Short course of the fundamentals of optics, imaging, and microscoppy.

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Learning Outcomes

Light is an essential tool for many important scientific applications, such as optical microscopy and spectroscopy. This course is intended to provide the essential theoretical background of optics and imaging. In particular, the course will focus on traditional and state-of-the-art optical techniques. Additionally, students will have the opportunity to attend a demonstration with custom-built optical setups. The student will acquire a general overview of the physical principles of modern optical techniques and their most relevant applications.

Content

Light is an essential tool for many important scientific applications, such as optical microscopy and spectroscopy. This course is intended to provide the essential theoretical background of optics and imaging. In particular, the course will focus on traditional and state-of-the-art optical techniques. Additionally, students will have the opportunity to attend a demonstration with custom-built optical setups. The student will acquire a general overview of the physical principles of modern optical techniques and their most relevant applications. Syllabus/Content

The course is focused on theory and applications.

• Class 1 (2h): Fundamentals of optics (geometrical, scalar, and vectorial optics)
• Class 2 (2h): Imaging and wide-field microscopy
• Class 3 (2h): Confocal microscopy, Image Scanning Microscopy, STED microscopy, Structured Illumination Microscopy
• Class 4 (2h): Non-linear optics, multiphoton fluorescence and second harmonic generation microscopy
• Class 5 (2h): Fluorescence correlation spectroscopy, fluorescence fluctuation spectroscopy, fluorescence lifetime
• Class 6 (2h): Visit of the laboratory and experimental demonstrations

Teachers: Dr. Alessandro Zunino, Dr. Eli Slenders