Table of Contents

1: A Brief History

2: Wave Motion

3: Electromagnetic Theory, Photons, and Light

4: The Propagation of Light

5: Geometrical Optics

6: More on Geometrical Optics

7: The Superposition of Waves

8: Polarization

9: Interference

10: Diffraction

11: Fourier Optics

12: Basics of Coherence Theory

13: Modern Optics: Lasers and Other Topics

About the Author

Gene Hecht is a professor of physics at Adelphi University and author of a number of books including three on American ceramics and seven on physics. His main interests are the history of ideas and the elucidation of the basic concepts of physics. He spends most of his time teaching, studying physics, and training for his fifth degree black belt in Tae Kwan Do.