Physics Basics Series
- Basics of Classical Mechanics.
- Basics of Quantum Mechanics.
- Basics of Electrodynamics.
- Basics of Optics.
- Basics of Mathematical Tools for Physics.
- Basics of Plasma Physics.
- Basics of Solid State Physics.
Troy Stark's Science & Society Opinion Blog
Basics of Optics
Notes on optics and optical physics. Most of us are very familiar with light and optics since we depend a great deal on our sense of vision, yet there is a great deal of mystery for us in the world of optics. It seems easier to understand the physical characteristics of an object as it affects our sense of touch for example. The fact that the object takes up space, has tensile and stiffness characteristics is fairly comprehensible. Sounds made by physical vibrations of the air around us are easy to comprehend. But just what is light? This thing we depend on so much transfers energy by vibrations in fields that are not so intuitive to us. Our understanding of optics has taken thousands of years to develop and I am sure we have thousands more years of active research of it's mysteries left.
- Light
- Light Sources
- Light Measurement
- Geometrical Optics
- Paraxial Optics
- Matrix Optics
- Aberrations
- Optical Elements
- Optical Instruments
- Wave Equations
- Superposition of Waves
- Optical Interference
- Interferometry
- Spectrometry
- Coherent Light
- Radiometry
- Polarization
- Diffraction
- Fraunhofer Diffraction
- Fresnel Diffraction
- Lasers
- Laser Beam Propagation
- Fiber Optics
- Optical Modes in Fibers
- Non Linear Optics
- Optical Materials
- Optical Damage of Materials
Light
Light Sources
Light Measurement
Geometrical Optics
Paraxial Optics
Matrix Optics
Aberrations
Optical Elements
Optical Instruments
Wave Equations
Superposition of Waves
Optical Interference
Interferometry
Spectrometry
Coherent Light
Radiometry
Polarization
Diffraction
Fraunhofer Diffraction
Fresnel Diffraction
Lasers
Laser Beam Propagation
Fiber Optics
Optical Modes in Fibers
Non Linear Optics
Optical Materials
Optical Damage of Materials
Quick Science & Math References
- Our Solar System.
- Earth Facts.
- The Metric System.
- Trigonometric Identities.
- Vector & Tensor Identities.
- Explicit Forms of Vector Operators
- Light & Electromagnetic Spectrum.
- Common Laser Wavelengths.
- Human Physiology Facts.
- Human History Timeline
- Geologic Timeline
- Cambrian Explosion
- Life on Earth Timeline
- ASCII Codes and HTML Display Codes
- Thousands of HTML Symbol Codes
- HTML Symbol Codes for Greek Letters
- The Best Way to put Equations on your Web Page
Physics Basics Series
- Basics of Classical Mechanics.
- Basics of Quantum Mechanics.
- Basics of Electrodynamics.
- Basics of Optics.
- Basics of Mathematical Tools for Physics.
- Basics of Plasma Physics.
- Basics of Solid State Physics.
Math Basics Series
- Numbers
- Arithmetic
- Algebra
- Geometry
- Analysis
Technology Basics Series
- Basics of Remote Sensing.
- Basics of Digital Signal Processing.
- Critical Electronic Circuits
- Infrared Imaging Basics
Knowledge Branches
- Information Theory
- How Reading Works in the Brain
- Psychology of Learning
- Logic
WORK IN PROGRESS
- What is the Stark Effect?
- The Chemistry of Love &/or Addiction
- Critical Thinking: How to question what you see, read or hear.
- Aristotle's Prior Analytics - the birth of Logic.
- Optical Solutions, lenses that solve problems
- Fractals
- PTC - Photon Transfer Curve or Mean Variance Analysis
- 3-D Noise
- Laser Primer
- Rail Guns
- Special Relativity
- Radar Technology
- Acousto-optic Cells
- Harmonic Generation for Laser Frequency Doubling (SHG) and Tripling -using non-linear crystals.
- Measurement: Accuracy & Precision.
- Things you should know about computer modeling of physical phenomena!
- Giant Magneto-resistance
- Peltier Cooling
- Pyro-Electric Detectors
- Piezo-Electric Crystals
- Laser Speckle
- FFT and DFT the fast fourier transform and the discrete fourier transform
- Fabry Perot Etalon
- The Hydrogen Atom.
- PCA (Principal Component Analysis)
- Energy per mass in fuels such as Hydrogen, Gasoline, Kerosene, HMX etc...
- Nobel prize winning work on the CCD
- How does a CCD work and what are the normal characteristics of a CCD
- Nobel Prize Winning work on Giant Magneto-resistance
- FROG -frequency resolved optical gating
- Optical Wavefront Sensing
- THz imaging and time-domain spectroscopy
- Camera Calibration
- Laser Designators
- Resampling