Guiding, Diffraction, and Confinement of Optical Radiation

Guiding, Diffraction, and Confinement of Optical Radiation presents a wide array of research studies on optics and electromagnetism. This book is organized into eight chapters that cover the problems related to optical radiation propagation and confinement. Chapter I examines the general features of electromagnetic propagation and introduces the basic concepts pertaining to the description of the electromagnetic field and its interaction with matter. Chapter II is devoted to asymptotic methods of solution of the wave equation, with particular emphasis on the asymptotic representation of the field in the form of the Luneburg-Kline series. This chapter also looks into a number of optical systems characterized by different refractive index distributions relying on the eikonal equation. Chapter III deals with stratified media, such as the multilayered thin films, metallic and dielectric reflectors, and interference filters. Chapters IV and V discuss the problem of propagation and diffraction integrals. Chapter VI describes the scattering from obstacles and the metallic and dielectric gratings. Chapters VII considers the passive and active resonators employed in connection with laser sources for producing a confinement near the axis of an optical cavity and Fabry-Perot interferometers and mainly relies on the use of diffraction theory. Chapter VIII presents the analytic approach to the study of transverse confinement near the axis of a dielectric waveguide hinges on the introduction of modal solutions of the wave equation. This book will be of value to quantum electronics engineers, physicists, researchers, and optics and electromagnetism graduate students.