Customer Reviews

Nonlinear Optics, Third Edition

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Actually this is the best introductory text for the newcomer to the exciting field of Nonlinear Optics.The text is clear and undoubtely the author readily explains very complicated Phenomena in a succinct yet understable way.Very comprehensive coverage too stretching from classically explainable effects to quantum derivations of Nonlinear interaction coefficients.The only fault is sometimes the introduction of formulas "coming from the sky" which is a very deprecable fact.On the whole a good book but could be better!

I have found this book to be quite useful in my quest to understand nonlinear optics. It gives a thorough explanation of the fundamental priciples and even gives a few examples to aid in the learning of the subject. A very good text for graduate and undergraduate students.

This book is a comprehensive work including all the regular nonlinear phenomena like SHG, SFG, DFG, FWM, Raman and Brillouin Scatterings, and so on. Quantum mechanical theory of nonlinear optical susceptibility is on chapter 3 whereas chapter 6 is about nonlinear optics in two-level approximations which contains sections on optical Bloch equations and Rabi oscillations.
Finally chapter 13 is on ultrafast nonlinear optics. We have to say that Professor Boyd has done a wonderful job on this book, since anyone from senior research scientists to first year graduate students all can refer to it.This book reminds me of Jackson's book on E &M in the sense that although you might not get `it' at that exact moment you can always count on it to show the correct way to tackle. All in all, if you are looking for a book on nonlinear optics this is the one you should have.

it is surprising to find that textbook like this did a remarkable good job in exploiting the density matrix formalism and also the related theoretical techniques in quantum dissipative systems. If you are interested in the quantum treatment, Chapter 3 and 6 are great!

This book is certainly the better one for people who wants to learn nonlinear optics from the beginning. This book is using a very "physical" approach to perform a complete overview of nonlinear processes. It is really a must for all those who wants to go deeper in the world of nonlinear optical effects.

I think this is one the best books in this field. the contents are good and the quality of papers is also good.

I have had this book for about a year. I use it often. People are also borrowing it. It is very well written and covers subjects well. It is very readable. I am very pleased with this book.

If you are working in NLO, you simply have to have this book on your book-shelf. There's nothing to compare with it for the fundamentals, to gain a clear understanding of many different NLO processes.

Wonderful book. Easy to understand and very useful for every student, who needs a good background in the field of nonlinear optics

The field of nonlinear optics is actually much more general in scope than the name implies, and it finds large intersection with quantum mechanics, atomic physics and physical chemistry. It has applications in virtually all physical and life sciences. It's thus surprising that for such a useful and interesting subject, there would be such a shortage of good books! Fortunately, this book is excellent, and covers the subject thoroughly in both theory and application. An interesting feature of the book is that it covers the basic theory first from a classical perspective (i.e. nonlinear dipole polarization) and then rederives the basic results from semiclassical quantum theory. While the dielectric approach alone is adequate for solving problems (in fact, the quantum approach is useless in practice) the quantum background is fascinating to read and greatly helps in developing an intuitive picture of the physical mechanisms behind nonlinear processes. Boyd makes the nice choice of using Gaussian units, which is foreign to anybody but theoretical physics snobs but which eliminates a lot of useless notational complexity.

Unfortunately, the book is sometimes terse and occasionally presents results without sufficient derivation, especially for advanced concepts and applications. However, when it comes to the foundational elements of nonlinear optics, the book is always thorough and the concepts well explained. Boyd clearly has a very deep understanding of the subject, and this shows in his writing.

If you need to buy one book on nonlinear optics, this should probably be it. You might be temped to buy Shen or Bloembergen since they were such primary contributors to the field, but you will probably be disappointed in the quality of their exposition and confused by the notation.