<< 1 >>
Rating: 
Summary: I liked this book!
Review: I thought this book was an excellent reference. The explanations are clear. I must admit that some equations seem to be inadequately justified, but not to any greater extent than many other undergraduate texts, such as Eisberg and Resnick (the quantum book). This book went into the right amount of mathematical depth for someone like me who just wanted to get the 'big picture' for my thesis and not worry too much about the details. Much, much better than the books by Chow, Koch and Sargent, and Thompson.I might add that I am a physics major and thus have had considerable background in electromagnetism and quantum mechanics. Perhaps lack of background is why the Stanford engineer felt that the book was too hard.
Rating: 
Summary: Pleasant layout, but cops out when things get subtle.
Review: The layout of this book is very pleasant. Nice, clean typography. The presentation is informal without sacrificing accuracy. However, the author seems to have a bad habit. When the explanation is straightforward (ie the reader can probably figure it out on his/her own), he does a fine job of explaining. When explanations are really needed, he relegates them to the problems. For example, in the sections dealing with the density matrix formalism, he assigns in the general formulation a characteristic decay constant to each energy level. So when it comes to working out the two-level problem, he should explain why he can justifiably "simplify" the problem by assigning a single decay time constant to the population difference between the two levels, instead of perserving the two different decay constants. This is one of the more subtle points in the whole density matrix presentation, yet he weasels out of the situation by leaving it to the problems section. The same pattern is repeated in the part where a comparison between the results of rate equations and density matrix are made. When it comes time to really point out the reason for the validity of the rate equations, he relegates it to the problems again. This is unfortunate, since a proper explanation would clearly demonstrate true insight into the physics.
Rating: 
Summary: Could have been great - but this book sucks
Review: This book has incredible potential. This could have been a great book. But unfortunately this book really sucks. The author only gives partial explanations while he is deriving formulas. There is not enough information given to follow and learn the subject matter while following his derivations. This book should only be used by people who know how to derive all the equations. So if you don't know the material before purchasing this book then don't waste your money.
Rating: 
Summary: An excellent reference book for lasers.
Review: This book is definately not for the novice. This book covers a large amount of material in its 777 pages. I got this book as an undergraduate for an advanced optics survey course. It was a little sparse on the explanations for an undergraduate. In graduate school however, this text has come in handy a number of times to fill in the gaps from other books or in heavy-duty problem solving. His coverage of gain saturation, broadening and line-widths I thought were especially usefull, as well as his coverage of the ABCD matrices. All in all, a must-have for your optics bookshelf.
Rating:
Summary: An excellent reference book for lasers.
Review: This book is definately not for the novice. This book covers a large amount of material in its 777 pages. I got this book as an undergraduate for an advanced optics survey course. It was a little sparse on the explanations for an undergraduate. In graduate school however, this text has come in handy a number of times to fill in the gaps from other books or in heavy-duty problem solving. His coverage of gain saturation, broadening and line-widths I thought were especially usefull, as well as his coverage of the ABCD matrices. All in all, a must-have for your optics bookshelf.
Rating:
Summary: Great Book for Intermediate/Advanced Understanding
Review: This is an excellent book for those intend to major into Laser Physics with emphasis in practical, theoretical and modelling sides of Laser Physics but I agree that this book would be very tough for those who start learning Physics. But the mathematics is elegant with emphasis on the real world.
Rating: 
Summary: It's a bad book
Review: Yes! It's the worst book I've ever read. The author is lazy enough and/or does'nt have a good pedagogic ability not to give any explanation to any formula or equation. Furthermore, there are quite many misprints, what is not aceptable for a technical document.
<< 1 >>
| 
