Customer Reviews

Fundamentals of Photonics (Wiley Series in Pure and Applied Optics)

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3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
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Photonics is the control, manipulation, transfer and storage of information using photons, the fundamental particles of light, and is also known as optoelectronics. As a reference, this book touches on every phase of photonics and is unsupplanted in its field even 14 years after it is published. It covers optics, lasers, semiconductor photon sources, electro-optics, and even acousto-optics in an accessible style with plenty of diagrams. There are plenty of equations explaining the theory throughout. This would be a great book if it were not for one thing- the total lack of worked examples or exercises. For engineers who like to learn by a combination of reading and doing, this leaves the reader completely unsure of his/her comprehension of the material. I have several suggestions for engineers who want to use this book to aid them in understanding photonics:
1. First and foremost try to get your hands on the solutions manual (ISBN 0471311138). This way you can work the examples and know if you are on the right track.
2. Get a copy of Schaum's Outline of Optics by Hecht to work through the early material on optics. This book almost stands alone as a study guide on optics and has many worked problems that the photonics book lacks.
3. Read over "Optoelectronics, Fiber Optics, and Laser Cookbook". I know it may look somewhat hokie and hobbyist in quality, but it has implementations of real optoelectronic circuits that work.
4. Finally, get a copy of an old book "Electro-optics" by Pinson. It is not as nearly as comprehensive as Photonics, but it does have some good worked out examples and explains the basics very well.
P.S.- After 15 years a second edition is scheduled for release in October 2006 (ISBN 0471784761) by the same publisher as the first edition. It will be 200 pages longer and feature two new chapters to cover the advances in the field of photonics: Photonic-Crystal Optics and Ultrafast Optics. All the chapters have been updated and many new sections have been added including Laguerre-Gaugassian beams, Sellemeier-equation analysis, photonic-crystal waveguides, holey and photonic-crystal fibers, microsphere resonators, optical coherence tomography, photon orbital angular momentum, Bohr theory, Raman amplifiers, low-noise avalanche photodiodes, tuning curves, and dispersion management. So, if you can wait on purchasing this book you might want to do so since it is so expensive, and you wouldn't want to be stuck with an expensive book that is not the latest edition!

Excellent book for optoelectronics! It is written such a practical manner that it is easy to use both for studying and handbook. The level is deeper than Hecht's "Optics" but not so deep than Born&Wolf's "Principles of Optics". I recommend this book for everybody who research or studies optoelectronics. I like also the problems, although they are difficult, but they are just like 'real' problems what arise in research. Also, good reference lists after each chapter are great!

Very well-written overview of the major topics of photonics. Excellent mix of theory and practical applications. I particularly like the book's structure, taking the reader logically through the sequence of geometric, wave, electromagnetic, and quantum optics. There is nothing superfluous in this book - its 900 pages are packed with useful information. It's written in an incredibly precise and error-free manner.

This book is one of the best investments a physicist can do, it is worth every penny and then some. Not being a formally trained optical physicist, but working in a field--Laser-Plasma Interactions--in which I am exposed heavily to practical problems in Optics everyday, Saleh & Teich's book has come to the rescue plenty of times--Gaussian optics, beam propagation, phase conjugation, interferometry, fibers, reflectivity, you name it. It not only combines clearly and thoroughly the what's and why's but also the how-to's, in a way that no other book can do. If you can afford only one Optics' book, this is the one in which to spend your money. And keep it in a safe place, because all your coworkers will borrow it endlessly, and they will be asking if you are leaving the book with them when you change workplaces...

I think that this book is one ofthe best books in the field. Amnon Yariv, undoubtedly is one of the leaders in this research field as a Professor of Physics and Electrical Engineering, but his books simply suck, they look like they are written after a tea in an evening, having gathered together some articles and then cut-paste in an emergency situation. Saleh and Teich on the other hand starts from the very basics, geometrical optics, and their unique view takes the reader all the way down to fiber optics. This is one of the best books of course. As to its nature as a dictionary more than a textbook, I think this is true in a sense, but this is modern optoelectronics, what do you expect? One has to follow the references too, then it is a complete resource. For those who find this book incomprehensible, I would suggest them to take look at Born & Wolf, that is the definition of "Incomprehensible" in optics. As an undergraduate or an early graduate text book, Saleh & Teich is simply the best. Well, still, I would recommend to take an opportunity to read Yariv`s books too, after all he is one of the best in research, though not in presentation ofthe material.

This book is excellent in the field of optoelectronice. The references are great. I am a graduate student in Engineering physics and doing my research in optoelectronic devices. Any one doing research in lasers, this book is an excellent source.

I currently lead an industrial R&D group in the area of optical device physics. However, I am new to this field and need good background information along with treatises on the state of the art in optics/photonics science and technology. "Fundamentals of Photonics" (Saleh and Teich) has not only admirably met this need for me but I find it to be one of the best written science texts I have ever read! SIMPLY OUTSTANDING!

As another reviewer mentioned, this book seems like it's a good reference, but it is the worst book to learn from. There are barely any problems with worked out solutions. Moreover, the writing is disorganized - as the content is being developed, equations from all over the book are referred to. Figures from other pages are constantly referred to within the text, which makes it difficult to focus on the material in between page flips. If this is a required textbook for your class, definitely buy a supplemental textbook that has worked examples. You're going to have a hard time learning from this book.

Great book! They assigned/suggested this book as a study guide for the preliminary exams in my Ph.D. program, and it has remained my go-to reference ever since. It consists of chapter-length (or longer) treatments of topics that warrant their own textbooks and graduate classes, but they always contain the most essential information, clearly explained.

I have the 1st edition, but it looks like I will now have to order the 2nd edition too. This book is just completely indispensable for students and professionals in the field.

Trivia: Fundamentals of Photonics makes a cameo appearance in "Spiderman 2" during a sequence when Peter Parker is hitting the books.

This book can be considered as the Bible of photonics. It has a complete coverage of almost all photonics subjects. It is suitable for undergraduate students since it starts with the fundamentals of optics and physical concepts as well as graduate students, because it also contains more advanced topics.

On one hand, it is like an encyclopedia due to its comprehensiveness, but the authors did a pretty good job and made it an effective textbook as well. We used this book as textbook in our photonics class and I liked it a whole lot. This book should not be rushed, a 2-semester schedule would be effectively instructive and digestible.

Since it was published many years ago, there have been many advancements in photonics, because it is a rapidly evolving and developing field. There have been a great deal of new applications in many areas. Rumor has it, the authors are preparing a new edition, which is quite essential.

For those who would like to buy a solid photonics book and not waste money on several books, this is what is you have been looking for and worthy of your money.