About the Book
Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. Pages: 198. Chapters: Photon, Photography, Metamaterial cloaking, Fourier optics, Optical aberration, Photonic metamaterial, Nonimaging optics, Parallax, Refractive index, Supercontinuum, History of optics, F-number, Atmospheric optics, High-speed photography, Hamiltonian optics, Optical coherence tomography, Optical resolution, Dispersion (optics), Transformation optics, Precision glass moulding, Photonic crystal, Light tube, Metal-mesh optical filters, Van Cittert-Zernike theorem, List of photonics equations, Light field, Angle of view, Vector soliton, Theories of cloaking, Photoelectrochemical processes, Lenticular printing, Electro-gyration, Radiative transfer equation and diffusion theory for photon transport in biological tissue, Q factor, Poynting vector, Jones calculus, Group velocity, Calculation of glass properties, Line moire, Fraunhofer diffraction, Point spread function, Superresolution, Invisibility, High-refractive-index polymer, Hyperfocal distance, Ultrashort pulse, Chromatic aberration. Excerpt: Optics is the branch of physics which involves the behaviour and properties of light, including its interactions with matter and the construction of instruments that use or detect it. Optics usually describes the behaviour of visible, ultraviolet, and infrared light. Because light is an electromagnetic wave, other forms of electromagnetic radiation such as X-rays, microwaves, and radio waves exhibit similar properties. Most optical phenomena can be accounted for using the classical electromagnetic description of light. Complete electromagnetic descriptions of light are, however, often difficult to apply in practice. Practical optics is usually done using simplified models. The most common of these, geometric optics, treats light as a collection of rays that travel in straight lines and bend when they pass through or reflect from surfaces. Physical optics is a more comprehensive model of light, which includes wave effects such as diffraction and interference that cannot be accounted for in geometric optics. Historically, the ray-based model of light was developed first, followed by the wave model of light. Progress in electromagnetic theory in the 19th century led to the discovery that light waves were in fact electromagnetic radiation. Some phenomena depend on the fact that light has both wave-like and particle-like properties. Explanation of these effects requires quantum mechanics. When considering light's particle-like properties, the light is modelled as a collection of particles called "photons." Quantum optics deals with the application of quantum mechanics to optical systems. Optical science is relevant to and studied in many related disciplines including astronomy, various engineering fields, photography, and medicine (particularly ophthalmology and optometry). Practical applications of optics are found in a variety of technologies and everyday objects, including mirrors, lenses, telescopes, microscopes, lasers, and fibre optics. The Nimrud lensOptics began
