Optics,5/Ed

Still going through this - a lot to read! :) Overall, superbly done covering a wide range of physics and optical math for practical uses, and good reviews also! Highly recommended for an optical physics or engineering student, or someone like me reviewing the topic for various applications.

It is the best Optics textbook in the market in my opinion. It covers almost all subjects in optics, with also excellent references for further inquiry. The used book was in excellent condition. However it was damaged during the shipment. They just drop the hardcover book in the box without any packing, image how the book bouncing around inside the box during its long journey!

I'm a physical chemical student who works closely with optics, recently found myself lacking some knowledge in optics, so I purchased this book followed by a post-doc's advice. The content is clear and precise, easy to understand, a nice and worthy book for a junior non-physical majored scholar.

I was surprised at first, since this version has an official publisher's stamp on it, but it had some Chinese characters on the cover. But it's in English and was in fine shape. A good deal for the quality.

This book is an excellent introduction for undergraduates new to optics. It builds most topics from the very basics, and reaches a sufficiently deep level throughout. The problem sets are not too difficult, and provide significant reinforcement for the concepts covered in the text.

This text covers enough science for a two or three semester course. The discussion of topics are interesting and informative. The derivations of some mathematical concepts are,however, a little thin for the beginning student.

The book is alright. Most of the info that you want to know for intro optics is in this book (4/5 for that part), but the presentation is pretty poorly executed (2/5, in my opinion). This book is just way too verbose, and not in a good way. The extra paragraphs don't really contribute much to the understanding of the underlying physics. The book can probably be cut in size by a large amount. There are so many paragraphs that can be removed without loss of continuity of the actual physics going on. What I mean is, Hecht gets side tracked too much. It's like this: I start talking about the double-slit experiment. Then I remember guy A did something on it, so start talking about the brief history about that. Then I remember that guy A wrote a letter on the material. So I talk about that letter and insert an excerpt from it. Then I also insert a letter from guy A to guy B in the field. So let's talk about that, too. (I'm over exaggerating a bit, but that's how it feels when you read read this book.) All the people that I talked to in my optics class thought the same thing. For a reader who just wants the physics and not the trivia and numerous paragraphs on really, really minor details, this book is a displeasure to read. I think the book is a course textbook + encyclopedia hybrid. It is not as concise as a well-written course textbook, but also not as detailed as as full-blown encyclopedia. It is neither here nor there. I feel like the book is written for the stereotypical whiny student who, when sitting in the class goes, "But teacher, why do I need to learn this? This is so pointless. When will I ever even use this in real life?" So Hecht inserts many examples to convince you that "See, this physics is actually used in real life!" Examples are good, but when you throw in too many examples you increase the length of the chapters without adding much foundational understanding of the physics. Use the book to get the essential physics that is sprinkled in the chapters, but learn how to skip the parts that are random facts and the book will work fine.

I dont need to even say it.. This it the undergrad/basics of optics book to get... The only book to get. It has been around forever, I always find myself referencing some of the basics from this book.

Perfetto A parte la copertina un poco "opaca" perché è stata come sfregata contro altri volumi, le condizioni sono eccellenti, infatti è nuovo. Molto strana la qualità di stampa, il libro nonostante in bianco e nero si legge comunque che è una meraviglia ma non convince al 1000 per 1000, dovrei fare una foto con un macro per vedere i controrni dei caratteri, trattandosi di ottica... più che altro sono i mezzitoni che non sono "i soliti grigi" ma è difficile spiegare. la carta ha una grammatura decente, ne ho viste di molto più sottili Per il prezzo pagato è un affare eccezionale perché la stessa identica versione con copertina diversa, rigida o anche flessibile, costa 5 volte tanto ( non è per dire, è proprio il quintiplo ) Ora valuto il testo: è lungamente il volume più completo che abbia mai visto della materia, con distacco. A me interessa la parte di diffrazione e a giudicare solo dai disegni e dalle formule è trattata in modo più che esaustivo, non potete immaginare. Ci sono decine di clotoidi dappertutto, immagini vettoriali bellisssime e esplicative al massimo, considerate che già solo vedere una clotoide in un testo di ottica è rarissimo e già solo questo parla da solo per indicare quanto l'approfondimento sia estremo Stracontento

It is the book that contains everything we will need in a standard undergraduate course. The contents is as follows 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. Polarisation 9. Interference 10. Diffraction 11. Fourier optics 12. Basics of coherence theory 13. Modern optics: lasers and other topics I think it will be enough for the understanding of the subject. The most beautiful thing is that the diagrams are very very beautiful actually you can see how linear,circular,elliptcal polarisation are happening you don't have imagine those stuff. It is very clear. The paper quality of the book is also nice. One of my friend found it so amazing that he requested me to order another for him. After all I will must recommend it for every undergraduate physics major.

Das Buch ist nach längerer Wartezeit, jedoch im angekündigten Zeitraum angekommen. Die Ausgabe ist eine spezielle Ausgabe für indische Universitäten, was so nicht verzeichnet war. Inhaltlich ist das aber kein Problem, lediglich die Übungsaufgaben weichen von der offiziellen vierten Auflage des Buches ab. Dennoch sollte das deutlich vermerkt werden. Die Verpackung war sehr einfach gehalten, so dass Beförderungsschäden nicht ausgeschlossen werden können (Über der Querseite des Buches war nur ein Stück Papier mit Klebestreifen befestigt). Falls unterwegs eine andere Verpackung in die Seite gestoßen wäre, wären die Seiten beschädigt worden. Etwas mehr Sorgfalt des Absenders wäre besser. Aber es ging noch einmal gut. Somit 4 von 5 Sternen.

I did not buy this for a course, I bought it for myself and I've just been skimming through this book but the first impression is great! The text seems well written and it is loaded with good quality figures helping to explain the concepts. I got the book used and it had some very minor damage on the exterior but that is the only complaint I have. I'd definitely recommend this book if you ever wanted a reference guide for optics.

El libro en sí es original y es el correcto, el problema es que venía muy golpeado y maltratado, parece casi de segunda mano.