CS888 Theoretical Foundations of Light Transport Simulations — Winter 2025

Course Overview

This class will cover the theoretical foundations of light transport, from the perspective of a computer scientist that wishes to perform light transport simulations. The aim is to develop a strong understanding of the fundamentals of modern light transport formulations, their domains of applicability and the accompanying assumptions.

List of topics:

• Fermat’s Principle
• Ray optics (Hamiltonian optics) & the optical phase space
• The transition from ray to wave theories
• Diffraction
• Polarization
• Locality & incoherence in light transport simulations
• Optical coherence
• Incoherence due to uncertainty

Required prerequisites:

• Calculus, linear algebra and ODEs on an undergraduate level

Supplemental text books:

• Optics, Hecht
• Linear Ray and Wave Optics in Phase Space, Torre
• Introduction to the Theory of Coherence and Polarization of Light, Wolf

Text books are not mandatory, but recommended.

Grading: homework only