Curriculum

Information on the MSc in Optical Sciences program

The MSc in Optical Sciences program is exclusively taught in English and prepares the students for a challenging career in the optics & photonics industry or for the pursuit of a doctoral degree. This is facilitated through several temporally overlapping stages with increasing degrees of specialization.

Stage 1 features a broad in-depth education in state-of-the-art optics knowledge with a focus on coherent light-matter interaction. This is followed by stage 2 where the student acquires specialized skills in an elective subject - these elective subjects represent the main research areas of the different research groups at Humboldt University of Berlin and the cooperating non-university research institutes in the Science- and Technology-Park Berlin-Adlershof. Finally, within stage 3 the students start into their own independent research which leads up to the final 6-month master thesis.

The corresponding modules are:

Stage 1: Optical Sciences

  • Fundamentals of Optical Sciences (12 ECTS credit points)
  • Advanced Optical Sciences (6 ECTS credit points)
  • Optical Sciences Laboratory (6 ECTS credit points)
  • Seminar Optical Sciences (6 ECTS credit points)

Stage 2: Elective Subjects

  • Nonlinear Photonics (3 modules, 6 ECTS credit points each)
  • Quantum Optics (3 modules, 6 ECTS credit points each)
  • Short-Wavelength Optics (3 modules, 6 ECTS credit points each)
  • Theoretical Optics (3 modules, 6 ECTS credit points each)

Stage 3: Independent Research

  • Advanced Optical Sciences Laboratory (15 ECTS credit points)
  • Introduction to Independent Scientific Research (15 ECTS credit points)
  • Master thesis (30 ECTS credit points)


Detailed descriptions of the modules can be found here.

1. Semester
Fundamentals of Optical Sciences
31 ECTS
2. Semester
Advanced Optical Sciences + Electives
29 ECTS
Nonlinear Photonics Quantum Optics Short-Wavelength Optics Theoretical Optics
3. Semester
Specialization
30 ECTS
Introduction to Independent
Scientific Research
Advanced Optical Sciences Laboratory
4. Semester
Master Thesis
30 ECTS