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Physical Optics

Concepts, Optical Elements, and Techniques

  • Textbook
  • © 2019

Overview

  • Clear explanation of difficult fundamental concepts
  • Coverage of new topics in physical optics
  • Exhaustive treatment of sampling theory and its application
  • Introduction of a novel technique based on ray tracing
  • Many informative figures and diagrams

Part of the book series: UNITEXT for Physics (UNITEXTPH)

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Table of contents (7 chapters)

  1. Electromagnetism

  2. Geometrical Optics

  3. Physical Optics

  4. Fourier’s Optics

  5. Propagation

Keywords

About this book

This textbook provides a sound foundation in physical optics by covering key concepts in a rigorous but accessible manner. Propagation of electromagnetic waves is examined from multiple perspectives, with explanation of which viewpoints and methods are best suited to different situations. After an introduction to the theory of electromagnetism, reflection, refraction, and dispersion, topics such as geometrical optics, interference, diffraction, coherence, laser beams, polarization, crystallography, and anisotropy are closely examined. Optical elements, including lenses, mirrors, prisms, classical and Fabry-Perot interferometers, resonant cavities, multilayer dielectric structures, interference and spatial filters, diffraction gratings, polarizers, and birefringent plates, are treated in depth. The coverage also encompasses such seldom-covered topics as modeling of general astigmatism via 4x4 matrices, FFT-based numerical methods, and bianisotropy, with a relativistic treatment of optical activity and the Faraday and Fresnel-Fizeau effects. Finally, the history of optics is discussed.


Authors and Affiliations

  • European Laboratory for Non-Linear Spectroscopy (LENS), Istituto Nazionale di Ottica—Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (INO-CNR), Sesto Fiorentino, Italy

    Giovanni Giusfredi

About the author

Giovanni Giusfredi is currently a senior associate at INO-CNR, having retired in 2016 from INO, where he had been a lead researcher for almost 30 years. He remains ac­tively involved in re­search and collaborates with colleagues at the European Labor­atory for Non-linear Spectroscopy. He is also a founding member of CNR ppqSense. His research interests are wide ranging and he has coauthored more than 220 titles, including 71 articles in international journals. He is skilled and experienced in the teaching of Physical Optics and the History of Optics. 

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