Fundamentals of Optics

The chief objectives in preparing this new edition have been simplification and modernization. Experience on the part of the authors and of the many other users of the book over the last two decades has shown that many passages and mathematical derivations were overly cumbersome, thereby losing the emphasis they should have had. As an example of the steps taken to rectify this defect, the chapter on reflection has been entirely rewritten in simpler form and placed ahead of the more difficult aspects of polarized light. Furthermore, by expressing frequency and wavelength in circular measure, and by introducing the complex notation in a few places, it has been possible to abbreviate the derivations in wave theory to make room for new material.