2 comments about Optical Shop Testing (Wiley Series in Pure and Applied Optics).

1. The book optical shop testing arrived quickly and in perfect condition. Amazon has never let me down. I never hesitate to buy anything from you.



2. "ABOUT THE EDITOR
   Daniel Malacara, PhD, obtained his BSc in physics from the National University of Mexico, his MSc and PhD in optics from the University of Rochester.
   He then joined the Institute of Astronomy of the National University of Mexico.
   
   In 1972, Dr. Malacara, along with Guillermo Haro, founded the Instituto Nacional de Astrofisica, Optica y Electronica in Tonantzintla, Mexico, where he stayed as Technical Director until 1978.
   
   In 1979 he returned to the National University of Mexico to assist in the founding of the Centro de Investigaciones en Optica, where he remained as first General Director until 1989.
   
   He was also a founder and the first president of the Academia Mexicana de la Optica.
   
   He is a fellow of both the Optical Society of America and the International Society for Optical Engineering.
   
   In 1987, he was elected vice-president of the International Commission for Optics and has been a member of the Board of Governors of the International Society for Optical Engineering since 1988.
   
   In 1989, he was appointed to the Rudolf and Hilda Kingslake Chairin Optical Engineering at the Institute of Optics of the University of Rochester.
   
   The author and editor of several books in optics, Dr. Malacara's best know book is Optical Shop Testing."
   
   "..... New and revised chapters discuss:
   * Phase shift interferometry
   * Wavefront fitting and evaluation
   * Holographic and speckle tests
   * Moire and fringe projection techniques
   * Parameter measurements
   
   Also, three UPDATED AND CONDENSED APPENDICES PRESENT USEFUL MATHEMATICAL AND OPTICAL background material, including appropriate tests for typical optical surfaces, useful null testing configurations, and additional references."
   [from the front and back flap]

No comments about A Natural History of Seeing: The Art and Science of Vision.

4 comments about Quantum Optics: An Introduction (Oxford Master Series in Physics, 6).

1. I developed an interest in quantum optics in my last year of undergraduate school but I became discouraged with it since every book that I picked up on the subject was esoteric and too involved for an introduction. It seemed as if NONE of the quantum optics textbooks available were appropriate as an introduction. But then I found this book.
   
   Although not as mathematically intensive as I was hoping for it to be, it explains the physics very well. And although it doesn't compensate for many years of post-graduate study, I was able to better understand research papers in quantum optics due to this book.
   
   The book follows a rather traditional approach to developing quantum optics...first starting off with a discussion of important results in electromagnetism, classical optics, and quantum mechanics...then progressing to the theory of photons (discussing photon statistics, coherent states, and second quantization (with regard to photon number states)). Furthermore, it discusses the essential "backbone" of quantum optics (light-matter interactions) and then applications of quantum optics (quantum computing, quantum entanglement, etc.).
   
   I broke the rules and skipped ahead to the applications section and I must say that everything seems to make sense because of Fox's ability to convey difficult ideas in a simple, easy-to-understand manner.
   
   For anybody just starting to take an interest in quantum optics (like I was at one point), I would strongly suggest this book. It's not as mathematically sophisticated as Loudon's "The Quantum Theory of Light" (which is another must-have for quantum optics), but it's an excellent introduction.



2. At last we have a text that provides a comprehensive introduction to quantum optics for the beginner - both theory and experiment - and one which takes you through many of the most recent concepts and potential applications in computation, cryptography and teleportation etc.
   
   A feature of this text is the clear explanations and carefully explained jargon - it's NOT just mostly a collection of math like some other supposedly introductory texts.
   
   If you want to find out what quantum optics is all about - this is a great book to start with.



3. This is our textbook and is easy to understand. It also has answers for the exercise questions. That helps a lot.



4. Fox does a great job explaining a complex and dense field from an intuitive and experimental standpoint. I read this book after one term of 1-D introductory Q.M. and everything made sense. The experiments and set-ups described throughout the book are a great tool and were particularly handy since I was using the book to get ready for a summer internship in a Quantum Optics group. The only downside is that the book is quite lacking from a theoretical standpoint. If you are a bit more comfortable with Q.M., say at the level of Shankar, Liboff, or Sakuri, try Knight instead. Nonetheless, this is a great book.

1 comments about SuperVisions: Topsy-Turvy Optical Illusions (Supervisions).

1. I bought this book for our 7 year old twins before we went on vacation. We had so much fun sharing this book. It is extremely clever. All of the illusions were fantastic. We have now become a family always lookng for illusions in the everyday things we see. If you are looking for a gift for a child of any age, they will enjoy wandering through the pages of this adventure in illusions.

1 comments about Lasers (Wiley Series in Pure and Applied Optics).

1. The hardest part about writing any scientific textbook is balancing readability with volume of content. Generally, authors fall into two categories: those including far too much material and those presuming too much prior knowledge on the part of the reader. Milonni and Eberly have found the perfect compromise in LASERS. While an excellent advanced undergrad or intermediate grad. text, it isn't as exhaustive as Siegman's LASERS. On the other hand, it contains peripheral material about non-linear optics which many texts on lasers should include, but don't. LASERS is perfect for proceeding further with more in depth studies of advanced topics in lasers (as treated in Siegman). There are only 2 faults I can find with the book: one is technical, the other editorial. In the technical area, its discussion of Q-switching is a bit trite and shallow. A topic as important as this should receive a little more attention. It would be nice to see an updated volume reflecting recent advances in technology. The authors did such a nice job the first time around, it shouldn't take alot of effort to include perhaps one more chapter on current trends in lasers.

5 comments about Principles of Lasers.

1. This book is extremely clear and even a completely newby can read it. At the same time, nothing is left halfway and the subject is covered with extreme care and depth. Congratualations to the author !



2. "...the student that is led into the laser field by this text is lucky. The text is excellent and filled with appropriate illustrations...Overall, this work will also be useful as a reference for the topics covered. The literature references are copious and appropriate. The text is well supplied with figures and graphs and for those areas considered in detail, the book is and will remain a very good reference volume."



3. Clearly written, without oversimplifying some of the
   more subtle items (which are so often swept under the
   carpet in simpler treatments of the field - such as
   the QFT treatment of spontaneous emission). First a
   clear and detailled discussion of all the aspects
   of the working principles of a laser is presented,
   and then specific lasertypes are described, all this
   in a very readable style. Great book.



4. Very good. I recommend it for anyone who works with lasers. Very accurate and easy to read.

   -KC, NRL




5. I have found this book to be extremely comprehensive and detailed, great for anyone who wants to learn both the basic and advanced concepts of lasers. The book is definitely for the more advanced undergraduate students (and grad students, of course) who have a background in quantum mechanics, and higher-level calculus. The translation from Italian is perfect. Highly recommended.
   
   P.S.: In reply to the review written by `A Reader' below, `newby' is spelt `newbie' (or `noob').

2 comments about Dynamic Light Scattering: With Applications to Chemistry, Biology, and Physics.

1. Dynamic Light Scattering is a classic text, that presents a comprehensive and in-depth overview of the underlying physics and principles of DLS. The description is developed with the associated mathematics of fluctuations and time correlation functions, as well as various physical aspects of Brownian Motion. Examples drawn from physics, chemistry and biology are used to illustrate the usefullness of DLS in studying a diverse range of problems including cell motility, macromolecular dynamics, dynamics of anisotropics objects (rod-like particles, viruses), electrolytic solutions, etc. The book is ESSENTIAL for everyone with interest in 1) dynamics of complex fluids 2) Brownian Motion of particles and 3) Single Molecule Imaging!
   
   The text is a beautifully written treatise on various applications of DLS, with a very insightful commentary on how various dynamics is detected by light, how underlying structure and relaxations translate to observable, how observables can be deduced by mathematical principles based on statistical mechanics (including non-equilibrium thermodynamics). This is a fairly advanced text, so I would advise someone to get a soft introduction to his/her topic of choice (polymers, gels, rods, colloids, cells, polyelectrolytes, etc.) and basic statistical mechanics before picking this text. Being a Dover publication, the book is priced cheaper than it ought to be:), and hence must make its way to the shelf of people who have any lasting interest in DLS. The book by Wyn Brown is a useful supplementary text (and includes more modern references, but comes at a high price). This book is an exercise in the mathematics of correlation functions, and associated hydrodynamics equations, and definitely requires concerted effort to become beneficial to the reader.



2. I find that Dover's books are simply excellent and this text is no exception. The order of the material in the book is logical: starting with the basics of autocorrelation to how Maxwell's equations lead to intensity of scattered radiation. Then, that crucial leap from the theory of scattering to how radiation is measured by different detectors is made and what they lead to in terms of correlation functions. The book expands on the basics of ideal, non-interacting isotropic scatters to more complex situations. Many references are provided. Since DLS has applications in protein dynamics, I used this text as background.

4 comments about Opticks (Great Mind).

1. Having done a Ph.D. in optics, I have read quite some books on optics and out of curiocity I bought this book, but I am not very pleased with it. First, it is difficult to read because of the old English language and structure. For native English speakers this carries perhaps not so much weight, but for me it did. Second, because it is a collection of Newton's works, it contains of course also many not-so-interesting discussions which you have to 'consume' before realising it was not so interesting.

   What is nice though, is that the book contains many so-called queries, which are possible explanations of various optical phenomena, explanations/assumptions Newton could not prove/disprove at the time. This is fascinating reading, because many of these turned out to be true (or false, but even then: still interesting to know what he thought).

   Overall impression: if you are interested in the history of optics/Newton then it is a nice book. But just for browsing in the evening: no.




2. "Though Mr. Newton is no physicist, his book is very interesting." -- Father Nicolas Malebranche (1707)



3. 
   It is obvious neither of the previous reviewers understand, this book was written by Issac Newton in the 1600's. It is read for historical reasons.



4. Overall the book covered the material well. However the book was somewhat difficult to follow. It took a couple of passes to clarify what was being said.

3 comments about EW 102: A Second Course in Electronic Warfare.

1. This book is the logically titled sequel to EW 101. The style is the same. Namely where very intricate and specialised maths and engineering is deprecated. What Adamy has done is reduce a problem down to the minimum physical model that conveys the essential information. This lets a reader, who might not be an engineer in the electronic warfare field, understand what the various measures and countermeasures are about.
   
   To this ends, there are fascinating instances scattered throughout the text. One nice example concerns a target plane trying to evade a heat seeking missile. The plane releases a flare, that has more infrared energy than itself. The missile then follows the hotter signal and the plane escapes. One countermeasure is to have the missile's sensor measure and compare the energies at two wavelengths. With enough electronics, it can then discriminate between the flare and the cooler target plane, and track the latter. Of course, the engineering required to perform this is nontrivial and probably classified. But the basic physical picture is very simple.
   
   Another useful feature of EW 102 is the appendix. This has answers to problems presented in EW 101. Plus to problems in EW 102. As far as I can ascertain, none of the problems require a computational device more complex than a calculator.



2. While Mr. Adamy may be an expert, apparently these books were thrown together a little quickly. Read the text and all will be well. Follow the example problems in the back and you're headed for a train wreck. When he works the problems they are frought with mistakes, big, blatant mistakes. For someone trying to learn EW the first time these are huge confidence deflators. Find an independent source to check your answers.



3. Mr. Dave Adamy's series, EW 101 and EW 102, are an outstanding collection for the practicing EW professional. Equations and drawings consisely describe the concepts and results from various EW disciplines; radar, communications and satellite are just a few areas that are covered. The second book expands greatly on the area of satellite communications - while not an area normally associated with electronic warfare, satellite communications provide the backbone for many countries social, political and military systems.
   
   If there was one downside to this book it would be the price. While the information within is priceless to the EW wizards in industry, its a bit pricy for the blossoming EW student who has to bite the "over-$100" cost. Find it used if you can, or borrow from a technical library - then decide if it is worth the cost to you.

1 comments about Principles of Nano-Optics.

1. Professor Lukas Novotny, a well known Rochester scientist in near field optics, provides a comprehensive overview of the field. The book starts from fundamentals in classical optics (Born and Wolf), electrodynamics (J. D. Jackson), and extends to the frontiers of near field optics. It is comprehensive and in detail. Great for physics, optical engineering students who are interested in this field!