Optics and Lasers in Engineering 50 (2012) 1185
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Optics and Lasers in Engineering
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/optlaseng
Book review
Optics for Engineers, Charles A. DiMarzio. CRC press (Taylor &
Francis group), Boca Raton, Fl 2012, 535 þxxiii pp., £57.99,
$89.95, ISBN:978-1-4398-0725-5
The book provides an overview of the field of optics covering a
large variety of individual topics. The primary audience are
graduate and advanced undergraduate students, but it also aims
at providing a resource for researchers and engineers developing
optical systems.
The book contains 14 individual chapters. The introduction
gives an overview of the history of optics as a discipline,
introduces Maxwell’s equations and important parameters and
quantities that are used to characterise light. It also touches light–
matter interactions and the basic concepts of imaging.
Chapter 2 describes geometric optics before matrix optics is
introduced in Chapter 3. Chapter 4 explains important concepts
of imaging when it describes stops, pupils and windows. Abberations
are covered in Chapter 5, and Chapter 6 introduces the concept of
polarization. The following Chapters 7–11 focus on interference,
diffraction, Gaussian beams, coherence, and Fourier optics. Radiometry and photometry are covered in Chapter 12, and Chapter 13
gives an overview of optical detection. Chapter 14 introduces the
concepts of nonlinear optics. In addition, the book includes downloadable MATLAB(R) code and other material.
In general, the book is written in a rather mixed style which
may be a result of trying to ‘‘square the circle’’ when aiming at
providing an introduction to optics for students but also being
useful for engineers and researchers. Some of the chapters are
written in a very illustrative and clear way, thus well suited for
students, others introduce complex mathematical treatments and
are difficult to follow. A particularly good example of this mixed
style is the technical part of the Introduction. In the beginning of
Chapter 1.4, the author states that ‘‘the student with minimal
electromagnetic background will likely find this section somewhat confusingy’’. Unfortunately, he keeps this ‘‘promise’’ in a
large part when throwing the reader in at the deep end by kicking
off with Maxwell’s equations and the wave equation even before
basic concepts and parameters are introduced and explained. On
the other hand, particularly positive aspects of this chapter are
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.optlaseng.2012.03.013
the ‘‘warnings’’ about inconsistent uses of variables and units in
the literature. However, this mixture of basic description of one
aspect and advanced treatment of another makes it difficult for
the reader. In addition, occasionally, the sequence of topics
covered seems not in the most logical order, for example, when
interference is described before the concept of coherence is
introduced. A very useful feature of the book indeed is the
downloadable material which contains MATLAB(R) codes as well
as additional illustrations and diagrams.
I personally enjoyed reading some parts of the book while I
found others relatively confusing. For example, the chapters on
geometric optics, matrix optics and imaging give excellent overviews with many useful schematic drawings and photographs. On
the other hand, a chapter I particularly disliked was that on
polarized light in which the concepts of polarization of a light
wave and the polarization induced in a material by light–matter
interaction are mixed up. This is very confusing for readers
starting in the field of optics. Another chapter I found not very
useful was Chapter 14 on nonlinear optics which gives a kind of
random and unbalanced overview of nonlinear optical phenomena. Should the author consider a second, revised edition of this
book at some point in the future, he may want to think about
omitting the nonlinear optics chapter and include a section
dedicated to lasers instead.
In conclusion, I have difficulties with recommending this book
as a whole. For sure, it gives a good overview of the main topics of
optics relevant to engineers. However, the mixed depth of the
treatment in the different chapters makes it difficult to identify
the appropriate audience. The text is not suitable for newcomers
in the field, but may give students who already have a certain
background in electromagnetism and optics an opportunity to
expand their knowledge and to obtain insights into other aspects
of the field.
Johannes Kiefer
School of Engineering, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, Scotland, UK
E-mail address: j.kiefer@abdn.ac.uk