Schaum's Outline of Optics (Paperback)

~ (Author) "Optics is the study of light or, more broadly, the study of the electromagnetic spectrum..." (more)
Key Phrases: lth zone, coherent line source, perfect linear polarizers, Supplementary Problems, Use Fermat, Compute the Fourier (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

This introduction to optics is intended as a supplement to a first course in undergraduate optics. This lively book conveys key modern terminology, and reinforces what it teaches with hundreds of fully worked out problems that run the gamut from candles to lasers.

About the Author

Eugene Hecht is a member of the Physics Department of Adelphi Unversity in New York. He has authored eight books.

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill; 1 edition (November 1, 1974)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0070277303
• ISBN-13: 978-0070277304
• Product Dimensions: 10.7 x 8.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #245,192 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent!, March 27, 2000

By A Customer

Hecht is one of the premier instructors and authors on the subject of optics and his contribution to Schaum's is no exception! I used this book to teach myself the fundamental's of optics while working in an applied physics laboratory. Very clearly presented material

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Clear concise outline of optics, December 30, 2005

By	calvinnme "Texan refugee" (Fredericksburg, Va) - See all my reviews (TOP 10 REVIEWER)

This Schaum's outline is better than the expensive textbook by the same author on the same subject in many ways, and in my opinion stands alone as a guide on optics. It gets to the meat of optics via solving problems that range from simple to difficult, which is particularly attractive to engineers learning or reviewing this subject. To me, the only chapters that seemed a bit confusing were the first two on wave motion and on electromagnetic waves and photons. For that material you may need to consult another source. From that point onward, however, the outline couldn't be any better. The outline even has a chapter that introduces Fourier optics. This outline would make an excellent review or supplement for someone taking a course in Photonics that uses Saleh's "Fundamentals of Photonics". That textbook has virtually no solved problems in it whatsoever, and the first third of the book follows the material covered in this outline nicely.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great supplement for exam prep, May 6, 2007

By	Physics Enthusiast "physics enthusiast" (Dallas, Texas) - See all my reviews

I used this book as a supplement for a course in Physical Optics, mainly to get practice in solving problems. I found the chapters on Polarization and Diffraction very useful. This book helped me get a better grade in this course. This book does not cover the topics like Jones and Coherence Matrix and Stokes vector. However these topics are covered well in the same author's Optics text. BTW, The Optics text is also very good. Solving problems in this book and then approaching the text gives a much better understanding of Optics. This book does not cover Poincare' sphere, which is also an important topic for which we cant find material anywhere except our Professor's lecture notes. Overall, this book is a must if you are taking any Optics course or the GRE physics text or if you just want to master the basics of Optics.