Overview

Classical Optics and Electromagnetic Waves offers an exploration of optics, the physics subfield examining light's properties and applications. Beginning with the mathematical foundations of electromagnetic waves in matter, the text develops geometric optics as the short-wavelength limit of Maxwell's Equations, establishing a framework for understanding wavefronts, light rays, and intensity variations. The work progresses methodically through image formation using mirrors and lenses in the paraxial approximation, employing transfer matrices for precise calculations. It thoroughly examines wave propagation through the Huygens-Fresnel and Fresnel-Kirchhoff integrals, comparing scalar and vector-field approaches while demonstrating their reduction to geometric optics. Diffraction receives comprehensive treatment across various scenarios—infinite slits, circular apertures, barriers, and gratings. The text introduces coherence concepts before exploring interference phenomena, developing the amplitude autocorrelation function and its connection to power spectra through the Wiener-Khinchin Theorem. Advanced topics include detailed analysis of Michelson and Fabry-Perot interferometers, thin-film stack calculations using the Abeles transfer matrix technique, Gaussian beam wave functions, optical cavity properties, and Fourier optics. End-of-chapter guided problems, numerous appendices and a glossary of symbols make this an invaluable textbook for intermediate to advanced students of classical optics. Designed as a natural follow-on to Purcell and Morin's Electricity and Magnetism in a three-semester honours sequence, this text bridges introductory electromagnetism and specialized optics coursework. It also serves as a more mathematically rigorous alternative to Hecht’s Optics for upper-division students who have completed one or more intermediate-level electromagnetism courses. Colour figures referred to in the book can be accessed at https://www.routledge.com/Classical-Optics-and-Electromagnetic-Waves/Bickers/p/book/9781032766171. Key Features: Designed as a follow-on resource for students who have previously taken courses in electromagnetism. Presents derivations and comments on approximations as they are introduced. Includes extensive end-of-chapter guided problems to aid learning.

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9781032766171

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N. E. “Gene” Bickers is Professor Emeritus at the University of Southern California, USA. He earned his doctorate in Physics from Cornell University in 1986. He was a faculty member in the USC Department of Physics and Astronomy from 1988 until his retirement in 2023. His research specialty is theoretical condensed matter physics, in particular, phase transitions and electron transport properties in narrow-band metals. His work on high-temperature cuprate superconductivity includes the first correct prediction of the symmetry of the superconducting wave function in 1987. Bickers served as Vice Provost for Undergraduate Programs at USC from 2005 to 2016. He was a member of the inaugural cohort of Faculty Fellows in the USC Center for Excellence In Teaching (CET) during 1997–2000 and has received numerous awards for his teaching in both undergraduate and graduate courses.

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