EE 383V Quantum Electro-Optics (Fall 2020)

Date/Time/Location: MW / 3:00-4:30 PM / via zoom ( https://utexas.zoom.us/j/94734439312)

Instructor: Dan Wasserman

EER 3.874

MER 1.606E

x1-9818

[email protected]

Description: The field of Quantum Electro-Optics encompasses the set of devices, structures, and

materials whose electronic and optical properties cannot be understood using the bulk properties of

the constituent materials, but instead depend strongly on both size and geometry. Quantum Electro-

Optics is an emerging contemporary area of research with a wide range of new applications.

Understanding the optical properties of nanometer scale structures of semiconductors, metals, and

composites will be crucial for future optoelectronic devices and technology designed to couple with,

complement, or possibly even replace, present and future nanoelectronic devices. Separated from

any electronic components, nano-scale or subwavelength photonic structures offer new possibilities

for sensing, imaging, waveguiding, and many other applications. This course will examine the

Text: Class notes and journal papers

Supplementary: The Physics of Low-Dimensional Semiconductors, Davies (Cambridge 1998)

The Physics of Photonics Devices, Chuang

Optoelectronics, Rosencher

Fundamentals of Photonics, Saleh and Teich

The Physics of Semiconductors, M. Grundmann (Springer 2006)

Semiconductor Optics, C. Klingshirn (Springer, 2005)

Introduction to Nanophotonics, S. V. Gaponenko (Cambridge 2010)

Optical Processes in Semiconductors, J. Pankove (Dover 1971)

“Physics of Light and Optics” http://optics.byu.edu/textbook.aspx

Presentation: Each student will give an in-class presentation focused on a cutting edge research

topic in quantum electro-optics or, alternatively, a numerical program (developed by the student)

used for advanced simulation or calculation of a quantum electro-optical phenomenon.

Presentations will be 15 minutes long, including 2-3 minutes for questions following the

presentation. Presentations will be graded on technical content, oral communication and visual

presentation skills, critical thinking, as well as the presenter’s ability to answer questions and discuss

the presentation topic and its place in the larger context of the field. It is expected that the

presentation (or program) will focus critically on a sub-field outside of the students’ current field of

research.

Course Administration (Italics indicate administration for virtual lectures)

will be expected to use the on-line notes and lecture recording to bring themselves up to speed. They

may also ask classmates to share notes taken in lecture. Zoom lectures will be recorded and posted

online, but please do not consider these as a replacement for in-person attendance. No attendance

will be counted for viewing lecture recordings.

We will be using a recurring link for our zoom lectures: https://utexas.zoom.us/j/94734439312,

passcode: 314159

Please feel free to show up a few minutes before each lecture if you have questions, want to chat, or

want an idea of my old-man music taste.

To participate in Zoom class meetings, lab sessions, and office hours, you must be logged into a

homework will be accepted. In extreme circumstances, with a letter from Health Services and/or

the appropriate administrative official, a homework can be dropped, but only with course instructor

approval.

All homework will be uploaded, with the analytical and conceptual problems uploaded to

Gradescope and the numerical components uploaded to Canvas.

Homework will primarily be a mix of analytical, conceptual, and numerical problems. Students

may work in groups to understand the homework problems and to work out approaches to solving

them. However, the homework turned in should represent the individual student’s own work, and

cannot be copied from another student. Copied/reproduced homework constitutes a violation of the

honor code, and will be treated as such.

Illegible, or poorly annotated/described solutions will receive no credit. For clearly presented, well

thought-out solutions, partial credit will be granted even if the solution is not correct.

Conceptual Problems: Conceptual problems will ask for the student to explain in words and/or

equations, a physical phenomenon or concept from the course. Answers are expected to be in clear

and concise English, and free from grammatical and typographical errors. Students are expected to

use their own words, but are free to cite from the literature, as long as all references are clearly

noted. Students may also be asked to respond to questions regarding state of the art concepts or

research, which will require use of the literature.

Numerical problems: Numerical problems are to be performed in Matlab. You should have free

is available on the course Canvas website. This program calculates the normal incidence reflection

from a dielectric surface as a function of wavelength and plots the results. Your program files should

be named using the problem name and your initials (i.e. “DW_Reflection.m”). The first two lines

of the script should have the HW, problem name, your full name, your University ID number, and

a brief description of the program, as shown in the example script. All numerical homework

problems should be clearly and concisely annotated. The grader should be able to clearly see the

program inputs (and should be able to change these) and should be able to press the execute button

and see the program outputs.

Exams: There will be two exams for this course. The first exam will be given at approximately the

a. Ray Optics

b. Wave Optics

c. Electromagnetics, Maxwell’s Equations

d. Photon Optics

II. Matter

a. Basic description of atoms and crystals, free and bound electrons

b. Semiconductors, metals, and insulators: band structure

b. Confinement, density of states, localization

a. Classical oscillator

b. 1-atom chain

c. diatomic atom chain

d. Quantum harmonic oscillator

e. Phonon Statistics

a. Bulk Optical Properties of Matter

c. Emission

d. Non-linear Effects

d. Quantum dots (self-assembled and colloidal)

e. Mie scattering

a. Bragg-mirrors

b. Photonic Crystals

c. Photonic crystal defects

a. Gratings (reflection and diffraction)

b. The diffraction limit

c. Beating the diffraction limit

a. Propagating Surface Plasmons

b. Perfect electrical conductors waveguides

c. Localized surface plasmons

a. Negative refraction and negative index

b. Optical transformations

a. Band structure

b. Optical properties

d. Nano-scale energy transfer

Exam II (In Class)