3rd and final course in the Active Optical Devices Specialization

Instructor: Juliet Gopinath, Ph.D., Professor

The course will dive deep into electronic display devices, including liquid crystals, electroluminescent, plasma, organic light-emitting diodes, and electrowetting based displays. You'll learn about various design principles, affordances, and liabilities, and also a variety of applications in the real world of professional optics.

Prior knowledge needed: Undergraduate courses in physics, calculus, multivariable calculus, differential equations, modern physics/waves, electromagnetism quantum mechanics or quantum physics, statistical mechanics or thermal physics semiconductor physics. Graduate level courses in physical optics, lasers, and completion of semiconductor devices specialization (ECEA 5630 Semiconductor Physics, ECEA 5631 Diode: Junction and Metal Semiconductor Contact, and ECEA 5632 Transistor: field effect transistor and bipolar junction transistor). 

Specific skills to review before the course: Trigonometric & exponential functions, Algebraic manipulation, Polarization, Jones matrices/vectors and Birefringence.

Learning Outcomes

  • Select a display technology for a given application (LIDAR, imaging, microscopy etc.).
  • Design a system around the limitations of a given display technology (i.e. addressing).
  • Design a system that maximizes contract.

Syllabus

Duration: 4 hours

The course will cover the basics of electronic display devices, including liquid crystals, electroluminescent, plasma, organic light-emitting diodes, and electrowetting based displays. At the end of this course, learners will be able to select a display technology and perform the basic design of the display and have a thorough grasp of basic principles that drive display operation. Module 1 will cover the fundamentals of liquid crystal displays, used in most computer monitors.

Duration: 2 hours

Electroluminescence is the non-thermal generation of light caused by an applied electric field to a material. Displays using this technology have many advantages including fast response, wide viewing angles, high resolution, wide operating temperatures, lightweight, and good display qualities. You will learn about the fundamentals of this important class of displays and challenges.

Duration: 2 hours

In this module, you will learn about promising display technologies that include e-ink, electrowetting, and plasma displays. While the technology is different than the liquid crystal displays, these techniques have their own advantages in terms of contrast, scaling to large areas, and ultralow-power consumption.

Duration: 2 hours

Final exam for this course.

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Grading

Assignment
Percentage of Grade

Quiz: Liquid Crystal Displays

20%

Quiz: Electroluminescent Displays

20%

Quiz: E-Ink, Electrowetting, and Plasma Displays

20%

Final Exam

40%

Letter Grade Rubric

Letter Grade 
Minimum Percentage

A

90%

B

80%

C

70%

D

60%

F

0%