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Photoelectron statistics
and is a pertinent reminder that in 1962 Dr Kruse was joint author of one of the great classics, ‘Elements of infrared technology . This chapter is followed by a typically professional contribution on thermal detectors by E.H. Putley and one on photovoltaic and photoconductive detectors by D. Long. This latter chapter is good on the basic theory but a little short on specific detector details. However, it is nice to have even a brief section on the increasingly important extrinsic silicon detectors. Chapter 5, entitled ‘Photoemissive detectors’, reminds us that this book covers visible and ultra-violet detectors as well as infra-red. Particularly valuable for the uninitiated is the section on ‘Negative electron affinity (NEA) devices’. This whole chapter is filled with useful data and, like the other chapters, has a very complete list of references. The book ends with chapters on two comparatively recent, and exceptionally important, developments: charge coupled devices and heterodyne detection. With the increasing availability of detector arrays their integration with CCDs: for multiplexing of signal processing becomes of particular interest. Dr Milton gives a timely review of the problems as well as the advantages of this new technology. Malvin Teich is the name that most people would mention in connection with infra-red heterodyne detection. In the final, and longest, chapter of this book he has written what is surely the definitive discussion of the subject. With detailed mathematics he spells out the potential of techniques which will become even more important in the next few years. As expected of a volume in this series, the text is exceptionally clear and accurate, making the book a pleasure to read. The diagrams are well laid out and uniform throughout the chapters, and my only criticism is that the subject index is a little thin and would benefit from more cross-referencing. As so often, the high quality is reflected in a high price, and over 222 is expensive for 300 pages, even in 1978. However, this is a very good book indeed and should be available to anyone involved in infra-red detection. M.F. Kimmitt
Optics and lasers - An engineering physics approach
IV. Young Springer Series in Optical Sciences, Volume 5, Springer Verlag, 1977, pp xiv + 207, $22.90 What a refreshing deviation this book is from the more classical optics textbooks; a situation aptly expressed by one of the quotations the author uses as a preface, ‘Light breaks where no sun shines’ (Dylan Thomas). The author surveys applied or engineering optics covering the whole span of classical and wave optics to lasers and nonlinear optics treating each topic in sufficient depth to give it considerable value in the field of applications without becoming engrossed in mathematical detail. The first five chapters of the book treat conventional aspects of optics; imaging, diffraction and interference; but interspersed with sections on optical instruments, light sources and detectors. Importantly, the author makes numerous references to currently accepted units, notation and terminology. Chapter 6 deals with holography or wavefront reconstruction and optical processing, which is often
OPTICS AND LASER TECHNOLOGY.
AUGUST
1978
called Fourier transform optics. At first sight this seems to be putting the cart before the horse as holography became important after the advent of highly coherent laser sources, but in fact holography was invented in 1948 and preceeded laser development by some time. Lasers themselves are introduced by way of a basic treatment of energy levels and the fundamentals of optical resonators. Continuous, pulsed, Q-switched and modelocked lasers are discussed, the section concluding with specific comments on some of the most important solid, liquid and gas lasers. The electromagnetic theory of light, which receives low key treatment, throughout the book, is used in the final chapter to describe reflection, refraction and polarization phenomena. This leads to the definition of nonlinear effects illustrated by second harmonic generation and optical mixing including phase matching. The author makes no claims to rigour or to providing up to the minute details or reference literature, but herein lies the long-term value of the book. Also, incorporated into the text are a number of excellent problems designed to help increase understanding. In summary, this volume of the Springer series should be a useful handbook for the practicing physicist or engineer who sometimes dabbles with optics, and indeed should be useful reading for graduate or undergraduate students. R.B. Qennis
Photoelectron
statistics
B. Saleh Springer Series in Optical Sciences, Volume 6, Springer Verlag, 1978, pp XV+ 441, $31.30 This book presents the theory of fluctuations of light and of detected photoelectrons, and their applications to spectroscopy and optical communications. This field became important following the recent expansion in optics and laser applications, particularly with respect to the new areas of research, for example the theory of coherence, photon statistics, speckle phenomenon, statistical optics, atmospheric propagation, optical communications, and light-beating and photon correlation spectroscopy. The book is effectively sub-divided into three parts, tools, theory and application. In order to make the book as self sufficient as possible, the author reviews the necessary statistical methods, including the statistical description of random variables, stochastic processes and point processes. The second section covers the statistical properties of light fields of various origins, eg thermal light, laser light, scattered light, modulated light or diffused light. A list of single and multifold statistics of photoelectron counts and inter-event times for a large number of important optical fields is developed. When considering applications the theme is inversion; the determination of the properties of light from measurement of photoelectron statistics. The book outlines methods capable of determining spectra of very narrow bandwidths from measurements taken on the photoelectrons and d;.l!s with problems associated with optical communications, including the optimum design and performance of optical communication systems, and of detecting a radar signal. In this book the electromagnetic field is treated classically,
211
whereas the detection process is treated semi-classically. The more rigorous quantum description of the electromagnetic field is not necessary for the application oriented emphasis of the work. Understandably, this work has a very mathematical nature and requires the reader to have a good prior grasp of the fundamentals. The author has made a good job of making his treatment as concise and unified as possible. He cites over 500 references. The book is suitable for the graduate student interested in the theory and applications of coherence and photoelectron statistics or as a reference book for researchers in the areas of optical communication and photo-correlation spectroscopy. It fully deserves to join the ever growing collection of this excellent Springer Series on the library shelves. R.B. Dennis
Applications of optics in medicine and biology Edited by T. Hirsch field, R. E. Herron
Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers, Volume 89,1977, pp 144, $36.00 This is a collection of 20 papers in a soft-bound production of the proceedings of a conference held in San Diego, USA in August 1976. These papers afford a good illustration of the range of optical devices now being used in the field of medicine. The contributions all come from North American laboratories. The first 10 papers cover a range of general topics. For the brain surgeon there is a description of a spatial information display panel for brain-wave analysis and a method for examlning brain tissue with a He-Cd uv laser microfluorometer. Virus examination is covered by two papers, one of which is a description of the measurement of virus size by using a combination of fluorescence correlation spectroscopy with attenuated total reflection fluorescence. The other deals with the identification of a human virus (polio) by Raman spectroscopy, and this appears to be the first time such a method has been used. A method for the rapid identification and counting of bacteria in urine using a light scattering technique provides an example of the usefulness of such a method in biological research. An illustration of the application of non-destrucitve techniques is provided by using real-time holographic interferometry and optical metrology to dentistry. The remaining 10 papers are equally distributed under two headings - biostereometrics and quantitative biomedical image analysis. In the field of the former two new cameras are described, one of which uses laser range finding to give depth resolution to one mm or less. The use of the computer in modern medicine is illustrated by a paper on computerized x-ray reconstruction tomography to estimate accurately the functional states of the intact heart and lungs, and by a paper on a process of digitally scanning photographs of xeromammograms for the early diagnosis of breast cancer. The problem of quantifying human athletic performances by cinamatographic techniques form the subject of an interesting contribution. Completing this extensive range of optical applications are papers dealing with automated chest x-ray analysis, measurements of lung vascularity using an optical-digital system for automatic processing of chest radiographs, computer analysis of arteriograms and quantitative muscle biopsy analysis.
212
Summarizing, this book is one primarily for the medical physicist and, quoting from the introduction, it shows there are many areas in which practitioners and researchers can benefit from the sensible use of simple optical and electro-optical devices. Those not actively engaged in this field would find the book interesting as an insight into the increasing use of physical techniques in medicine. H. G. Jerrard
Practical applications of low power lasers Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers, Volume 96, 1976, pp 458, $40.00 This is a record of papers presented at a seminar held in San Diego, California in August 1976. The papers are arranged in 4 sessions. Session 1 has little scientific content; starting with an introductory and very elementary paper on lasers it continues with papers on uses of low power lasers in industry, on safety, and on the training of technicians to work in the laser and electro-optics fields. These make interesting reading but are unlikely to provide unknown information to workers in the field. Measurement and inspection are the most useful and exploited applications of low power lasers and there is a group of papers which deal with these. The measurement of optical, thermal and mechanical properties of materials is described together with the use of lasers in optical alignment procedures, gyro technology, time resolved interferometry with picosecond laser pulses and the examination of high quality surfaces. Information transfer is the subject of papers in the third session where work in optical communications is presented. As further evidence ofthe wide use of lasers, there are a number of papers in the last session which cover trends in laser-induced chemistry, the use of low power lasers in particle size spectrometry, in the medical and biological fields and in dentistry. A final paper with the title ‘Laser - where are we now and where are we going?’ presents an overview of laser technology - past, present and future. The general impression of this volume is that the contents lead to contemplation. There is not much in it that is new but it does show how the laser, characterized at the time of its discovery as a solution in search of a problem, now finds applications in an ever increasing number of fields. H. G. Jerrard
Application of optical instrumentation in medicine V Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers, Volume 9,1976, pp 458, $40.00 This volume is a record of papers presented at a meeting held in Washington DC, in September 1976. The meeting was sponsored jointly by the Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers and the Society of Photographic Scientists and Engineers. The papers deal with current practice in selected diagnostic medical procedures and potential improvements in them. There are 76 papers grouped into five sections: quality assurance in diagnostic radiology, computed tomography, radiographic images and dose, diagnostic ultrasound and current topics in mammography.
OPTICS AND LASER TECHNOLOGY.
AUGUST
1978
Optics and lasers - An engineering physics approach
IV. Young Springer Series in Optical Sciences, Volume 5, Springer Verlag, 1977, pp xiv + 207, $22.90 What a refreshing deviation this book is from the more classical optics textbooks; a situation aptly expressed by one of the quotations the author uses as a preface, ‘Light breaks where no sun shines’ (Dylan Thomas). The author surveys applied or engineering optics covering the whole span of classical and wave optics to lasers and nonlinear optics treating each topic in sufficient depth to give it considerable value in the field of applications without becoming engrossed in mathematical detail. The first five chapters of the book treat conventional aspects of optics; imaging, diffraction and interference; but interspersed with sections on optical instruments, light sources and detectors. Importantly, the author makes numerous references to currently accepted units, notation and terminology. Chapter 6 deals with holography or wavefront reconstruction and optical processing, which is often
OPTICS AND LASER TECHNOLOGY.
AUGUST
1978
called Fourier transform optics. At first sight this seems to be putting the cart before the horse as holography became important after the advent of highly coherent laser sources, but in fact holography was invented in 1948 and preceeded laser development by some time. Lasers themselves are introduced by way of a basic treatment of energy levels and the fundamentals of optical resonators. Continuous, pulsed, Q-switched and modelocked lasers are discussed, the section concluding with specific comments on some of the most important solid, liquid and gas lasers. The electromagnetic theory of light, which receives low key treatment, throughout the book, is used in the final chapter to describe reflection, refraction and polarization phenomena. This leads to the definition of nonlinear effects illustrated by second harmonic generation and optical mixing including phase matching. The author makes no claims to rigour or to providing up to the minute details or reference literature, but herein lies the long-term value of the book. Also, incorporated into the text are a number of excellent problems designed to help increase understanding. In summary, this volume of the Springer series should be a useful handbook for the practicing physicist or engineer who sometimes dabbles with optics, and indeed should be useful reading for graduate or undergraduate students. R.B. Qennis
Photoelectron
statistics
B. Saleh Springer Series in Optical Sciences, Volume 6, Springer Verlag, 1978, pp XV+ 441, $31.30 This book presents the theory of fluctuations of light and of detected photoelectrons, and their applications to spectroscopy and optical communications. This field became important following the recent expansion in optics and laser applications, particularly with respect to the new areas of research, for example the theory of coherence, photon statistics, speckle phenomenon, statistical optics, atmospheric propagation, optical communications, and light-beating and photon correlation spectroscopy. The book is effectively sub-divided into three parts, tools, theory and application. In order to make the book as self sufficient as possible, the author reviews the necessary statistical methods, including the statistical description of random variables, stochastic processes and point processes. The second section covers the statistical properties of light fields of various origins, eg thermal light, laser light, scattered light, modulated light or diffused light. A list of single and multifold statistics of photoelectron counts and inter-event times for a large number of important optical fields is developed. When considering applications the theme is inversion; the determination of the properties of light from measurement of photoelectron statistics. The book outlines methods capable of determining spectra of very narrow bandwidths from measurements taken on the photoelectrons and d;.l!s with problems associated with optical communications, including the optimum design and performance of optical communication systems, and of detecting a radar signal. In this book the electromagnetic field is treated classically,
211
whereas the detection process is treated semi-classically. The more rigorous quantum description of the electromagnetic field is not necessary for the application oriented emphasis of the work. Understandably, this work has a very mathematical nature and requires the reader to have a good prior grasp of the fundamentals. The author has made a good job of making his treatment as concise and unified as possible. He cites over 500 references. The book is suitable for the graduate student interested in the theory and applications of coherence and photoelectron statistics or as a reference book for researchers in the areas of optical communication and photo-correlation spectroscopy. It fully deserves to join the ever growing collection of this excellent Springer Series on the library shelves. R.B. Dennis
Applications of optics in medicine and biology Edited by T. Hirsch field, R. E. Herron
Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers, Volume 89,1977, pp 144, $36.00 This is a collection of 20 papers in a soft-bound production of the proceedings of a conference held in San Diego, USA in August 1976. These papers afford a good illustration of the range of optical devices now being used in the field of medicine. The contributions all come from North American laboratories. The first 10 papers cover a range of general topics. For the brain surgeon there is a description of a spatial information display panel for brain-wave analysis and a method for examlning brain tissue with a He-Cd uv laser microfluorometer. Virus examination is covered by two papers, one of which is a description of the measurement of virus size by using a combination of fluorescence correlation spectroscopy with attenuated total reflection fluorescence. The other deals with the identification of a human virus (polio) by Raman spectroscopy, and this appears to be the first time such a method has been used. A method for the rapid identification and counting of bacteria in urine using a light scattering technique provides an example of the usefulness of such a method in biological research. An illustration of the application of non-destrucitve techniques is provided by using real-time holographic interferometry and optical metrology to dentistry. The remaining 10 papers are equally distributed under two headings - biostereometrics and quantitative biomedical image analysis. In the field of the former two new cameras are described, one of which uses laser range finding to give depth resolution to one mm or less. The use of the computer in modern medicine is illustrated by a paper on computerized x-ray reconstruction tomography to estimate accurately the functional states of the intact heart and lungs, and by a paper on a process of digitally scanning photographs of xeromammograms for the early diagnosis of breast cancer. The problem of quantifying human athletic performances by cinamatographic techniques form the subject of an interesting contribution. Completing this extensive range of optical applications are papers dealing with automated chest x-ray analysis, measurements of lung vascularity using an optical-digital system for automatic processing of chest radiographs, computer analysis of arteriograms and quantitative muscle biopsy analysis.
212
Summarizing, this book is one primarily for the medical physicist and, quoting from the introduction, it shows there are many areas in which practitioners and researchers can benefit from the sensible use of simple optical and electro-optical devices. Those not actively engaged in this field would find the book interesting as an insight into the increasing use of physical techniques in medicine. H. G. Jerrard
Practical applications of low power lasers Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers, Volume 96, 1976, pp 458, $40.00 This is a record of papers presented at a seminar held in San Diego, California in August 1976. The papers are arranged in 4 sessions. Session 1 has little scientific content; starting with an introductory and very elementary paper on lasers it continues with papers on uses of low power lasers in industry, on safety, and on the training of technicians to work in the laser and electro-optics fields. These make interesting reading but are unlikely to provide unknown information to workers in the field. Measurement and inspection are the most useful and exploited applications of low power lasers and there is a group of papers which deal with these. The measurement of optical, thermal and mechanical properties of materials is described together with the use of lasers in optical alignment procedures, gyro technology, time resolved interferometry with picosecond laser pulses and the examination of high quality surfaces. Information transfer is the subject of papers in the third session where work in optical communications is presented. As further evidence ofthe wide use of lasers, there are a number of papers in the last session which cover trends in laser-induced chemistry, the use of low power lasers in particle size spectrometry, in the medical and biological fields and in dentistry. A final paper with the title ‘Laser - where are we now and where are we going?’ presents an overview of laser technology - past, present and future. The general impression of this volume is that the contents lead to contemplation. There is not much in it that is new but it does show how the laser, characterized at the time of its discovery as a solution in search of a problem, now finds applications in an ever increasing number of fields. H. G. Jerrard
Application of optical instrumentation in medicine V Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers, Volume 9,1976, pp 458, $40.00 This volume is a record of papers presented at a meeting held in Washington DC, in September 1976. The meeting was sponsored jointly by the Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers and the Society of Photographic Scientists and Engineers. The papers deal with current practice in selected diagnostic medical procedures and potential improvements in them. There are 76 papers grouped into five sections: quality assurance in diagnostic radiology, computed tomography, radiographic images and dose, diagnostic ultrasound and current topics in mammography.
OPTICS AND LASER TECHNOLOGY.
AUGUST
1978