Customer Reviews

Introduction to Fourier Optics

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

For the last month, I have been using this book for self study to aid me in my work with lasers. Originally, I was working from the 1st edition (borrowed from a co-worker), but decided to buy my own copy. I wound up buying the 3rd edition, a significantly expanded version of the original.

Goodman's writing style is conversational and his treatment of the subject is thorough. I appreciate his inclusion of enough optics/E&M background within the text that I am not constantly having to go to my bookshelf to consult other references. Note, the 3rd edition has several helpful appendices not found in the 1st edition.

There are also many instructive problems given throughout the text to help students solidify their understanding of the material.

This is an excellent book for self study, and would certainly make a fine text for a senior undergrad course on the subject. I recommend it highly.

Charlie.

Joseph Goodman has done a stellar job of clearly presenting concepts AND mathematical background. There is an excellent mix of straightforward theory and practical uses of Fourier Optics. The chapter problems are very challenging but insightful. This is the best optics book I have ever read.

Joe Goodman is rightly famous for his clear writing, teaching and thinking. I especially appreciate the clear boundaries that he draws around the segments of his subject: it is clear what is known & unknown, what is easy & what is hard. This book is worth having and studying as an example of how to write a textbook, not only for its subject matter.

This book is cleary written. The basic theory of Fourier transform is included too. Fourier optics is a very strong tool in imaging and optics. I would say Goodman is an enginnering guy, but some physical insight is not very clear. Diffraction theory is easier to understand than J.D. Jackson's E&M. And the whole book is easier to read than Born and Wolf's Principle of Optics and has more details. After all, it is a good book for Fourier opitcs. But the price is too high.

I took a class in Fourier Optics and found this text to be indispensable. It explains everything very clearly and concisely, which is a minor miracle for a text at this level. I didn't have any particular background in optics, and was able to pick this up and understand every word.

I do agree with the earlier poster that more 'physical' or graphical representations of concepts would have been useful as I tend to be a visual learner.

This is probably my favorite text book of all time. Dr. Goodman's writing is excellent, providing heuristic insight into complex concepts using a very readable style. He is the Richard Feynman of optics.

And other than chapters specific to polarization, this book is entirely applicable to phased array ultrasound. For anyone whos works or studies in the ultrasound field, this book is a must, especially if you have an interest in acoustic beamforming. All the wave and Fourier concepts that apply to light also apply to ultrasound.

I use this book all the time as a reference for Fourier optics. It has useful tables of common Fourier transforms found in optics work and far-field diffraction patterns worked out for popular beam profiles.

I read this book thirty years ago in order to get up to speed on Fresnel diffraction and the Kirchhoff integral as discussed in John Cowley's seminal work "Diffraction Physics". Indeed, this book is recommended by Cowley as a necessary prerequisite. Goodman does a good job laying the groundwork for Fresnal diffraction, complete with a detailed exploration of the boundary conditions. After reading the first several chapters of this book, the reader should be ready to tackle Cowley.

This is the best book on Fourier Optics that I'm aware of. There is sufficient detail that you can follow the math, but also has well written text explaining concepts. The problems are sometimes trivial and sometime challenging, but they are very much an integral part of the book and doing them is necessary to get a full understanding of the material. There is a 3rd edition of the book with an additonal chapter, which is available at a much lower price, but Amazon does not seem to be carrying it yet. Hopefully they will soon. (...)

Overall I like the book for it is clear, the mathematics is lucid and has all the essentials in a comprehensive way. I have found it quite useful for research. In addition, for the most parts it is quite accurate.

Some criticisms though:
Contains everything from a more mathematical point of view. By that i mean, problems are usually not very physically motivated and some of the conclusions drawn are not very physical. that is you are given at the end of a discussion only an integral. It would have been nice if there were more discussions on the physics of Fourier Optics, for example pictures of actual experimental results or clear diagrams that show for example how does the diffraction pattern for a given input looks like. So getting an intuitive grasp of the subject at a pictorial level, where you can 'see' the results is a bit challenging to get out of this book. also very expensive.