OPTICS
A. COURSE DESCRIPTION:
This course covers aspects of wave geometry as well as wave’s optics, Fermat’s principle,
Snell’s laws, image formation on different optical systems, magnification, electromagnetic
waves, propagation in different media.
B. COURSE OBJECTIVES:
Learners should be able to describe optical systems, differentiate between real and virtual
images, and to understand propagation in different media.
C. EXPECTED LEARNING OUTCOMES:
-All students are expected to conform to university regulations
-Once registered for a course, you are expected to attend all prescribed activities, that is,
lectures, tutorials
-You are not allowed to stay away from lectures without official permission.
-To be eligible for the end of course examination, you must register a minimum attendance of
75%.
D. PROCEDURES:
-Interaction with students at the beginning to know their levels.
-Introduction on each chapter
-Assessing the students level of motivation and follow-up
-PowerPoint presentations
E. ASSESSMENT AND EVALUATION:
SN Weight Score
1 Attendance 10 10
Quizzes: 5
2 CA Assignments: 5
30
First Test: 10
Second Test: 10
3 Examinations 60 60
Total 100 100
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INTRODUCTION
Types of optics
Some of the prominent optics types include
1. Geometric optics: it focuses on the behaviour of light as a ray and the principles of
reflection, refraction, and image formation, without considering the way nature of light.
2. Wave optics (physical optics): it focuses on studying light as a wave and its interactions
with matter, including phenomena such as interference, diffraction and polarization.
3. Quantum optics: it investigates the behaviour of light at a quantum level, considering
phenomena such as photon, entanglement, quantum superposition and quantum
information processing
4. Nonlinear optics: it examines the behaviour of light in nonlinear media, where the response
of the material is not proportional to the intensity of the incident light.
5. Fibre optics: it focuses on the transmission of light through optical fibres for
communication sensing ,telecommunications, medical imaging and industrial sensing
6. Photonics: it involves the study and application of light generation, detection and
manipulation using devices and technologies such as lasers, optical fibres, photo detectors
In this course we will base our study on Geometric optics
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Optical Path
It is the distance that light travels through a medium or a series of optical components. It I
usually determined by multiplying the physical distance travelled by refractive index of the
medium through which the light is passing.
Optical Path Time Interval
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Fermats Principle of Least Time
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Application of fermats principle
1. Laws of reflection
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Laws of refraction (Snell’s laws)
When light propagates in a transparent material medium, its speed is in general less than
the speed in vacuum c. An interesting consequence of this is that a light ray will change
direction when passing from one medium to another. Since the light ray appears to be
“broken”, the phenomenon is known as refraction.
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Refractive index
It is defined as the ratio of the speed of light in air to the speed of light in the medium
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Total internal reflection
It is the complete reflection of a ray of light reaching an interface with less dense medium
when the angle of incidence exceeds the critical angle.
In optics, total internal reflection is the phenomenon in which light arriving at a
boundary from one medium to another (e.g from water to air) are not refracted into the
second (external) medium but completely reflected back to the first (internal) medium
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Assignment
Short questions
Bring out 5 Real life Applications of snell’s laws
Essay questions
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MCQs
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Numerical questions
Answer the following
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