Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science

6.637 - Optical Imaging Devices and Systems
Fall Term 2021

How the course will be taught in Fall 2021

6.637 will be taught in-person this semester. The classes will take place at the regularly scheduled time (TR 2:30 - 4:00 pm in Room 34-304).    Office hours will be held weekly at a time convenient for most of the students at https://mit.zoom.us/j/97707442869. 6.637 graduate students will also have access to the Modern Optics Laboratory.  PDFs of the class notes will be shared with all the registered students.  Homework will be assigned as usual. We will have 2 in-class, open-book quizzes during the semester. The final project report is still a requirement. There is no final exam.

COURSE SUMMARY

Most 2-D and 3-D optical imaging systems involve the use of one or more of the following: light sources (e.g., lasers,light-emitting diodes,lamps), spatial light emissive or modulation components (e.g., OLED, liquid crystal, electro-optic-crystal and MEMS light modulators), photodetector arrays (e.g., CCDs, photodiodes), information storage devices (e.g., optical disk, photorefractive material), image processing subsystems (e.g., spatial filtering components, color filtering components, lenses, gratings, digital signal processing systems) and of course the human eye.

This course starts with a focus on the fundamental principles of optics and optical phenomena, and includes a laboratory focus on imaging devices and systems. The course has significant design activity so mastery of the fundamentals is essential. The topics covered include: the polarization properties of light, reflection and refraction, coherence and interference, Fresnel and Fraunhofer diffraction regimes, Fourier optics; incoherent and coherent 2-D imaging systems; image resolution; optics of the eye; principles of 3-D imaging systems (near eye and projection); static and dynamic holographic imaging systems (including photorefractive systems); electro-optic, liquid-crystal spatial light modulation; 2-D emissive displays such as OLEDs; lasers, principles of image detectors for the visible and infrared; 2-D and 3-D optical image storage technologies; adaptive optical imaging systems.

Lectures are supplemented with weekly problem sets for the first 8 weeks. The undergraduates also 6 sets of laboratory exercises. The course concludes with a final project that explores the details of a special topic in optics, photonics or quantum electronics, etc. that is of interest to the student and meets the approval of the Instructor.

LECTURE

In-person on TR 2:30 - 4:00pm in Room 34-304

OFFICE HOURS

Office hours (attendance optional) will be held weekly at a time convenient for the majority of students.

PREREQUISITES

The prerequisite is 6.003 or equivalent. Exceptions can be made by the Lecturer

COURSE STAFF

Feel free to contact either the lecturer, Prof. Cardinal Warde for more information (Registered students only, please).

Lecturer:	Prof. Cardinal Warde Room 13-3102 MIT Tel: 253-6858 warde@mit.edu
TA/Laboratory Instructor:	TBD
Writing Coordinator:	Juergen Schoenstein Room: E18-240A  MIT  Tel: juergen@mit.edu
Course Secretary:	TBD
Optics lab:	Room 38-633 Phone: x3-4619
	(Note: We share the lab phone with 6.115, 6.003, and 6.002)