Light resolution is a crucial issue in optics. In particular, breaking the resolution limits in microscopy is one of the major results obtained in optics in recent years. Therefore, such a book is of considerable interest for the entire optics community.
This book has 10 chapters and can be divided into three parts. In the first part, which encompasses the first two chapters, the basic concepts of resolution are presented by reviewing the work of Abbe, Helmholtz and Shannon.
The second part—chapters three through nine—is the most developed part of the book, and covers the mathematical concepts used in resolution theory. It also addresses functional analysis, resolution and ill-posed problems, optimization, inverse problems, spectral analysis and statistical methods. A large part of the issues treated in these chapters can be found in any modern mathematical book, so this part is excessively developed.
On the contrary, in the book’s final two chapters, the applications and experiments are scarce. The final chapter is dedicated to resolution in microscopy, where we at last find the recent results about super-resolution applied in biology, and illustrated by beautiful pictures.
Review by Daniela Dragoman, University of Bucharest, Romania
The opinions expressed in the book review section are those of the reviewer and do not necessarily reflect those of OPN or OSA.