Light is essential for most life requirements on Earth. Plants convert the energy transported by sunlight into chemical energy through photosynthesis. Additionally, light is the primary medium through which we send and receive information to and from our surroundings and across the universe. The nature and properties of light have been a subject of great interest and research since ancient times. The Greeks believed that light consists of extremely small particles emitted by a light source, which stimulate the sense of sight when they fall on the observer's eye. Newton used this corpuscular theory to explain the reflection and refraction (bending) of light.

In 1678, one of Newton's opponents, Christiaan Huygens, explained many other properties of light by proposing that light is a wave. In 1801, Thomas Young showed that light beams can interfere with each other, providing strong support for the wave theory. In 1865, Maxwell developed a profound theory that electromagnetic waves travel at the speed of light, making the wave theory of light more widely accepted. At the beginning of the twentieth century, Max Planck brought us back to the particle theory of light to explain the radiation emitted by hot objects. Einstein then used the particle theory to explain how electrons are emitted by a metal exposed to light. Today, scientists view light as having a dual nature (i.e., light exhibits wave-like features in some cases and particle-like features in others).

In the first chapter, we review the concepts of electromagnetic waves, starting from Maxwell's equations and Hertz's discoveries, through the production of electromagnetic waves and their spectrum. In Chapters 2 to 5, we focus on topics of light that are well understood through the wave model. In the sixth chapter, we provide an introduction to quantum optics, the nature of laser light, its emission methods, and its uses.

We will first discuss Maxwell's equations, Hertz's discoveries, and how electromagnetic waves are produced, highlighting the spectrum of these radiations. We will then examine the reflection of light at the boundary between two media and the refraction that occurs when light passes from one medium to another. We will use these ideas to study reflection and refraction when light forms images through mirrors and lenses. We will then describe how these mirrors and lenses are used in devices such as telescopes and microscopes, which help us see what cannot be seen clearly with the naked eye. Finally, we will study the phenomena of diffraction, polarization, and interference of light. After these basic topics, we will delve into quantum optics, the nature of lasers, their various emission methods, and their most important applications.

I hope this book meets the reader's need for the fundamentals of light, quantum optics, and lasers through its simplified and analytical presentation. We have relied primarily on the latest international publications in this field, including "Physics for Scientists and Engineers with Modern Physics" by Raymond A. Serway and John W. Jewett, Jr., Sixth Edition, 2004, and "Fundamentals of Optics" by Francis A. Jenkins and Harvey E. White, Fourth Edition, as well as several internet publications designed by Melissa Santo, Donna Warrington, Mark Kaucher, Vy Le, Mary Katherine Tarrant, Julie Mertzman, John Paul Iacoianni, Matthew Cathell, Meghan Livingstone, Kimberly Evans, and Joshua Fantini.

• Number of Pages: 398
• Year of Publication: 2014
• Binding Type: Hardcover
• Edition Number: 2
• Print Color: Black
• Dimensions (cm): 17x24
• Weight (kg): 0.750
• Barcode: 9789957064808