Optics, 5th edition

For courses in Optics

A Contemporary Approach to Optics with Practical Applications and New Focused Pedagogy

Hecht Optics balances theory and instrumentation and provides students with the necessary classical background through a lively and clear narrative.

Optics, Fifth Edition is distinguished by three core imperatives: up-to-date content in line with the ever-evolving technological advances in the Optics field; a modern approach to discourse including studies on photons, phasors, and theory; and improvements and revisions to the previous edition’s pedagogy including over one hundred new worked examples.

Sustaining market leadership for over twenty years, Optics, Fifth Edition continues to demonstrate range and balance in subject matter. The text is grounded in traditional methodology, while providing an early introduction to the powerful perspective of the Fourier theory, which is crucial to present-day analysis. Electron and neutron diffraction patterns are pictured alongside the customary photon images, and every piece of art has been scrutinized for accuracy and altered where appropriate to improve clarity.

• NEW AND UPDATED! New illustrations, photos, and revised art are included throughout the text, enhancing the already outstanding visual pedagogy of the book.
• UPDATED! Promoting the balance of theory and instrumentation, this comprehensive text provides students with a classical background to ensure success in their field.
• NEW! A non-mathematical introduction sets the stage for traditional presentation in Optics.
• NEW! Traditional discussion of interference is extended, using phasors to graphically represent electric-field amplitudes, giving students an alternative way to visualize and understand core elements.
• NEW! Graphical analysis is used in addition to the standard, mathematical treatment of Fourier series to conceptually show what the integrals are actually doing to promote student comprehension.
• NEW! A complete Wave Motion section includes helical waves and an added section on Twisted Light.
• NEW! Divergence and Curl Comprehension ensures students’ understanding of the physical correspondence of divergence and curl in simple terms.
• NEW! Understanding Negative Refraction is an active area of contemporary research, which is explained in refined yet simple terms along with a brief introduction to the basic physics involved.
• NEW! Constructing Refracted Rays highlights the method devised by Huygens Optics and allows a convenient way to appreciate refraction in anisotropic crystals.
• NEW! The Geometrical Optics is a collection of new art which clearly illustrates the behavior of lenses and mirrors, along with additional remarks on fiberoptics; including the subsections Virtual Objects, Focal-Plane Ray Tracing, and Holey/Microstructured Fibers.
• NEW! Fourier Optics includes a new subsection, Two-Dimensional Images, and contains a remarkable series of illustrations depicting how spatial frequency components combine to create images.
• NEW! The Modern Optics contains an enriched and updated treatment of lasers accompanied by tables and illustrations and includes a subsection on Optoelectronic Image Reconstruction.
• Coherence is introduced early on in the text and leads immediately into a discussion of Young's Experiments. To underscore the quantum mechanical nature of interference, many optical interference photos are accompanied by equivalent material particle fringe patterns.
• Complete solutions to many problems are included at the back of the text providing an invaluable study aide for students.

• UPDATED! New illustrations, photos, and revised art are included throughout the text, enhancing the already outstanding visual pedagogy of the book.

• UPDATED! Promoting the balance of theory and instrumentation, this comprehensive text provides students with a classical background to ensure success in their field.

• A non-mathematical introduction sets the stage for traditional presentation in Optics.

• Traditional discussion of interference is extended, using phasors to graphically represent electric-field amplitudes, giving students an alternative way to visualize and understand core elements.

• Graphical analysis is used in addition to the standard, mathematical treatment of Fourier series to conceptually show what the integrals are actually doing to promote student comprehension.

• A complete Wave Motion section includes helical waves and an added section on Twisted Light.

• Divergence and Curl Comprehension ensures students’ understanding of the physical correspondence of divergence and curl in simple terms.

• Understanding Negative Refraction is an active area of contemporary research, which is explained in refined yet simple terms along with a brief introduction to the basic physics involved.

• Constructing Refracted Rays highlights the method devised by Huygens Optics and allows a convenient way to appreciate refraction in anisotropic crystals.

• The Geometrical Optics is a collection of new art which clearly illustrates the behavior of lenses and mirrors, along with additional remarks on fiberoptics; including the subsections Virtual Objects, Focal-Plane Ray Tracing, and Holey/Microstructured Fibers.

• Fourier Optics includes a new subsection, Two-Dimensional Images, and contains a remarkable series of illustrations depicting how spatial frequency components combine to create images.

• The Modern Optics contains an enriched and updated treatment of lasers accompanied by tables and illustrations and includes a subsection on Optoelectronic Image Reconstruction.