These lecture notes serve as the required course text. They are presented in the table below to approximate the chronology of topics and themes listed on the calendar.
The complete set of lecture notes is also available as a single file. (PDF - 9MB)
| LEC # | TOPICS | LECTURE NOTES |
|---|---|---|
1 | Introduction to Ultrafast Optics | Chapter 1 (PDF) |
2-4 |
Maxwell-Bloch Equation Two-Level Atoms and Rabi Flopping Dispersion, Absorption, Gain | Chapter 2 (PDF) |
5-8 |
Nonlinear Pulse Propogation Pulse Compression Self-Phase Modulation (SPM) and Solitons Soliton Pertubation Theory | Chapter 3 (PDF - 2.4 MB) |
9-10 |
Rate Equations and Relaxation Oscillation Q-Switching | Chapter 4 (PDF) |
11 | Master Equation and Active Mode-Locking | Chapter 5 (PDF) |
12-13 |
Passive Mode-Locking with Fast Saturable Absorbers Passive Mode-Locking with Slow Saturable Absorbers | Chapter 6 (PDF) |
14-15 |
Artificial Saturable Absorber Mode-Locking (APM and KLM) Kerr-Lens Mode-Locking (KLM) | Chapter 7 (PDF - 1.0 MB) |
16 | Semiconductor Saturable Absorber Mode-Locking | Chapter 8 (PDF) |
17-18 |
Pulse Characterization I - Autocorrelation Pulse Characterization II - FROG and SPIDER | Chapter 10 (PDF) |
19-20 |
Noise in Mode-Locked Lasers Frequency Metrology | Chapter 9 (PDF) |
21 | Ultrafast Measurement Techniques | Chapter 11 (PDF) |
22 | Pulse Amplification | Chapter 12 (PDF) |
23 | Optical Parametric Amplification (OPA) and Optical Parametric Oscillation (OPO) | No notes provided |
24 | Broadband Parametric Amplification | No notes provided |
25 | High-Harmonic Generation and Seeded Free-Electron Lasers | No notes provided |
26 | Ultrafast Optics Group Lab Tour | No notes provided |