I commend the authors for providing the optics community with an excellent laboratory manual that helps the reader to construct optical instruments that can be used to validate the material found in textbooks on geometrical optics. A second volume will cover experiments and validations of physical optics, and a third volume will contain experiments on further applications of optics.
These recommended books address the need for comprehensive experiments to augment the traditional optics textbooks. Hands-on experiments are preferable to demonstrations and videos of experiments; they provide critical training for readers who will actually work with optics and construct instruments.
The book contains the basic physical theory and associated mathematics, a materials list, procedures, and suggestions for the reader’s modification of the experiments. There are clear diagrams of ray tracing, detailed definitions of optical terms, images of the instruments and circuit diagrams of the associated electronics. The last chapter introduces the reader to optical software. Suggested references and an index are also provided.
Review by Barry R. Masters, Fellow of AAAS, OSA and SPIE.
The opinions expressed in the book review section are those of the reviewer and do not necessarily reflect those of OPN or OSA.