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Rating: 
Summary: A practical, up-to-date assessment of the entire field
Review: E. G. Loewen and E. Popov's "Diffraction gratings and applications" is among the most complete books on diffraction gratings I've seen. The book is written for the practicing scientist and engineer, with a definite emphasis on practicality. This is a long book (588 pages) so it may seem odd that one of my complaints is its abbreviated treatment of some subjects. The book begins with a rather brief, but interesting, history of spectral analysis (chapter 1). Chapter 2 discusses some of the fundamental properties of gratings, including the grating equation, propagation of evanescent orders, dispersion, free spectral range, and diffraction efficiency. Since chapter 2 lays the foundation for later discussions, I found it too abbreviated for a self-contained book on the subject. Derivations, and the accompanying insight they bring, are relatively rare in this book. Overall, however, the book is written more as a reference source than a textbook, and from that perspective the level of review and discussion in chapter 2 is about right. Chapter 3 is a very brief introduction (at the qualitative description level) of various types of gratings such as phase, relief, reflection, transmission, symmetrical, blazed, ruled, holographic, lithographic, plane, concave, Bragg, and waveguide gratings. This is a very short chapter, and typically devotes only a paragraph or two to describing each type of grating. Unlike other chapters, with their copious endnotes, chapter 2 has only three references. Chapter 4 describes the efficiency behavior of plane reflection gratings, and has a tremendous amount of information showing sensitivities to groove spacing, departure from Littrow condition, coating with various metals, modulation depth, groove shape, etc. This chapter is excellent reference material. It has virtually no theory, but instead focuses on actual measurements and data quantifying the behavior of these gratings. According to the book's promotional literature, this is the first time (in a single reference) that so much data has been provided on the efficiency and behavior of gratings. The only difficulty I had with this chapter is that sometimes the various graphs use different scales, making it tricky at times to draw conclusions based on direct comparisons. Chapter 5 is a similar treatment of transmission gratings, with considerably less measured data. The authors devote chapter 6 to echelle gratings. As with chapter 4, there is a great deal of information in the form of efficiency curves for echelles. Chapter 7 introduces concave gratings. Unlike chapters 4 and 6, there is little actual data in chapter 7, and more theoretical background treatment. Much of the theoretical treatment is very abbreviated, however. Chapter 8 deals with surface waves and grating anomalies. I found this chapter to be among the most interesting, with a better mix of theoretical explanation as well as lots of graphs showing the results of real-world experiments. Chapter 9 describes waveguide, fiber, and acousto-optic gratings. This chapter is likely to be more applicable to many people with the advent of DWDM telecommunications networks. I often found myself having difficulty following some of the author's derivations. Partly, this is because the authors don't use symbols for variables and constants consistently. For someone such as myself, with a background in physics but no specialized background in gratings, I found this often confusing. A case in point is equation (9.4) in which there appears to be a factor of beta squared missing. I'm not sure of this, however, because the substitution of equations (9.1) and (9.3) into equation (9.2) does not seem to maintain consistent usage of the variables. As a result, I'm left wondering if there is a misprint in the book, or if I've simply not followed the authors properly in their derivation. I'm sure the issue would be straightforward for someone more familiar with the problem, but I found it somewhat confusing. Chapter 10 is a very interesting review of electromagnetic theories and of grating efficiency. There is virtually no theory described in this chapter, but rather a summary look at the various methods, and discussion about their relative tradeoffs and merits. The rest of the book deals with work-a-day issues surrounding gratings: Testing, instrumental systems, damage, mechanical ruling machines, holographic grating recording, and alternative methods of grating manufacture. These last chapters contain mostly qualitative information, but also provide deep insight learned from a lifetime of experience. Each chapter (with the exception of chapter 3) is exceedingly well referenced, with lots of diagrams and figures. Even so, the book tackles such a wide range of subjects that its coverage of some subjects is superficial. For the most part, however, those who work with gratings and grating-based equipment will find this book is an indispensable addition to their personal libraries. It occupies a prominent position in mine Duwayne Anderson
Rating:
Summary: A practical, up-to-date assessment of the entire field
Review: E. G. Loewen and E. Popov's "Diffraction gratings and applications" is among the most complete books on diffraction gratings I've seen. The book is written for the practicing scientist and engineer, with a definite emphasis on practicality. This is a long book (588 pages) so it may seem odd that one of my complaints is its abbreviated treatment of some subjects. The book begins with a rather brief, but interesting, history of spectral analysis (chapter 1). Chapter 2 discusses some of the fundamental properties of gratings, including the grating equation, propagation of evanescent orders, dispersion, free spectral range, and diffraction efficiency. Since chapter 2 lays the foundation for later discussions, I found it too abbreviated for a self-contained book on the subject. Derivations, and the accompanying insight they bring, are relatively rare in this book. Overall, however, the book is written more as a reference source than a textbook, and from that perspective the level of review and discussion in chapter 2 is about right. Chapter 3 is a very brief introduction (at the qualitative description level) of various types of gratings such as phase, relief, reflection, transmission, symmetrical, blazed, ruled, holographic, lithographic, plane, concave, Bragg, and waveguide gratings. This is a very short chapter, and typically devotes only a paragraph or two to describing each type of grating. Unlike other chapters, with their copious endnotes, chapter 2 has only three references. Chapter 4 describes the efficiency behavior of plane reflection gratings, and has a tremendous amount of information showing sensitivities to groove spacing, departure from Littrow condition, coating with various metals, modulation depth, groove shape, etc. This chapter is excellent reference material. It has virtually no theory, but instead focuses on actual measurements and data quantifying the behavior of these gratings. According to the book's promotional literature, this is the first time (in a single reference) that so much data has been provided on the efficiency and behavior of gratings. The only difficulty I had with this chapter is that sometimes the various graphs use different scales, making it tricky at times to draw conclusions based on direct comparisons. Chapter 5 is a similar treatment of transmission gratings, with considerably less measured data. The authors devote chapter 6 to echelle gratings. As with chapter 4, there is a great deal of information in the form of efficiency curves for echelles. Chapter 7 introduces concave gratings. Unlike chapters 4 and 6, there is little actual data in chapter 7, and more theoretical background treatment. Much of the theoretical treatment is very abbreviated, however. Chapter 8 deals with surface waves and grating anomalies. I found this chapter to be among the most interesting, with a better mix of theoretical explanation as well as lots of graphs showing the results of real-world experiments. Chapter 9 describes waveguide, fiber, and acousto-optic gratings. This chapter is likely to be more applicable to many people with the advent of DWDM telecommunications networks. I often found myself having difficulty following some of the author's derivations. Partly, this is because the authors don't use symbols for variables and constants consistently. For someone such as myself, with a background in physics but no specialized background in gratings, I found this often confusing. A case in point is equation (9.4) in which there appears to be a factor of beta squared missing. I'm not sure of this, however, because the substitution of equations (9.1) and (9.3) into equation (9.2) does not seem to maintain consistent usage of the variables. As a result, I'm left wondering if there is a misprint in the book, or if I've simply not followed the authors properly in their derivation. I'm sure the issue would be straightforward for someone more familiar with the problem, but I found it somewhat confusing. Chapter 10 is a very interesting review of electromagnetic theories and of grating efficiency. There is virtually no theory described in this chapter, but rather a summary look at the various methods, and discussion about their relative tradeoffs and merits. The rest of the book deals with work-a-day issues surrounding gratings: Testing, instrumental systems, damage, mechanical ruling machines, holographic grating recording, and alternative methods of grating manufacture. These last chapters contain mostly qualitative information, but also provide deep insight learned from a lifetime of experience. Each chapter (with the exception of chapter 3) is exceedingly well referenced, with lots of diagrams and figures. Even so, the book tackles such a wide range of subjects that its coverage of some subjects is superficial. For the most part, however, those who work with gratings and grating-based equipment will find this book is an indispensable addition to their personal libraries. It occupies a prominent position in mine Duwayne Anderson
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