though the Prof wasn’t too strict about enforcing any minimum attendance criterion.

Feedback on tutorials and assignments

No assignments were given for the course. There were two tutorials given as practice problems, one before the mid-sem and one before the end-sem. The solutions to these tutorials were not discussed, though the Prof kept office hours for students to discuss directly with him or the TA for the course.

Relevant References

Waves and Oscillations:

1. Berkeley Physics Course Vol 3 (Frank S. Crawford)
2. Vibrations and waves (A P French)

Optics:

1. Optics: Principles and Applications (K.K. Sharma)
2. Optics (Eugene Hecht)

Plasmonics: Fundamentals of plasmonics (S A Maier)

Pro-tips

Since the entire course was taught without slides, taking notes in class is extremely important. Even if you miss some classes, make sure to get the notes from someone who regularly attends lectures. Knowing what topics have been taught, however small and insignificant it might seem, is extremely important in this course.

Respondent Shobhna Misra

Note: This is a review to help you make a more informed choice about how to study for this course and/or choosing this course. While we've tried to keep it objective and complete, one must keep in mind that students have varying interests, methods of study, and the course itself changes from year to year.