Light-matter Interaction: A Crash Course for Students of Optics, Photonics and Materials Science

This book offers a didactic introduction to light–matter interactions at both the classical and semi-classical levels. Pursuing an approach that describes the essential physics behind the functionality of any optical element, it acquaints students with the broad areas of optics and photonics. Its rigorous, bottom-up approach to the subject, using model systems ranging from individual atoms and simple molecules to crystalline and amorphous solids, gradually builds up the reader’s familiarity and confidence with the subject matter. Throughout the book, the detailed mathematical treatment and examples of practical applications are accompanied by problems with worked-out solutions. In short, the book provides the most essential information for any graduate or advanced undergraduate student wishing to begin their course of study in the field of photonics, or to brush up on important concepts prior to an examination.

Olaf Stenzel received his Diplom in Physics in 1986 from Moscow State University and his doctoral degree (Dr. rer. nat.) in 1990 from the Chemnitz University of Technology, Germany. In 1999 he earned his Habilitation (Dr. habil.) and, in 2001, joined the Optical Coating Department at the Fraunhofer Institute of Applied Optics and Precision Engineering in Jena, Germany. He regularly gives master-level lectures at the Friedrich Schiller University in Jena on thin-film optics and the structure of matter. He has authored and co-authored more than 100 peer-reviewed scientific papers and 4 books.