Have you ever wondered how:

atoms tell time?
antennas form beams?
metamaterials cloak?
noise is generated?
information is measured?
semiconductors switch?
lasers lase?
magnets levitate?
spins are imaged?
quantum states are teleported?
computers can operate reversibly? adiabatically? stochastically?

MAS.862 will provide answers to these and many other questions, through a survey of the theoretical foundations and device mechanisms used in information technologies. The schedule will be:

2/07 computation, interactions, units, and magnitudes
2/14 noise in physical systems
2/21 information in physical systems
2/28 electromagnetic fields and waves
3/07 circuits, transmission lines, and waveguides
3/14 antennas
3/21 optics
3/28 no class (Spring break) lensless imaging
4/04 semiconductor materials and devices
4/11 optical materials and devices
4/18 magnetic materials and devices
4/25 transducers
5/02 measurement and coding
5/09 quantum computing and communications
5/16 development
5/23 presentation
references

These topics will be developed through weekly problem sets, laboratory demonstrations, and analytical, numerical, or experimental semester projects.

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