Lasers and optical engineering

A textbook on lasers and optical engineering should include all aspects of lasers and optics; however, this is a large undertaking. The objective of this book is to give an introduction to the subject on a level such that under­ graduate students (mostly juniors/seniors), from disciplines like electrical engineering, physics, and optical engineering, can use the book. To achieve this goal, a lot of basic background material, central to the subject, has been covered in optics and laser physics. Students with an elementary knowledge of freshman physics and with no formal courses in electromagnetic theory should be able to follow the book, although for some sections, knowledge of electromagnetic theory, the Fourier transform, and linear systems would be highly beneficial. There are excellent books on optics, laser physics, and optical engineering. Actually, most of my knowledge was acquired through these. However, when I started teaching an undergraduate course in 1974, under the same heading as the title of this book, I had to use four books to cover the material I thought an electrical engineer needed for his introduction to the world of lasers and optical engineering. In my sabbatical year, 1980-1981, I started writing class notes for my students, so that they could get through the course by possibly buying only one book. Eventually, these notes grew with the help of my undergraduate and graduate students, and the final result is this book.

I Geometrical Optics -- 1.1. Fundamentals of Geometrical Optics -- 1.2. Matrix Formulation of Geometrical Optics -- 1.3. Image Formation -- 1.4. Complex Systems -- 1.5. The Telescoping System -- 1.6. Some Comments About the Matrix Method -- 1.7. Apertures and Stops -- 1.8. Radiometry and Photometry -- 1.9. Exact Matrices and Aberration -- References -- II Physical Optics, Wave Optics, and Fourier Optics -- 2.1. Fundamentals of Diffraction -- 2.2. Radiation from a Source -- 2.3. The Diffraction Problem -- 2.4. Different Regions of Diffraction -- 2.5. The Fourier Transform -- 2.6. Some Examples of Fraunhofer Diffraction -- 2.7. Phase Transmission Functions and Lens -- 2.8. Fresnel Diffraction -- 2.9. Detection and Coherence -- 2.10. Interference -- 2.11. Holography -- 2.12. Physical Optics -- References -- III Lasers -- 3.1. Introduction -- 3.2. Amplifier and Oscillator -- 3.3. The Fabry-Perot Laser -- 3.4. Laser Cavity -- 3.5. Gaussian Beam Optics -- 3.6. Solution of the Cavity Problem -- 3.6.1. Frequency of Oscillation -- 3.6.2. Unstable Resonators -- 3.7. Photon, Stimulated, and Spontaneous Emission, and the Einstein Relationship -- 3.8. Light Amplifier--Population Inversion -- 3…