Optics

A groundbreaking textbook on twenty-first-century waves of all sorts and their applications

Kip Thorne and Roger Blandford’s monumental Modern Classical Physics is now available in five stand-alone volumes that make ideal textbooks for individual graduate or advanced undergraduate courses on statistical physics; optics; elasticity and fluid dynamics; plasma physics; and relativity and cosmology. Each volume teaches the fundamental concepts, emphasizes modern, real-world applications, and gives students a physical and intuitive understanding of the subject.

Optics is an essential introduction to a resurgent subject. “Optics” originally referred to the study of light, but today the field encompasses all types of waves, including electromagnetic waves, from gamma rays to radio waves; gravitational waves; waves in solids, fluids, and plasmas; and quantum waves. The past few decades have seen revolutions in optics—amazing advances in nonlinear optics technology, a growing understanding of optical phenomena throughout the natural world, and an increasing appreciation of the wide-ranging applicability of optics’ central principles. Optics shows how and why this subject—which was once a standard part of physics curricula—should again be routinely taught to physics students, as well as to students in engineering, computer science, and the natural sciences.

• Includes many exercise problems
• Features color figures, suggestions for further reading, extensive cross-references, and a detailed index
• Optional “Track 2” sections make this an ideal book for a one-quarter, half-semester, or full-semester course
• An online illustration package is available to professors

The five volumes, which are available individually as paperbacks and books, are Statistical Physics; Optics; Elasticity and Fluid Dynamics; Plasma Physics; and Relativity and Cosmology.