Overview

The book gives accounts of non-quantum optical phenomena and of instruments and technology based on them, at a level suitable for the last two years of an honours degree in physics and for graduates starting out. Topics covered include the conventional (diffraction, coherence, thin films, holography...) but also the less conventional (étendue, Gaussian beams, laser cavities, cd reader, confocal microscope...) which belong in today's universitycourses, for example, to support laser physics. Even the conventional material has frequently been given a fresh presentation by giving a tidier-than-usual route through a calculation, or finding insightful connections with other parts of physics, or simply avoiding common errors. Problems offer opportunities for checking the reader's basic understanding, or for taking a careful route through reasoning, or for checking orders of magnitude. But most problems contain exploratory and critical material: investigating possible alternative approaches, asking searching questions about fundamentals, or solving apparent paradoxes.

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9780198599647

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Reviews

A thoroughly excellent textbook and I look forward to being able to recommend it to my students... conventional topics are presented in an unconventional way ... the author has thought long and hard as to how best teach a variety of topics. This will make it a unique and valuable addition to the books currently in use at universities. * Ifan Hughes, Department of Physics at University of Durham * I regard this book as a gem that not only should be used as a text but should also be a reference in labs, both academic and industrial, around the world where optical techniques are used. * Robert Glosser, Professor of Physics at University of Texas, Dallas *

I regard this book as a gem that not only should be used as a text but should also be a reference in labs, both academic and industrial, around the world where optical techniques are used. Robert Glosser, Professor of Physics at University of Texas, Dallas A thoroughly excellent textbook and I look forward to being able to recommend it to my students... conventional topics are presented in an unconventional way ... the author has thought long and hard as to how best teach a variety of topics. This will make it a unique and valuable addition to the books currently in use at universities. Ifan Hughes, Department of Physics at University of Durham

`I regard this book as a gem that not only should be used as a text but should also be a reference in labs, both academic and industrial, around the world where optical techniques are used.' Robert Glosser, Professor of Physics at University of Texas, Dallas `A thoroughly excellent textbook and I look forward to being able to recommend it to my students... conventional topics are presented in an unconventional way ... the author has thought long and hard as to how best teach a variety of topics. This will make it a unique and valuable addition to the books currently in use at universities.' Ifan Hughes, Department of Physics at University of Durham

Author Information

G.A.Brooker, University Lecturer in the Department of Physics, Oxford University; Fellow and Tutor of Wadham College, Oxford. Held a Post-doctoral Fellowship at Harvard University in the years 1964-67 working in the then-new field of laser physics, followed by a Post-doctoral Fellowship in the Department of Physics, Oxford from 1967-69 working on measurements of electro-optic coefficients of transparent crystals and a Fellowship by Special Election at Wadham College, Oxford from 1969-70.

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