10 of 11 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great book, but semiconductor devices need update..., Nov 2 2006
By Steven J. Wojtczuk - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Photonics: Optical Electronics in Modern Communications (Hardcover)
An excellent book on the optics side, with good theoretical derivations on many topics. However, I wish that the sections on semiconductor devices were more extensively updated in one of these new editions, especially since Yariv's group at CalTech were pioneers in the field of semiconductor lasers, and it would be well worth knowing what insights he can give on modern devices. For example, there is no discussion of strained quantum wells that I could find. The book has an excellent discussion of Bragg mirrors, and some discussion of their use in DFB lasers and VCSELs, but nothing about resonant cavity LEDs or resonant cavity photodiodes (or even just plain vanilla LEDs). The description of APDs is one of the few covered areas that is not rigorous. Of course, the book is a reasonable size, and so cannot contain everything, but I get the feeling that the semiconductor device areas were hardly touched from earlier editions. However, most of what Yariv and Yeh do cover, they do so in a detailed manner, so this is still a good book to have around. Chapters:
1. Electromagnetic Fields and Waves
2. Rays and Optical Beams
3. Guided waves in Dielectric Slabs and Fibers
4. Optical Resonators
5. Interaction of Radiation and Atomic Systems
6. Theory of Laser Oscillation and Some Specific Laser Systems
7. Chromatic Dispersion and Polarization Mode Dispersion in Fibers
8. Nonlinear Optics
9. Electro-Optic Modulation of Laser Beams
10. Noise in Optical Detection and Generation
11. Detection of Optical Radiation
12. wave propagation in Periodic Media
13. Waveguide Coupling
14. Nonlinear Optical Effects in Fibers
15. Semiconductor Lasers-Theory and Applications
16. Advanced Semiconductor Lasers
17. Optical Amplifiers
18. Classical Treatment of Quantum Noise and Squeezed States
Appendixes:
A. Wave Equation in Cylindrical Coordinates and Bessel Functions
B. Exact Solutions of the Step-Index Circular Waveguide
C. Kramers-Kronig Relations
D. Transformation of a Coherent Electromagnetic Field by a Thin Lens
E. Fermi Level and its Temperature Dependence
F. Electro-optic Effect in Cubic 43m Crystals
G. Conversion for Power Units and Attenuation Units
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
2.0 out of 5 stars
Photonics, Feb 15 2010
By Douglas Weinhold - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Photonics: Optical Electronics in Modern Communications (Hardcover)
This text struggles to relate the mathematics to the theory. A nice supplement to a solid theory source, but lacking as a stand alone teaching tool is how I would describe this book.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Sound and to the Point, Feb 11 2011
By pmcG@Oxford - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Photonics: Optical Electronics in Modern Communications (Hardcover)
The book presents the material as clearly as one could expect it to be written. The material is difficult no matter the format, but the ideas are presented clearly and that's all I think you can really expect from a text. I would recommend this ahead of all the other texts I have used pertaining to Optics in my undergrad and grad-school programs simply because of the heightened clarity and the logical progression of subject matter. I bought this book new and I don't regret it.