book?

Hi,

I seek recommendations for an introductory text on optics. I have an engineering degree, but no coursework in the subject. I'm unafraid of math, and studied some electromagnetic theory, though I'm rusty there.

I looked at the Born & Wolf monster, but that's way too dense, intended for the full time student.

Also, I'm confused on ray vs. geometric vs. Fourier vs. whatever optics.

Thx,

Mark

Reply to
Mark-T
Loading thread data ...

Hecht is a decent intro text, there have been several editions, so pick up the 2nd or 3rd ed. for a few bucks.

What are you doing? (optics wise)

George H.

Reply to
George Herold

Working on industrial machinery, which involves some fiber optics, lamp controls, electric-optic communications.

I sit in meetings listening to discussions of Fresnel lenses and Bragg angles,. huh? But also, as a science geek, er I mean student, I'd like to learn more. Realistically, I'll never be a pro -

Mark

Reply to
Mark-T

Well Hecht will be a decent start. I sometimes follow Phil H's idea and just read an intro text through like a novel, (but skip sections if you feel it's not what you want.) That gives you a decent over view of the field. Then go back and dig deeper in the topics you need, (do some of the problems at the end of the chapter.)

I was saddened the other day to walk into the science and engineering library at my local Uni and find that all the books were gone. Study carrels, and computer terminals. There is something to wandering the stacks, finding the shelf that has some of the type of book you want, and then browsing them to find the ones you might like.

George H.

Reply to
George Herold

Greetings Mark, When I got interested in optics years ago a book I found very interesting that gave me a good "seat of the pants" feel about optics is an Edmunds publication called "Popular Optics". The book is a compilation of several short publications about optics and optical systems. There is ray tracing and math and how to build a collimator, telescopes both refractor and reflector, how magnification works in general, spherical abberation, and so on. The book has the math in it to calculate the path of the light surface by surface and by the changing indexes (indices?) of refraction as well as the simple Thin Lens formulas for ray tracing. After reading this book through a couple times I have built optical systems for my self that worked the way I thought they would. I have since read other stuff that was way easier to understand because I had already a good feel about basic optics. For someone like you I think the book will be a fast read and give you a pretty good foundation to start on. Cheers, Eric

Reply to
etpm

Phil Hobbs' electro-optics book is great. Some of the later chapters get into the electronics issues, which optics texts generally don't.

He's mainly concerned with high-end signal processing, not easy stuff like blasting 1s and 0s through a hundred feet of fiber.

People have cursed me for giving them the book, because reading it stopped them from their usual activities.

--
John Larkin         Highland Technology, Inc 
picosecond timing   laser drivers and controllers 
 Click to see the full signature
Reply to
John Larkin

ElectronDepot website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.