Optics

by Eugene Hecht

This edition of Hecht's book serves as both text and reference. It provides the reader with an understanding of many concepts through historical anecdotes and citations. Discussions of topics include developments in fiber optics, optical signal processing and Fourier analysis.

Genres: Physics, Science, Textbooks, Nonfiction, Reference, Academic, Technical

676 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 1974

Reviews

[Niamh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hecht has W rizz , up the government and up ul

[Ivan Idris · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had a course on Optics in my first year in University with this book. The book has lots of examples and is very “wordy”. I suspect the author hoped to make it a reference as well as a study book. The number of photos in “Optics” is unusually high for a Physics book. I wouldn’t mind if some of those were colour photos, but then again it would have made the book less affordable. Topics include:

Mathematics of Waves
Light
Geometrical Optics
Polarization
Interference
Diffraction

Overall, I would say that this was a good book. Ideal for people who prefer long explanations.

[Mati Roy · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5/5 so far

He takes a lot of space/time to explain some things; especially the easy things, not so much the more difficult ones where, instead, we're told "it can be shown that", but it's not explained how or which book/paper/website could tell us how.

He doesn't use the most popular sign conventions and doesn't justify why. The book contains some mistakes.

Some important tables could have been put on the covers. I'd prefer if the chapters would be separated in sections: theory, examples, applications, experiments, etc. instead putting everything in a continuous mixed up text. It looks like we cannot buy the book in a digital format. The solution to the exercises don't seem to be available.

[Brett Williams · Rating 5 out of 5]

Keep at it, Eugene!

To be vitally human there are a few authors one must read - Shakespeare, Plato, Rousseau, Alan Bloom, and Eugene Hecht. With only limited exaggeration - notable among man's achievements is Hecht's new 4th edition of Optics. The first edition was the central (and only) text assigned in junior year optics for physics majors at many universities. As a near adolescent I was pleased by expert writing and well delivered humor in those far off years of college life.

The wonders of electromagnetics - which leads to everything in our modern age of electronics, radar, telescopes and computers - is beautifully clarified with clear pictures, concise description and completing examples in this new edition.

I hope Hecht lives to be a thousand such that the hundredth edition of Optics can enlighten people in the 31st century with as much joy and fascination as his 4th edition does today. After so many years away, I find Hecht there again to help me, not this time to peak inside the mind of nature, or to make a living, but to relive the joy of this miraculous topic and do so with added pleasure, knowing Hecht continues to improve the nearly perfect.

[T Dodson · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great book with a lot of information on the behavior of light. A good balance of derivations and figures - and dense with text (but not too dense). I didn't give it 5 stars, because this seems more like an introductory text, and I feel like these topics go a lot deeper.

[Spencer · Rating 3 out of 5]

The explanations are mostly crystal-clear, crafted with great care. Lots of words and diagrams, not too much math, but enough math to facilitate useful calculations.

[Henrique Legoinha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very complete review of EMG radiation.

[Curtis Penner · Rating 4 out of 5]

To me, this was more of an encyclopedia of optics in the form of a textbook (because there were problems at the chapters).

The text was very good and enjoyable.

The format of this book was terrible. Making it annoying to read. The text was 509 pages. In standard format, the book would be close to 900+ pages.

[Kevin Pimbblet · Rating 2 out of 5]

As a physics undergraduate, this was a text that was celebrated and recommended by many. But for me personally, I found it too dense and inaccessible in many parts. I would have personally benefited from a more accessible text. I still have my old copy and it now serves as a computer monitor height booster.

[Cat Gric · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book very much carried me through my optics class. Thinking of buying a copy for myself since mine was rented from a library and I liked it so much. Shoutout to Eugene Hecht for making such a complicated topic easier to understand.

[Joe Cole · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good textbook if you take optics course. There are multiple example problems that are well discussed in each chapter on the main topics.

[Konstantinos · Rating 5 out of 5]

Clear, on point.

[Srivatsava Vuppala · Rating 4 out of 5]

GUD

[Iain · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very approachable book on the often complex topic of optics.

[Satyaki]

http://ocw.mit.edu/2-71S09

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list...

[Adam Ramker]

I actually read the 5th edition

[Mac Zhou · Rating 1 out of 5]

Truly torture

[Samuel Hughes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Made me want to cry in second year, would recommend!

[Tue Le · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a great book, but still a standard text for undergraduates.

[Adam Lantos · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really good book! It touches on everything that has to do with optics! My only problem with it is that it treats some subjects only on a qualitative level, but that is a problem to someone who-like me- wants to know absolutely everything behind a phenomenon. One example for this is the case of evanescence waves and tunneling. This book just discusses evanescence waves but does not touch on tunneling(which is a shame, really). But again, I have only found one book(which is Howard Georgi's book on waves, which is not an optics book) that treats each detail with mathematical sophistication, so I really can't complain. While there are many great optics books out there, I would recommend this to anybody who wants an undergraduate level optics book that also discusses subtle subjects. This means that this is good as a reference book and as a book for use in a course, where professors tend to not touch on very small and specific details that go VERY deep on some subjects.

[Tyler DeFrancesco · Rating 4 out of 5]

My only gripes with the textbook would be its somewhat-odd placement of content, and perhaps a lack of references to outside material on electrodynamics and Maxwell's Equations.

To start with my first point: it seems odd that we'd be introduced to the electromagnetic model of light, Fresnel's Equations and all, before covering the geometrical model. It is awkward no matter how your undergraduate courses are structured, since many introduce geometrical optics before the wave/semiclassical model. It also scrambles the historical linearity that most textbooks only sacrifice when necessary for hindsight-driven explanation, such as invalidating old misconceptions. Rather, we move from a wave-particle model to a ray model, back to a wave-particle model. Of course, most professors I know of tend to teach the textbook out-of-order as a result.

[Rayan Enaya · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very useful book for photonics engineers and physicists . I consider it the holly book of optics. It covers many subjects in a very comprehendible way . Like for instance the subject of optical sensors is thoroughly covered in one chapter. I really love this book

[Mike · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nice thick optics textbook. It crushes bugs really well too.

[Dheerajkc Kc · Rating 4 out of 5]

really gud...........got the answers which were earlier unknown to me......has got logic behind every explaination

[Manny Makaruse · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a great for students in optical engineering and experienced engineers.

[Fatin Nabilah Binti Mazlan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book provide the questions and answers. Very helpful.