Introduction to Optics

This text is required for our two introductory optics classes, Geometrical Optics and Physical Optics. My classmates and I have found the text to be excellent - it explains things very thoroughly and has detailed diagrams. There are tons of exercises at the end of each chapter that really help with understanding and application. I do wish that it had more example problems worked within the text, but that doesn't diminish the value of the book and is more of a personal preference.

It was required for my Optics class, It was very helpful and well written; the information was well laid out and easy to find. Most, if not all, topics are explained with their real-world applications in mind, including how the information can be used with specific optical instruments. Overall, I was very pleased with this book.

I'm taking an upper level undergraduate optics course and the professor required this book. He's a nice guy, and very knowledgeable, but I find his lectures impossible to follow. I would be totally lost if not for this book. Hey, this is hard stuff guys! Don't expect a book to make it easy. So far I have none of the complaints typical of other reviewers. Obviously I'm learning. If I knew the subject better perhaps I'd be more critical, but so far I'm finding the explanations in this book very thorough and understandable. The fact that I sometimes have to read them 2,3, or 20 times before they make sense to me I rightly attribute to my own ignorance, not some failing of the author. Of course I'm looking for an in-depth understanding of optics, not some quick tell-me-what-I-need-for-the-test primmer.

Great book, it is more pedagogical than some of the more prolific texts on the subject.

Great optics textbook. Clearly illustrated and explained.

I am enjoying my physical optics course using this text.

Good book

The authors do what authors of science textbooks typically do; teach the subject as if they already understand the principles, and explain the physical dynamics of what is happening using formulas that they assume the reader already understands. They obliquely refer to the physical phenomena of refraction, diffraction, permittivity and permeability of vacuum, etc, then immediately go to formulas to explain what is happening, rather than describing what is actually happening. It is rather like teaching software coding by using coding, and expecting the students to already understand all of the software commands, while loops, if/then/else loops, order of operations, without ever explaining them. I was hoping that this book would actually explain the dynamics of the physical phenomena of different aspect of optics, then go into the math (and even explain the math), but instead they refer to the property in question, and immediately go to the math, without explaining the math. Don't buy this book unless you already are aware of all of the physical properties of optics that they mention, and are already familiar with the equations they use to describe the properties. This book is like a reference for people who already understand the subject and all of the Calculus used, not for those trying to learn it.