Introduction to Optical Engineering

Book excerpt: Optical devices are employed in an ever-increasing range of applications, from simple lenses to complex fibre-optic communication networks. This book provides a detailed introduction to modern optical engineering, covering the fundamental concepts as well as practical techniques and applications. Basic optical principles are presented, particularly reflection, refraction, aberrations, diffraction and interference. Building on this foundation, a wide variety of optical devices and processes are then discussed, including simple optical instruments, photodetectors, spatial light modulators, holography and lasers. Two chapters are devoted to linear system transforms and signal processing, and the book concludes with a chapter on fibre optics. The book contains many worked examples and over 250 problems (solutions manual for instructors available from the publishers). It will be invaluable to electrical engineering and physics undergraduates taking courses in optical engineering, photonics, and electro-optics.