Welcome to the 8.311 webpage,
Spring 2005, Electromagnetic Theory


Course Structure and Description:

Lectures: Tu, Tr, 9:30-11, in Rm. 4-145 by Prof Leonid Levitov,
Office 12-112, Telephone: x3-6817, levitov@mit.edu,
Office hours: Tr, 3-4;
Recitations: Mo, 4-5:30, in Rm. 4-153 by Mr Bas Overbosch,
Office 12-134C, Telephone: x3-3753, overbosc@mit.edu,
Office hours: Tue 2-3pm (in 12-134C);
Texts: ``Classical Electrodynamics," by Julian Schwinger, L L DeRaad Jr, K A Milton, W-Y Tsai, Perseus Book, Reading, Massachusetts (1998)
``Classical Electrodynamics," by J D Jackson (John Wiley and Sons)
``Classical Theory of Fields," by L D Landau and E M Lifshitz (Pergamon Press, Oxford)
Problem sets: weekly, 12 in total, due Tuesday 5:00 in 8.311 homework box, Rm. 4-339B;
Final exam: May 12 (the last lecture), 1.5 hr long, closed book;
Grade: problem sets 60%, final exam 40%

Course syllabus postscript pdf (tentative) and weekly schedule postscript pdf


Use this LINK to check current homework grades



Problem Sets:

Problem Set #1: postscript pdf due 2/8
Solution #1: pdf
Problem 2b, Addendum pdf
Problem Set #2: postscript pdf due 2/15
Solution #2: pdf
Problem Set #3: postscript pdf due 2/24
Solution #3: pdf
Detailed solution: pdf
Problem Set #4: postscript pdf due 3/1
Solution #4: pdf
Detailed solution: pdf
Problem Set #5: postscript pdf due 3/8
Solution #5: pdf
Detailed solution: pdf
Problem Set #6: postscript pdf due 3/15
Solution #6: pdf
Detailed solution: pdf
Problem Set #7: postscript pdf due 3/29
See selected references on EM in media with negative refraction
Solution #7: pdf
Detailed solution: pdf
Problem Set #8: postscript pdf due 4/05
Solution #8: Detailed solution: pdf
Problem Set #9: postscript pdf due 4/12
Solution #9: pdf
Problem Set #10: postscript pdf due 4/21
Solution #10: pdf
Problem Set #11: postscript pdf due 4/26
Solution #11: pdf
Problem Set #12: postscript pdf due 5/03
Solution #12: pdf

Sample of Final (2004): postscript pdf
Final 2004 Solution: pdf

Final Exam on 05/12, in lecture, 9:30-11, closed book


Final Exam: postscript pdf
Final Exam Solution: pdf

Lecture notes and supplementary material

EM waves in media with negative refraction:

1. Popular article by JB Pendry and DR Smith in Physics Today (2004)
2. Possibility of negative refraction debated in Physics World (2002)
3. The original prediction and review by Victor Veselago (1964)
4. Theory of Veselago `superlens' with perfect, subwavelength image reconstruction, by JB Pendry (2000) pdf
5. Study of diffraction in negative n material and crticism of Ref.[4], by AL Pokrovsky and AL Efros (2002) pdf
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Last modified: 01/30/04
Leonid Levitov
levitov@mit.edu