Schaum's Outline of Optics

A Super book . New sections on Fourier optics ftransforms is very good .problem 8.12.One needs to add FT in spectral and time domainExcellent supplement .

I bought Theory and Problems of Optics to familiarize myself with beginning optics and Fourier series. I rate it high because all the problems are solved, which makes it much easier to figure out things that one doesn't understand at first. (My hobby horse --- I don't understand why mathematicians think one can't learn unless the answers are withheld.) I agree with the reviewer who found the first two chapters confusing. I think this is partly because the notation is introduced haphazardly and not well explained. I would have found a list such as the following to be helpful. Small initial letters in Greek letter names indicate lower case Greek letters. Upsilon and phi are the curly forms.k is the propagation number, 2Pi/lambda.lambda is the wave length or spatial period.tau is the temporal period, lambda / v or 1/upsilon.upsilon is the frequency, number of waves per unit time, usually Hz.omega is the angular frequency, 2Pi/tau, radians per sec.v (easily confused with upsilon) is the speed of propagation or phase velocity.phi is the phase, argument of the sine function;phi = kx -/+ omega tt is timeepsilon is initial phase;phi = kx -/+ omega t + epsilonConfusion may also arise from the fact that the functions in the first two chapters contain variables for both space (x) and time (t). More explanation of why might have helped, but one can plot the functions on these variables to determine their meaning.

Pairs well with the textbook "Optics" written by the same author, though not as necessary with the 5th edition text as it was with the earlier editions due to the incorporation of example problems in the 5th edition. Organized in the same manner as all the other Schaum's manuals with a short narrative one the background needed for the section, example problems, and supplementary problems. A great pairing with the text especially if your instructor doesn't expand on the material in class or work any example problems in class.

This book did not work for me as my professor was teaching wave optics exclusively. From what I can tell this book is good for geometrical optics.

It was the older version which was not super expected but the book is in great shape! Definitely worth what was paid for.

It is helpful supplements to a standard text book with lots of solved problems, mainly if you have the author text book with the same name. In some issues can serve as a text book. It has well done organization. In some topics elucidate some matter because provide numerics examples. I highly recommend it. More advanced textbooks will be easier to read after you finish this book. The price makes it definitely a good bargain!

In short: as one would expect from Schaum. In some details: optics well separated in chapters, chapters well covered with examples and excercises of different difficultiness. Excellent introductory handbook for optics.

This is a great overview of optics, but it's Schaum, so what else would you expect?