The authors have produced an excellent text on polarized light and optical systems, which was developed and tested for 15 years at the University of Arizona’s College of Optical Sciences.
This comprehensive reference is well suited to support a flexible curriculum for undergraduate and graduate students majoring in optical design or engineering. Beyond the standard treatment of the Jones calculus and Mueller matrices, readers are introduced to efficient computations via Pauli spin matrices. Furthermore, optical designers and engineers will appreciate the coverage of aberration-related topics, like Fresnel aberration, polarization aberration, skew aberration, aberrations of crystal wave plates and crystal polarizers. The authors address more complicated design issues through polarization aberration mitigation and polarization ray tracing.
In addition, this recommendable text is well supported by worked examples and illustrations. Altogether, it should be favorably received by a wide readership, including applied scientists.
Review by Axel Mainzer Koenig, CEO, 21st Century Data Analysis, a division of Koenig & Associates, Inc. Portland, Ore., USA
The opinions expressed in the book review section are those of the reviewer and do not necessarily reflect those of OPN or OSA.