University of Oxford Physics Year 2 - Electromagnetism and Optics (A2) Complete Lecture Notes & Revision Guide

Comprehensive handwritten lecture notes for the University of Oxford Year 2 Physics course "Electromagnetism and Optics (A2)". These notes provide a structured and detailed treatment of the material covered throughout the course, including derivations, worked examples, key formulas, diagrams, and explanations designed to support both understanding and revision. Topics covered include: • Maxwell's equations, electromagnetic fields and potentials, Lorentz force, electromagnetic energy density, Poynting vector, energy transport, and radiation pressure • Boundary conditions for electric and magnetic fields, electrostatic potentials, conductors, and applications of Gauss' and Stokes' theorems • Laplace's equation, Poisson's equation, uniqueness theorems, separation of variables, and solutions in Cartesian, cylindrical, and spherical coordinate systems • Multipole expansions, monopole, dipole and quadrupole moments, electric and magnetic vector potentials, and magnetic dipole fields • Dielectric media, polarization, electric displacement fields, susceptibility, permittivity, bound charges, and boundary conditions at dielectric interfaces • Magnetic materials, magnetization, magnetic field strength, permeability, diamagnetism, paramagnetism, ferromagnetism, magnetic domains, hysteresis loops, hard and soft magnetic materials • Electromagnetic waves in vacuum, dielectrics, conductors, and plasmas, including refractive index, impedance, skin depth, plasma frequency, dispersion, and absorption • Reflection and transmission of electromagnetic waves, Brewster angle, total internal reflection, and wave propagation in material media • Transmission lines, characteristic impedance, wave speed, signal reflections, impedance matching, and quarter-wave transformers • Fraunhofer diffraction, multiple-slit interference, diffraction by rectangular apertures, telescope and microscope resolving power, Fourier optics, and spatial filtering • Coherence, interference by division of wavefront and division of amplitude, Michelson interferometers, Fabry–Perot etalons, finesse, and Fourier-transform spectroscopy • Polarization of light, birefringence, wave plates, optical polarizers, production and analysis of polarized light, and practical optical applications • Laser physics, population inversion, Einstein coefficients, optical pumping, laser action, coherence length, and modern photonic applications The document consists of carefully organised handwritten notes taken during the course and is suitable for lecture review, tutorial preparation, revision, and exam preparation. Ideal for Oxford Physics students and anyone studying advanced electromagnetism, optics, photonics, and electromagnetic wave phenomena.