Principles of Biophotonics, Volume 3

Field propagation in linear, homogeneous, dispersionless, isotropic media

By (author) Gabriel Popescu

Publication date:

29 December 2022

Length of book:

190 pages

Publisher

Institute Of Physics Publishing

Dimensions:

254x178mm
7x10"

ISBN-13: 9780750316453

This volume aims to familiarize the reader with basic concepts of light propagation in the simplest class of media: linear, homogenous, dispersionless, and isotropic. After a review of Maxwell’s equations in both integral and differential forms, the book describes the field propagation from elementary sources (dipoles) and in free space, in 1D, 2D, and 3D. Next, the material covers diffraction of light by a 2D screen, with various levels of approximations, emphasizing the wavevector space calculations. The ABCD matrix propagation is introduced as an efficient tool for both ray optics and Gaussian beam propagation. The volume ends with a chapter on propagation of field correlations, generalizing the coherence concepts introduced in Volume 1.

Key Features:

  • A homogeneous, self-consistent reference that covers this interdisciplinary field.
  • Books are intended to be used as reference for a two-semester course on Principles of Biophotonics.
  • Aim is not only to provide a “how to” user guide for these techniques, but to clearly present the optics foundation that allows them to function.

It is quite unfortunate to review a book written by a true leader in the optical and biomedical engineering communities who passed away in June 2022. But it represents also a great opportunity to remember the pioneering contributions of Gabriel Popescu to the fields of quantitative phase imaging and spectroscopy. The timely revised edition of this book describes in-depth different aspects of the basic concepts of light propagation in linear, homogenous, dispersionless and isotropic media. This lecture-based book is pleasant and contains careful discussions of a large number of topics dealing with the multifaceted aspects of basic optics principles. A set of exercises covers a wide range of difficulty. The target audience includes undergraduate students of engineering and science and optical engineers.

Christian Brosseau, Optica, September 2023