I took EE 170A (Principles of Photonics) and 170B (Photonic Devices) with Professor Liu. He is an expert in his research field, and any serious Photonics student should take his classes. Be prepared to work hard. Even if you do not plan to build a career in photonics, any Physics/EE student will benefit from his classes. Even the Software guys, as a solid understanding of what forms the backbone of the internet will only help you.

I just want to say that the last reviewer from 2008 said everything that I wanted say. His lecturing style is effective. (Taking notes in his textbook is the way to go. Unfortunately for us, the book is bloody expensive and difficult to understand without him there explaining it to you. But I don't regret buying it.) Also, his grading is fair and generous. I recommend the course highly.

In recent years, Professor Liu's EE 173 class is not as difficult as the previous reviews make it out to be. Professor Liu's teaching style needs a little getting used to. He has a pdf version of the course textbook (that he wrote). However, unlike other professors, he does not read off the book. He pinpoints the important parts and belabors them until you pretty much memorize those points. I have no idea how much use these points will be in the industry (although I am guessing they are useful for research), but at least you leave the course with some idea of the types of concepts that are important versus those that are not as important, which I think is better than giving equal emphasis to every concept.

I enjoyed Professor Liu's teaching style because you can always follow along in the book and jot notes down on what he emphasizes. Also, he is very fair. If he tells you he will test you on something, most likely it will show up on the exam. His exams have two parts. One part is computational, which will be questions extremely similar to the homeworks. The other part is conceptual, which will generally be explaining things (that he emphasized in class) or drawing one of the figures from the book (that he told you to study). He is very clear what he expects from his students.

The first half of the class is fairly easy; the concepts are a bit difficult (because they are so fundamental) but the calculations are easy. The second half gets a bit harder, both conceptually and computationally. Just something to keep in mind though, his lectures are very important if you want to understand the book. His book is not too great in terms of self-studying. Professor Liu did a very thorough job in his equations and descriptions, which may be overwhelming to the student. In lectures, he tells you the important parts of the book. After understanding that, you will then be better able to understand the book. Overall, the class is good to take and Professor Liu will help you understand the physics a lot. He makes you realize just how little you actually understand the concepts, in a good way.