Coherent Optics presents, in a concise and lively overview, easy access to the fundamentals and modern aspects of this field. From text based on coherence and its measurement the reader gains access to the fields of interferometry, holography and Fourier optics while becoming acquainted with methods of coherent optical techniques of measurement. From the multitude of nonlinear optical phenomena the following topics are particularly discussed: the laser with its nonlinear dynamics, tree-wave interference, the optical parametric amplifier, and nonlinear fibre optics including solitons for signal transmission. Many examples and exercises with complete solutions make this book a valuable study text.

1 History of Optics.- 2 The Main Areas of Optics.- 3 Fundamentals of Wave Optics.- 4 Coherence.- 5 Multiple-Beam Interference.- 6 Speckles.- 7 Holography.- 8 Interferometry.- 9 Fourier Optics.- 10 Nonlinear Dynamics of the Laser.- 11 Nonlinear Optics.- 12 Fiber Optics.- A Appendix.- A.1 The Fourier Transform.- A.1.1 One-Dimensional Fourier Transform.- A.1.2 Two-Dimensional Fourier Transform.- A.1.3 Convolution and Autocorrelation.- A.1.4 Properties of the Fourier Transform.- A.1.5 Selected Functions and Their Fourier Transforms.- Problems.- A.2 Solutions to Problems.